Anybody Sawed a Console in Half and Put it Back Together?

[Mustangerbob1]

I have a pair of 1967 consoles, with one broken pretty bad in the front, and the other one snapped completely off behind the seat belt holders. I was thinking about tossing the plastic bodies, but thought about Frankensteining them, cutting them both in half at the same point, and gluing them back together with some reinforcements on the backside where it would not be seen.

Anybody have some ideas or have you tried something like this before?

[beechkid]

Now I have not personally done this yet, IMHO I would think is it very doable given the adhesives available today in the auto body business! I would assume (like yourself i'm sure) that you would need a reinforcement panels attached to the inside (on each side) to provide structure & support- but 3M must have a bonding agent that would work well!

[RickD]

Tenex 7R works really well for repairing plastic on the Mustang consoles. Rather then gluing, it melts the plastic, welding the pieces together, no glue marks or lines.

[22GT]

Well, no matter how careful you are, there'll be a seam. Might be good for a driver, though.

[Pmustang]

The one in my 67 had more repairs then Frankenstein. If its black it should not show much for a driver. Maybe stagger the joint like when you repair a house beam and it will hide better.

[frontshadow]

If you use a SAW, you will probably MELT the plastic from the heat of the blade but the blade will cut thru. After the blade moves thru the plastic, the plastic will try to melt itself back together behind the blade. You might try this on some other plastic (same stuff) somewhere else in the car, like an old kick panel....maybe a Dremel tool at low speed and slowly.

[beechkid]

just apply a little trickle of water at the cutting point contact and that will take care of most of the issue.

[sixseven]

I have used a wide blade on my soldering iron to melt/stitch weld a piece that broke off years ago; still holding. You can see a slight seam if you look hard. As was mentioned above, modern adhesives like an epoxy might work well. You could use a scrap piece of plastic for a backing or you might try fiberglass screen which will help with shear strength.