Land Cruiser Build Centre Console

Centre Console

This update on our Land Cruiser build shows you the install of a cheaper option for a centre console with a few more cup holders. A bit of DIY done here as well however this is not necessary.

This is how the centre console of the Land Cruiser looked before this part of the build. Not much to see here.

Sourcing off eBay

So I bought a cheap centre console off eBay – look I’d love to get a Cruiser Console (or similar brand) setup but I just can’t justify spending $600-$1,200 on something that is not that important. Well not that important to me. They look awesome but I would like to spend my cash elsewhere. I do also like the minimal plain look of the Cruiser so this option keeps to that look and feel.

See how to find this on eBay below if you are interested. I have seen a few other companies selling exactly the same looking unit online for over $200. This unit on eBay will cost you anywhere from $40-$90. When we purchased ours it was $90.

Top tip! How to find one on eBay.

Search “storage tray centre console land cruiser”

Centre Console Tray Install

As this is a cheap eBay purchase, fitting instructions are non existent. At first look you wouldn’t think you needed any. Mmmmmm…

There are three mounting points on the console tray that need to be fixed to the Cruiser. The top / back mounting hole fits sort of fine in the existing cup holder. There is a bit of fiddling around here but you will get this in easy enough. The bottom / front two mounting points require a bit more messing around. So I thought I was going to need to drill some holes here or use self taping screws. Started by pushing and feeling the carpet and then decided to get my hand under the carpet as I thought I could feel a few holes in the body. There are two holes in the body exactly where the mounting points are on the console tray. So now the other bolts provided in the kit make sense. However these bolts are no where near the right size. And will the holes even be threaded? Of course not.

Worked out that I would need something about 12mm in size to work so I did some searching online. I found some 12mm sized plastic rivets used for bumpers on eBay that should do the trick – check the images below to see these. For now it’s fitted well enough using a couple of M12 bolts I had in my shed. See my top tip below to find these on eBay.

Top tip! How to find these on eBay.

Search eBay – “12mm car fender plastic rivet push pin”

Fittings from eBay arrived. The screw is 12mm wide and 22mm long, the plug is 19mm wide. Could only buy a bag of 19 so lots of spares – you will need spares as removing them basically destroys them so keep them handy. They work perfectly just what you need to secure to the existing holes in the Cruiser. See pics below to get an idea of how they worked. The plastic rivets are 12mm in size. Made for car fenders so strong. Easy to use and match console nicely being black.

First Few Trips

Done a few trips and day to day driving with the console tray. Overall I’m happy with the unit, it serves its purpose. Can’t have a large bottle in the cup holder as it gets in the way of reverse. Smaller bottles and coffee cups are all good. For me it could be about 30mm narrower so that your left leg does not rub into it while cruising. I’ve worked out now that you can get your leg over the corner and this is more comfortable. I’m just on 6 foot so if you are taller then it’ll be more comfy but it’s not bad. For what it cost it’s all good. But I would like another cup holder as I always have a coffee, with my water bottle and Wifey’s, so I’m short one. So I’m going to have to make another one.

DIY Cup Holder

So a couple small pieces of plywood (from a bunch I have lying around after a work bench project), cardboard for a stencil, black spray paint, carpet, spray adhesive, a few small screws and some wood glue. This is going to become my additional cup holder to fit between the standard centre console and the eBay one.

Putting it all together

Used some cardboard to get a stencil of the angle of the centre console and the Cruiser body to make this process easier. Once I had the cardboard stencil done, I cut two pieces of ply from this. If doing this the piece on the passenger side will need to be about 7mm longer as the body is slightly lower here.

Cut the top section of the cup holder from the ply and then used a hole saw to cut a perfect circle just big enough to fit my large water bottle. Cut one more small piece of ply for the bottom about 30mm wide. To put it all together I drilled a couple of really small holes in the sides to keep it all together. Before adding any screws, once the holes drilled and all lined up, used some wood glue, joined the pieces together and then screwed together. I then used a couple of clamps and let it sit for a couple of hours. Once the glue had dried I then tided it all up with a file and sandpaper, not that you need to go crazy here as it is getting covered in carpet. Just wanted to get all the corners nice and smooth as well as the inside of the cup holder hole as this will be exposed so want this to be nice and smooth. I then added a small piece across the front of the cup holder, I used a thin piece of MDF I had in the shed, this piece will just sit above the step up in the car body in front of the eBay console. This provides a far better looking finish and fit.

I then painted it all black with spray paint. Mainly focused on the sections of timber that will be exposed and not covered in carpet. This being the inside mainly as you will be able to see in here when the cup holder is not being used. Once the paint dried it was time to cover in carpet.

Carpeting

I had never done this before so there was a bit of guess work here. Either way it is fairly straight forward. I cut a piece of the marine carpet that I purchased from Bunnings. The piece had about 5-10mm over hang on each side of the top of the cup holder and was long enough to go all the way around from the front, to the top and then the back. I did not carpet the bottom. I then cut away bits of the rubber on the back of the carpet where the carpet was going to fold over the cup holder, I did this to make it easier to fold. I then sprayed both the back of the carpet and the timber with the spray adhesive and then let sit for about 15 minutes until the glue was touch dry. Then I sat the timber cup holder onto the carpet, pushed down really hard and then folded each side up one at a time, rolled the edges over my work bench and then clamped for an hour. I did not trim the overhang on the sides as I only wanted to do this once I have the carpet stuck on the sides, so that I trim it to the correct width. In hindsight, I should have done the sides first, trimmed the edges and then done the top section.

Anyway, moving on. Then using the cardboard stencil I cut out two carpet sides. I cut these slightly bigger (1-2mm approximately) on each side so that I could get a nice tight fit. Lined these up and trimmed a bit to get the sides to fit snug. Sprayed adhesive on both contact points, making sure to get some adhesive on the under side of the carpet already added to the cup holder so that the carpet will stick to each other, let dry and then added to the cup holder and clamped. Left for an hour or so and then trimmed all the carpet with a knife for a nice finish. Cut out the hole for the cup holder and done, it looks really good.

Now fitting to the car? Decided to use velcro that has adhesive on the back of it. Cut a few strips and stuck to the car’s centre console and to the bottom of the cup holder. As the cup holder is a nice tight fit you have to push it in nice and tight and the velcro holds it in place. Job done.

Final Setup

Finally the centre console part of the Land Cruiser build is done.

A lot of work for a cup holder. It has been installed for a few months now and works a treat. Nothing really to it but does its job and allows me to have my large bottle beside me out of the way of the gear stick. Holds a coffee as well. Got some good practice for the drawer modifications I am currently planning – post on that to come soon.

This is what it looks like now….

Verdict

Would we do this again?

Yes I recon we would. Overall it is functional, we have plenty of cup holders now. Enough storage options with the compartments that come in the tray insert. The final setup cost about $130 – however I see the console trays are a lot cheaper now on eBay so you could do this for under $100 easy.

One day maybe we will go with a more expensive option. We will wait and see.

The centre console part of the Land Cruiser build is the one that we have probably received the most questions about from other Cruiser owners. If you have any questions or comments about the centre console part of our Land Cruiser build then please post them below or message us on Instagram.

The thoughts of Peter.

Read more of our posts on the Land Cruiser build here.