Woodworking 101

After taking a few measurements, it's obvious that you can't fit anything wider then about 4" between the Miata seats. I also knew I wanted it to cover most of the handbrake and go back to the edge of the rear shelf. That gave me an overall length of 18". As for the height..........that's more of a personal preference based on how tall you are and what's comfortable to you. I guess that's one of the advantages of making your own console. I settled on 6" high for the base at the front and it ends up at about 7" when the top is in place. The console does taper from front to back due to the slope of the drive shaft tunnel. I think I ended up at around 4" high at the rear.

I had a 2'x4'x3/8" plywood panel that I used to make the base and top. I toyed with using some 1/2" poplar but was afraid of it warping over time. Because it would all be covered in leather and wouldn't be subjected to any stress I just butt joined it and hit it with 1" nails.

All roughed out and ready for a test fit

Fits nicely between the seats and over the handbrake.

Handbrake fits with no problem

The handbrake is actually offset to the drivers side.........at least on my car it is.

Here's the inside........complete with a little.......

A little shelf to cover the handbrake.

Once I had this together I started thinking about how I was going to cover and finish it "neatly". I also needed something more robust to mount the piano hinge to as the plywood was too thin. The solution I came up with was to take some 1"x4" and rip it into 1/2" x 3/4" strips which I nailed to the top of the plywood edge. With this set up I could take the leather and roll it over the trim and glue it to the underside where no one would ever see it again.

This added 1/2" to the overall height so factor that in before cutting the plywood pieces.

All 4 top edges finished

Don't forget to bevel the trim to match the angle of the front piece.

Now that the wood is all done, it's time to cover it with foam and line it with..............more here.