Reproduction console problems 70-81 Firebird & Camaro
 

Has anyone else had problems with the shifter hole size of aftermarket center consoles? I bought an OER center console from Summit. The hole for the automatic shifter is 3/8” too narrow and ¼” too long. My B&M Mega Shifter plate does not fit and neither does a factory shift plate. Grinding it narrower will not help that it is too short and this is a very high dollar show/race/street car. I could make a new shift plate for my B&M, but the last chrome shop in Edmonton went out of business and there are none in my province. Plus, in Canada, chrome shops charge $200 to chrome something that small. Summit says that I can return it for an exchange which is over $200 to ship from Alberta to the return warehouse in western Canada and even more to send to the USA. Couriers and Canada Post charge 4 times as much to ship to the USA or within Canada, as the USA pays for shipping to Canada or within the USA.

I personally know David the owner of David T Camaro and Firebird. He says that all of the aftermarket consoles are like this. Goodmark gets the same ones as OER in China. That they have known about the problem for over a decade, but refuse to retool to make it correctly.

My Street Warrior 3900 lbs and it has run 9's on pump gas and 8.73 on NOS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjtrhuhZ4Xo&t=9s

well this is a bummer.

I appologize if this seems as a tangent, but if you're friends with the guy, does David have ziltch for supply of good used consoles?

I know the last time I had spare consoles, I had trouble selling them - and I have sold a LOT of parts to guys from Edmonton who don't want to pay David's prices.
(all the consoled I had and sold were automatic, I sold my last one about a decade ago)

I don't want to seem to knock David, or his business - he is a great resource to have, and I have bought a couple parts from him - he even snookered me into buying a club membership twenty-some-odd years ago.
LOL - he must have seen me coming!
On one of my visits there he even let me go to their (at the time) "other yard, where I met his dad, and was permitted to look around a bit - this is of course when his shop was in the city.
Smart business man, and again, a great resource to have.

I ask this because I have a guy currently trying to sell me consoles, but my past experience is that it's not worth my time.

... but back to your console, I have understood that everyone was able to make these new consoles work - after swapping the abs(?) brackets for OE steel ones, ect, ect...

YES. I have investigated and/or purchased every repro console on the market (there are actually only two manufacturers, IIRC, that are rebranded through a number of vendors) and every one has exactly the same problem — the shifter plate doesn’t fit by a mile. And it’s not a question of massaging the part to fit, like you almost always have to do with repop parts. There’s simply no way to make it fit without a custom ABS mold to reform the entire shifter hole. It’s nuts. They sell these things for what, $300-400, and they’re completely unusable. I think I bought and returned like three different consoles trying to find one that works.

You have to find an original console and rehab it. Frank’s Pontiac Parts is a good source.

The console you got from Summit is defective, and you shouldn’t have to pay the return shipping. Summit is usually really good about these things, but you might have to make a stink to get them to cover the shipping from Canada.

@ Ryan;
If you are able to do a return and David has no good consoles, email me.

Al Knock interiors recovers original consoles. IIRC John Hurd sends him cores. You may be able to buy one all done from John Hurd ( second gen graveyard ) he has a busy fakebook page too. So he is in Tennessee, Al Knock is in far southwest Texas, but maybe that could be shipped direct from Al Knock to Ca, or a border state near you or a relative.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7810/4...c8136c7c_c.jpg2019-03-08_12-28-15 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/7850/3...cb70f81a_c.jpg2019-03-08_05-14-57 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/7857/4...5ba7fa1c_c.jpg2019-03-08_05-14-43 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

Do you still have your original and how bad is it? Mine was literally broke in half! I was about to put it in the dumpster but heard nothing but bad reviews for the repro stuff, plus I like to keep original components with the car. A few hours of work and it looks better than new. They can be fixed.

just know that there is something different about the makeup of the original 1970 consoles.
What ever is the case, I could not get any repairs to adhere to the 1970 plastic/ABS or what ever it is.

My original did not have the outer vinyl significantly ripped, and had barely any burns on it but the structure between the front tray and arm rest were busted up pretty bad.
I tried repairing it many times over, and eventually gave up after I found a mint black console in a 1976 455 TA somewhere around '00.
Every fix looked great, and would hold up for a short time, then literally pop off.

I recently had my memory/suspicion confirmed - the 1970 consoles have grey backing/plastic, while the newer ones have black.

Do the 4 speed consoles have the problems?

My repro 4 speed console is useable at least. The opening is a little odd but not awful.

Purchased a repro 4spd console in the early 00's when first introduced by OER. I tediously changed out the front mtg bracket for a donor metal (non 8 track ) bracket, & the NOS shift tunnel & box fit well.

Oh that does remind me I had to cut mine for my 8 track to fit. I don’t recall if I had to cut any to fit the map pocket in there prior to the 8 track instal.