MonkeyPuzzle

I decided to make a new thread since the last one spanned three years, so below is just cut from the original

Original thread here https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-acura-28/jeep-overhead-console-my-%22ek%22-ej-2419223/

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I broke my dome light in my hatch a long time ago and have been hunting for a replacement. But then I got to thinking how good it would be to have front map lights (which I already have but not installed) and some storage etc. So after a drive in a friends Jeep a little while ago I liked his console and picked one up from Ebay.

Here is it just held in place. I will be removing my headliner tonight to make this a nice and stock looking install. If anyone has seen these in a jeep they usually display temperature, direction, mpg etc etc, but of course I can't do that, so I'm replacing the display with an amber clock to match my amber SI gauges and interior

again, just held in place, not installed, but the curve is almost exactly right so it should be a pretty neat install when done





as you can see in this picture the rear has a step down to match the cherokee's roof line, I think modding this part will be my only real challenge.




here you can see how closely the fabric matches, the lower is the jeep console, the upper is my current sun visor


and one of it lying on the floor. You can see the two rear lights, two front lights, one compartment holds a garage door opener, and one holds sunglasses (wooo that'll be super handy)


So what do you all think? I'm hoping this will be a fairly simple install, should look stock, and I don't think I've seen it done before so that's always a bonus


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<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DOHCVTEC4life &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i agree this will be a new fad gave me some ideas
it is the little small things no one has ever done to make your honda stand out</TD></TR></TABLE>

surely I wouldn't be the starter of a fad??? can I join the ek squad if I start an EK fad???

seriously though, the overhead console option for the "ek" body is pure suck, I'd be very surprised to find I'm the first to mod a different console into an "ek"

proof the EK optional overhead console sucks, see here is an awesome EK

but sadly check the console



Modified by MonkeyPuzzle at 4:47 PM 10/29/2008

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ok a little more progress

it is now attached to the headliner. Still left to do is cut some more out of the headliner so I can reupholster the headliner into the console all into one piece.

the console was stripped of its fabric and stripped of its components.


the rear attaches with a tab like thing, I simply cut a slot into the headliner. So with a little flexing of the console that step in the rear is almost gone. The small gap left should disappear when its all reupholstered into one piece


the front fits very nicely, there is a slight mis-match, again reupholstering should make that disappear


a pic from the back-side, you can see the tab at the bottom/rear of the console here slotted into the headliner. I will need to cut more out of the headliner so I can access the back of the console to reattach the components of the console and to complete the reupholstering



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progress as always moving slowly, but I finally got the last part I need to finish this project.

I have the fabric and glue and etc etc.

but now I have the clock. I searched for a long time for a clock that was the right size, was the right colour, and would retain the time even when the car was off.

Now just some wiring magic, some gluing and such and this is ready to go back in my car.

I plan to use the buttons that were already in the console, that previously scrolled through the old computer display's menu, for the minute and hour adjust. so it should as planned look like a completly stock install.


the item


and held in place to see how it looks


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ok a little more progress.

Since it will all be recovered by new fabric I decided to fiberglass to console to the headliner.

this should make for a much smoother and more solid fit

I will need to sand the fiberglass down, then bondo and sand again for smoothness.

Should be ready for new fabric after all that.





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and some time spend sanding the fiberglass down, bondo may not be needed as the fabric I will be using to recover the whole thing has a foam backing. I will lay it over tomorrow and see how it looks to decide if bondo and more sanding is needed to smooth it out any.






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so after a little testing the slight concave on one side at the front was unbearably obvious, so a little filler just there and while I had it out a few other random spots.

Bondo was possibly a little old, was thicker than usual but once kneaded seem to be alright, so I guess we shall see.




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and the beginning stages of upholstery, some minor wrinkles here and there but nothing that I shouldn't be able to work out of it.






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I tidied up the edges of the fabric and just laid some of the plastic parts on to see a little of how it will look


And worked on some wiring.
Here you can see that I wired the buttons that are in the console into the clock, these now adjust the hours and minutes.
To the right is the box that hold the garage door opener, I've relocated the battery backup for the clock to here so I can change the battery without removing my whole damned headliner


I'm no rywire or chasebays but I'm proud of my work, I'm a crap solderer :D



ok left to do:
1: wire the lights
2: run switched 12v power up to the roof for the clock. Currently it only has full time 12v so the lights can be turned on without the key in, and 12v controlled by opening the door, neither so good for the clock.
3: put it all together
4: put it all in the car
5: bask in my own self pride

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thought we would get this finished today but looks like I screwed up on the re-upholstering. I didn't pull the fabric through far enough in the middle, this means that there is a very rough uneven edge where the black plastic meets the fabric, looks just aweful, so shameful.

but moving on, I will just add an additional layer of fabric over the top, this should smooth out a few of the other imperfections I saw before but pretended were not an issue


but, with my dad's help we figured the wiring out

his hand drawn wiring diagram, things were obviously more simple that he and I though


And proof, here they are wired into the car, switching on and off as planned.



The clock in and working (pics rotated to appear how they would in the car)





And here you can see the raggedy edge







Am going right now to get some more fabric


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don't hate me, more slow progress

securing the clock in place, hot glue for hold, and duct tape to block out light behind the clock



then onto the relining after my epic screwup cutting it too short last time
Laying the new fabric on, gluing in small portions has worked the best, so I did this about a quarter at a time


stopping point for the night


next night I glued the edges securely and tucked them under

next will be trimming those edges, and then glueing the center section and CUTTING IT RIGHT THIS TIME!!!


why do all my projects take so damned long you ask?
kids, family, too many projects at once, and also...

catastrophic transmission failure on my daily driver


teeth missing all over the place!



enjoy, coming up tonight will be more glueing, and then hopefully this weekend the actual install (but don't hold me to it )

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the piece itself is now finished, if the kids will ever stop screaming and at least pretend to be asleep I will put it in the car tonight!

cutting the center of the fabric and gluing in


The final product all glued and screwed as seen from the back


And from the front, gotta say (pat on back) I am VERY pleased with the outcome


now just to put it all in the car and plug all the wiring together and fingers crossed. I've checked the wiring before but you know if its ever going to not work its once all the wiring is tucked away up in the roof

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mmmkay, well I got it in... side the car

Ok so the lights and the clock are wired to separate sources, the lights get constant power so you can turn them on when the keys are not in the car, and the clock gets switched power so it will only turn on with the key in and turned to accessories.

Well, it would appear that although I ran a wire up to the roof for the switched part I didn't ever finish wiring it into an actual switched source at the fuse box (or somewhere), whoops.

So I COULD plug it all in at the ceiling and put the headliner in and screw all the handles and visors back in but then if the wiring at the other end didn't work for whatever reason I would have to undo it all. So I've decided to leave it just sitting how it is until tomorrow (at the earliest) when I can wire in the switched source (have I mentioned I hate wiring?)

anyhoo, here it is sitting in the car and the lights part working



I'd say its a nice fit with my grey and black seat :D

I retract my prior self back patting, and replace it with annoyance at my own stupidity, I was so damned excited about having this all in tonight!

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wiring part A

I've extended the wire that runs to the roof, I'm using wires taht were already in place, there are two wires that run up there for the dome light.



part B will be to connect that wire to a switched source, but I'm getting antsy to have the headliner back in so I might just wire it all together and test the connections a few times then put it all in place tonight

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tonight my daughter got to stay up late and help out in the garage, the boots were necessary of course


She helped me strip out the seats so I could get around to put in the headliner, she was THRILLED for her chance to sit in the car without her regular car seat


and what you've all been waiting for, it is now IN THE CAR!!!

view from the back seat (the australian flag covers my trunk area


from the back


from the driver's side



here you can see that the sun visors fit nicely in place


from the passenger side. You can see my other addition, a handle on the drivers side, not a usual feature in the civic but I frequently wish there was a handle there




here you can see my only flaw, I ripped the fabric just behind the hook in the rear area, I might have felt a little cry happen inside, but like a man I choked it back down and pretended I ripped it intentionally because I'm just that tough!



gotta say I'm pretty damned proud of my work, with noone left awake in the house I was tempted to wake up my daughter just to show her, I don't think she would care much though, although she does love a chance to play in my driver's seat

and there you have it, a weekend of work spread out over 3 years

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The following is the content from the other pages of this thread
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someone in the old thread suggested this needed a stop watch/timer in it, and the reason it does not is because I already have one on my dash



it is currently mounted very temporarily, but I'm big into things looking factory, so if I come to like it i will mold it in to look like it belongs

it appears huge but is actually smaller than the tach
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I thought a "little" patriotism might cover up some of my brother's custom work better than this green blanket




The end plan is, like all things, to make it look "stock". So I'll be covering it with grey carpet so it looks normal and you won't see the speakers at all
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Unfortunately not. While I did use the two wires that were already run for the civic dome they are not connected to the civic in the same way as before, they are spliced into other locations. And the Jeep console was completely rewired.

So, sorry, you will just have to break out the multi-meter and get playing, or invite over an electrically minded friend and provide them free beer.
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and some proof that the clock works




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Mine of course pales in comparison to this one in a mustang (which I hate, so need more honda content)

He relocated all his center console controls, A/C, radio etc, to the roof so he could mount an Ipad in the dash.


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not entirely related, but as a continuation of my comment on that mustang's overhead console and ipad in dash, see below my new dash iPad







not sure I like it, perhaps I should just go all the way and put it in the dash, and do the same relocating of A/C controls the mustang owner did
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JollyGreen

Nice man! Defiantly something different!

J.WOLFE~v1.0

sooo clutch/

Groovinator

Followed this from time to time (over the years) great to see it completed! looks really really good.

faster Type R

Nice job!

r_Senik

look like it's supposed to be there.

MonkeyPuzzle

thanks that was relaly my intent, and actually why I chose the older jeep console rather than something newer, the newer ones just didn't seem to mesh.

and as I think all car lovers look at least little to Chip Foose as inspiration, he has frequently said that when he is done with a modification you shouldn't be able to tell, it should fit like it was that way from the factory

JDM_rolex

That is great time well spent!

Bigman652

raw i need one ha

civicsmoke

That looks great, Nice work. Civics are really lacking in the lighting deparment, i just used a oldmobile alero rear view mirror, its got 2 map lights and mounts up to the factory window mount. It must be nice to have somewhere to hold your sunglasses and misc stuff.

Always_BROKE

Looks great! ::thumbs up::

MonkeyPuzzle

been driving the car and some first impressions

the sunglases holder is a little far back, in my fixed position 'race" style seat its a bit of a reach, but from the stock civic seat on the passenger side its fine.

The lights are great, very bright, way more light than you'd ever need, also, because they are spread out and not just a single dome light in the middle like from the factory, its actually easier now to find things behind the front seats, like dropped pacifiers and toys etc.

having the garage door opener up in the holder might be my favourite part so far, I always hated having that thing clipped to my sun visor. One thing I did note, the space for a holder is ENORMOUS, I'm guessing to accomodate the size of a typical garage door opener when Jeep first introduced this console, I think somewhere around 1994 perhaps? I know it was in my '96 jeep.

lastly, althoh I have yet to wire the clock into power it seems like it too is a little far back, so instead of seeing it from the corner of my eye I have to turn tolok at it. This is probably a good thing, but also probably related to the position of my fixed seat. I'll let you know how I like it.

In the end, I love it, I think it looks cool, its functional, it fits the OEM look, in general I think its a great improvement to the civic.

If I were to do it all over again I would know what I was doing and it would go far faster with less errors. And I might choose a different console, just to put things in the right place.

MonkeyPuzzle

oh and I'd love to see some of the more talented hands here on H-T do this and outdo me!

Scott.

iTrader: (1)

YEARS in the making

looks good! props for thinking out of the box

mr.jelly

iTrader: (2)

factory

M2S~Juan

wow!

MonkeyPuzzle

ok, another update after driving a few more days, I think in retrospect, or perhaps if I ever redo this, I would get a rear view mirror that attached to the front glass and then move the whole console forward several inches. I think it looks good in its current spot but would be a little more practical to use if it was slightly further forward.

although, of note, I LOVE having the four separate lights, had my kids in the car the other day and they each had a light pointing down on them while they coloured, it worked out great.

ONE-CAM-EF

haha that looks official as hell...good job man..

95BoostedEJ1

I like it..gj

Smokinsax

fantastic work

ChaseIntegra

That's awesome! I like it

RotiEatter

iTrader: (1)

Nice man. Good job on completing it. I remember the original thread, haha.

MonkeyPuzzle

additional note after usage, I intentionally left out the clips that hold the sun visors in place, mostly out of ease, but should be noted that when moving the sun visor to covering the side window it hits on the new console, so thats a little annoying, but easy to get around, but you know, just a slight imperfection.

I've been thinking of switching to larger sun visors as well, perhaps from the honda pilot, with my seat so low in the car the current sun visors don't come down far enough. Just another in the long list of planned customization

MonkeyPuzzle

someone in the old thread suggested this needed a stop watch/timer in it, and the reason it does not is because I already have one on my dash



it is currently mounted very temporarily, but I'm big into things looking factory, so if I come to like it i will mold it in to look like it belongs

it appears huge but is actually smaller than the tach

Blackpin93

That is really cool!