my turn for:what have i started? CS2 2000 restoration

[SoFlaFiat]

Looking good Cos!!

[Ptoneill]

Very neat look!! Did you have to brace the sides? I know when I took the foam off of my console it seemed a little flimsy.

[cos]

hi, yes it's only approx 1.2mm thick steel, and feels flimsy, but after welding top plate around the hand brake area and the gearshift plate was bolted on it felt more rigid. Once fitted and secured on the car it was fine.

[cos]

Very busy weekend, as my new Cobra seats arrived, and look fantastic with the basketweave centre i requested.
As i mentioned before, the Audi radio console is dimensionally the same as the Fiat, so through ebay i managed to locate a cheap damaged unit (the outer shell) for £8 ($12 approx) and went about making new fascia and holes for the various switches and interior light unit. Couple of "S" shape brackets have secured the unit under the dash, and i used the Audi idea of the knee pad frames to support it at the bottom and make the centre console more rigid. The Radio console had to be fitted as close as possible to the heater unit for the radio flap to open (soft touch).
The triangulated frames were machined to match the centre console (holes)

[Ptoneill]

You have a great eye for design, it looks great!!

[spider2081]

looks great.

[cos]

thank you for your comments. Enjoying this stage of build......

[RRoller123]

Those side reinforcement plates are very clever, and cool looking too!

[SoFlaFiat]

Looks like you are getting very close Cos!!
Nice work!!

[cos]

thank you! yes with interior almost there, time to sort out the fuel lines and concentrate on the engine......

[cos]

both seats in, as well as the steering wheel.....

[markintheair]

Wow man, awesome job!

[PeterSteele]

just as i thought. The one off price was a "special" just for me, even though programming and set up has been done already. If he produces these in small volume it will cost me $135 ea, unless these are made in 50 or more to bring the cost down to $75-80.

That's a spectacular deal, really.

I don't know what CAD-CAM software or machine type was used for this, but if I was making it myself, I'd have 1-2 hours of design work in CAD, .5 hours of toolpathing in CAM, and then ... on my CNC mill at work I'd probably be looking at about an hour of cutting time and 30 minutes of setup per piece. On my CNC at home I can cut a LOT faster - probably 20-30 minutes total - but the setup time would be longer. (Also, at home I'd be cutting wood or plastic, not aluminum like I could do at the office.)