I have a 1971 Skylark Custom, on its way to becoming a GS clone. The only thing(s) missing (visually) thats stopping it from being a GS clone is the dual snorkle type breather assembly for the RAM air, the factory tach, and a console. I just purchased a console and a shifter the other day from a swap meet. I have buckets and column shifter in the car now. The console looks amazing but for some reason i am hesitant and cringe at the thought of cutting a hole in my floor. Im not well equipped to take on a task like that, and just afraid to screw up. Basically i was wondering if id be better off trading my console assembly for a consolette. What are your thoughts or opinions? Did this year of skylarks/GSs even come with consolettes? Any help, comments, past experiences, encouragement, etc... appreciated.
jim have you ever seen someone use a consolette with a column shift? If so, is it generally frowned upon or....?
Azeem- I know the consolette with column shifter was an option for 1968 and 1969. I had a 1968 GS 400 with buckets, consolette and column shifted TH400... This was the set up I used in my 69 GS 400 :TU:
I just drilled a shifter cable hole in the floor for my 70 GS clone project. Go to Home Depot and buy a hole saw, 2.5" if I remember correctly. The floor pan already has the outline & dimple for where the hole should be located. This took me about 2 munutes to do, very easy. Check out this web site http://www.buickperformance.com/buckconsole.htm Good Luck. :TU:
The problem is in the teminiology. The pic is of a storage console and not a consolette. That pic also appear to be of a 65- 70 type 1 console. A 71 had a button for the lid and did not have the tri-shield emblem with the spring loaded top.
Azeem, I saw a similar pic on E-Bay, couple years ago. Questioned the shorty console on George N.'s site. Very seldom seen option. Found a couple & restored one for my car. Go to www.buickperformance.com Look under "Members Rides" & you'll see a couple pics of mine with buckets & the shorty console. Left the shifter on the column , stock. I also saw a '71 Stage 1 car with bench seat & column shift about the same time. While my car is "one of none built", I think almost every option combination was available back then. Once you cut the hole in the floor there is no going back, save welding a patch.
Thanks Jim for the clarification on the terminology. The 'storage' console in my pic IS a late 70/ early 71 (due to the push button). The one I had in my 68 was the Type 1 with the tri-shield emblem (1967-early 70). I understand the correct term for the consolette is the metal 4 speed housing with the cup or tach. But, the term 'consolette' for the storage console has been thrown around here for quite a while when dicussing column shifted automatics with buckets :beer Matter of fact: Azeem: here is a pic of a 4 speed CONSOLETTE (on left) and a type 2 (late 1970-1971) storage console :TU:
Sounds good. I think i have agreed to keep the floor unmolested. For now, i just drive around with the console resting in the middle, doesnt do much, but it looks so cool!. I think most of u want me to sell it cuz you want it hehe. But id rather have a consolette than $ cuz in the end the part will raise the value of my car. So if anyone wants to trade let me know. Ill try and post some pics asap. Only 2 faults i noticed were, there are holes seemed to be drilled in on part of the wood grain, dunno what they were thinking, and part of the chrome peice is not seated right in the wood grain towards the front, i think it needs to be reglued or however its installed. Other than that, the woodgrain is in good shape, along with the chrome etc... Shifter looks nice, storage compartment works nice (needs latch installed inside the box to hold lid down). Will get pix soon. thanks for all the tips!.
Just to make sure you know, neither the tach nor the console were standard on a GS, so short of the ram air breather, you there as far as "cloning."
Good to know! Awesome, thanks for the info nick, however, it always comes up some how lol. I also need to swap in some disk brakes for the front, and a proper rear end. I have a 2.56 at the moment, its got its bad points, but its got lots of good ones too . I know where i can get disk brakes, found an old GS (used to belong to a military person) pretty much everything has been salvaged. Parts of the interior are left, (like the dash) and i think the discs are still there. Its just really out of my way, and im not sure if im ready to spend the $ on that. but anyways, thanks for the info, i didnt know that. :TU:
While we are at it, disc brakes were a mandaroty option with the 455 engine option in '71, but good old iron drums were standard on small block cars.
NICE! this just keeps gettin better. Thanks for the good news. I grabbed the brake pedal pad that says DISK BRAKES BUICK and put it on anyways, just cuz it looks so much better
That's just like my cloned setup for my '70 GS455 clone except I have the trisheild emblem. I think that's a real sharp looking combo, with the buckets and the storage console. Did anyone ever repop the bracket that attaches it to the floor? I'm using a hand-carved wooden one!
>>Thought I would ask this question as the posting is about the storage consoles. I have a late 60's Skylark white storage console (with the Buick emblem on the top) that I am planning on putting in my 71 Skylark after I take out the split bench seat and put in the buckets that I purchased. There are two holes at the bottom of the storage console. Could I just use large self tapping screws to secure the console to the floor pan or do I really need the bracket? I'm not too worried about originality so that is not an issue.
I found that the probem is the countour of the bottom of the storage console. It's shaped oddly, nothing like my tranny tunnel. I didn't want to damage the thing, since mounting it without some sort of adapter or bracket would force the edges on the bottom to bow, so I whipped up a hunk of wood. It's not the mosT sturdy thing in thw world, I had intended on re-doing it in fibreglass or maybe carbon fiber (not for fashion, I'm just 'in the biz' and I have access to a fair amount of scrap carbon fiber prepreg and an autoclave), but othher things came up. I'd still like to make the c/f unit, and sink helicoils into it before I cure. That would be slick. I'd suggest taking out your sets, pulling back the carpet, and then putting the seats back in their respective locations, test fit the storage console, mark the floor where the console goes, and the take the seats out. That way, you can get a good close eyeball on what the floor/console interface is really like, and you can see what issues you might run into
I used 2 large screws used to screw arm rest bases to the doors. They worked VERY WELL :TU: . Chris, I had no problem w/ the contour of the trans tunnel. It was solidly attached and had no 'bowing' issues. :TU:
>>Thanks for letting me know - I was beginning to get worried that I was going to have to track down a used console bracket or make one of my own. Now I just have to recover my buckets and I can get started.
