Centre consol - black strip removal

[stag888]

Hi ,
Am planning to fit a strip of green LED's to the centre consol to illuminate the heater controls , only stumped at the start , I can't figure out how to access the auto shift light , which is where I intend to get the power . I assume the black plastic strip between the two wooden panels has to come out first , There appear to be no screws holding it in , and am reluctant to pull at it too hard for fear of doing damage to either it or the wood , is there a trick or a specific method of removal , do you have to pull or lever from a particular angle ?
A pointer in the right direction would be appreciated
Cheers
Steve

[malc4d]

The black plastic strip is connected to the front flat panel, and they should just lift up exposing a couple of screws holding down the gear bit of wood. (all from my old memory...)

[Marco Polo]

Yes the black plastic/rubber strip needs to be pushed or eased forwards, it can be quite sticky at times especially if the car has been owned by smokers, some gentle heat from a hair dyer may make it more plyable, don't use a heat gun in case you melt the varnish on the wood!
cheers,
Raoul

[stag888]

Have spent last 1/2 hr trying to push the strip forwards i.e. pushing from the shifter towards the ashtray , sort of assume there also needs to be a sort of rolling motion , as I believe what I'm actually trying to do is force a lip from under the rear panel by the shifter . Thumbs are actually quire sore and I don't seem to have made any progress. Am not keen on getting any prying involved for fear of damage . It's definitely not stuck , as there is slight movement in all directions , it's just seems well and truly locked in , am I missing a trick ? , or is yet more force required .
Steve

[Peter]

Steve,

Just try to pull it up, on mine its easy there isn't any real seal it just pushes in and pulls out - shouldn't need a lot of force. I'd be interested in how you mount your LED's always fancied some illumination on the heater controls

Peter

[fedex]

sounds like its been glued? try a flat head screwdriver at either end, that may give you an idea that it has.

[jleyton]

That plastic strip can go very, very hard with time.

I'd protect the wooden panel behind and, as suggested, with a screwdriver - or preferably something wider - lever the front panel up.

Good luck.

Cheers

Julian

[jleyton]

Hi Steve and Peter,

Here's a few pics showing the front panel coming out and also how I fitted LEDs to it.

I actually fitted a strip of three but found it too bright and so I've simply covered the outer two with insulation tape - one does the job just fine.

Cheers

Julian

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[andy p]

yep it just lifts out from the rubber strip i did mine just now

[cosmicwheels]

U S A spec cars have console light 726560 that shines down I made one up out of ali with strip of led lights,john

[stag888]

Finally out , used a 3" wide scraper , what I hadn't realised was that it was attached to the front piece of wood , and that it all came out in a one go , that I think was what had caused the problem , am going to start working out how best to put this together , Have connected the LED strip direct to the battery & I can see straight away if I use a full length strip of LED's it going to be far too bright , so I'll see what I can do to cover some over . I'll let you know how it goes , and thanks for the advise .
Steve