Need a bit of help with fabrication!

[hooblah]

Hi guys I'm new to all this fabricating stuff. This is the first time I'm attempting something like this and i'd like to do it properly the first time, so I want to know how others would go about it.

Ive got to install a cable shifter into a mk1 golf and it has to mount in the factory position, but it has to come up as high as possible without fouling the centre console. This is for maximum exhaust clearance.

I've cut out the top of the centre console, thinking it would be a simple job of making up a plate and cutting out a hole for the shifter, however, I didnt anticipate it being double skinned

I want the shifter to mount up from underneath, but it needs to be raised a bit, so its not just a simple case of fitting a plate flush with the tunnel. I'm using a VAG cable shifter out of an Audi A3 if anyone was wondering. You can see it a bit in the first and fourth pics, albeit disassembled.

Here's pics:








Ok so where do I even start with something like this? I'm totally out of my depth and have come up with a solution or two, but I'm not too sure of them. What would you guys do in this situation? Remember the shifter has to come up above the tunnel whilst allowing the centre console to fit over it.

Thanks guys!

[rude]

I'm not sure I am understanding your problem but first I would need to know what I was fixing and where. Kind of mock up the position of where I want the unit so everything fits (heightwise etc...) and then plan on how I was going to build up to it, if you know what I mean. It would be helpful to see in the pics where you need it to end up. Or am i off key here? :S

[hooblah]

No, I understand what you mean. Its kind of tricky as I have to work on the car outside and the weathers taking a turn for the worse

I'll try and get some pics of it all in place next weekend. Thanks for the help!

[Mystery Machine]

Can't you just move the exhaust over rather than having it dead centre in the tunnel? It seems like you're going a long winded and complicated way around this rather than trying to address the issue itself. Unless I'm missing something really obvious?

[mk2cossie]

a bit late i guess as the hole is already there, but the veedub boys normally bolt the shifter to the top of the tunnel, and have a new hole made for the shift cables to go out the lower part of the bulkhead

[hooblah]

No I cant move the exhaust as the tunnels not wide enough to allow for me to go around the shifter. Thats the downpipe from the turbo btw.

I cant just whack the shifter on top of the tunnel as it fouls the centre console. I'm aiming for a factory look.
Whichever way I do it, something will have to be fabbed to bring the shifter down or above the tunnel depending on if its mounted from above or below.
What do you suggest?

[optimusprime]

What do i suggest ?

Cardboard.

Make some mock ups, cheaper and easier than trying bodge bits of metal together. less stressfull as well.
And you never know, it might give you a 'lightbulb' moment.

[ben711200]

Can you weld a strip however much taller you need it to be around both the edge of the hole on both the inner and outer skins, and then reattach the pieces you cut out atop the strips? Possibly massively over simplistic, but without knowing how the shifter mounts or where the cables need to run..

[datsundrew]

Thats exactly the way my thoughts were going- join the two with a strip, and either use a thicker srtip to raise or lower to the required height, or create a flange which the original tunnel (or fabbed) could bolt /weld to ?

[chairchild]

also - pics of the shifter semi-bodged in place, and the height of the console you're trying to fit would help...


All I can see, is an unfamiliar hole, with a partial bit of pipe underneath