Center Console Conversion

jbleu101

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Location
Ohio
TDI
2002 Jetta TDi, GLS
I am not good at anything mechanical, but this is an easy replacement. I bent the arm of my E-brake handle to work with the new console. The downside is I feel like you can not grab it normally, ie, the back of your hand facing to the passenger side (North America) So I have to turn my wrist 180* and have the back of my hand towards me to disengage the ebrake. Different story to engage...you can engage the thumb lever and put it down and extend your thumb until it is completely disengaged. This manuever is not possible when engaging the ebrake. I hope this makes sense. It is an easy mod and soooo worth it. Apparently in Europe they do not use cupholders as commonly as we do here. I think the black would look fine with grey interior. You will not regret having your cups to your side rather than cleaning crap out of your stereo buttons every couple of months when you spill stuff. Good luck
 

jbleu101

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Location
Ohio
TDI
2002 Jetta TDi, GLS
Oh yea, and I even fixed my jacked up armrest while I was in there making that upgrade. I dont remember what I did, but the hinge was screwed up and I made it work again with a simple fix. The armrest works to this day but wobbles a little more than the factory junk that broke.
 

TomJD

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI GLS, 2015 Golf TDI
Well I have begun the project and am working on getting the ebrake handle aligned. After that it is all set. I went with ecstuning for some and 1stvw for others.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
Bump...

I recently put one of these in my car: also converted my in-dash cup holder to a phone docking station. I didn't bend the e-brake handle as much as it should have been bent, out of fear that I'd mess something up, but it's good enough for me. It rubs on the console a bit. But...

I'm going to now do this upgrade to my wife's car and I want to make sure I don't have any binding of the e-brake handle on/against the console.

What has not been clear to me is the technique of bending that is being used. When I did mine I pulled from the release/button end (not like there's any other end one can bend from;)) and most of the give tended to feel like it was bending from the top rather than the base: felt more like I was just pulling the top over and less of a twist of the base.

How are people actually leveraging their bending?

What's it take (description) to drill and shift the base? (this seems like a cleaner way)
 
Last edited:

251

TDI Owner/Operator
Joined
May 11, 2002
Location
NW IN
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL
I did this mod as many others did back in 2003. The following thread was our reference and the problem is there used to be many pictures to show things which are now gone.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=49017&page=2

I do know when tongsli did his he did not have the new offset e-brake handle so he enlarged the holes in the existing non-center cupholder e-brake handle to make them slots. This way the handle slides over and won't rub on the new console. Even though the holes are now slots the e-brake handle will not move once the hardware is tightened down.

The correct e-brake handle for use with A4 center consoles already has the required offset / clearance for use with a center cupholder console.

Should be no need to bend it as some of you are saying in this thread unless you are reusing the OEM e-brake handle from a car that did not come with a factory center cupholder console. If that is the case, slot the holes in the bracket and it should fit, no bending required!

Also keep in mind if using the above linked thread Impex may not be able to get these parts any longer due to a change in management a few years ago. The previous management was very good about helping us TDI'ers source some of these parts which had to be special ordered at times.
 

bobbiemartin

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Location
Jacksonville, FL
TDI
2010 Tiguan TDI 4Motion, Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD
There are plenty of these in salvage yards (or even on ebay) now so finding the correct brake handle is pretty cheap and easy.
 

fruitcakesa

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Location
Vermont
TDI
04 jetta 5 spd wagon
I also did this mod and I enlarged the bolt holes in my existing e-brake base and it fits fine with no rubbing.
I did this mod as many others did back in 2003. The following thread was our reference and the problem is there used to be many pictures to show things which are now gone.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=49017&page=2

I do know when tongsli did his he did not have the new offset e-brake handle so he enlarged the holes in the existing non-center cupholder e-brake handle to make them slots. This way the handle slides over and won't rub on the new console. Even though the holes are now slots the e-brake handle will not move once the hardware is tightened down.

The correct e-brake handle for use with A4 center consoles already has the required offset / clearance for use with a center cupholder console.

Should be no need to bend it as some of you are saying in this thread unless you are reusing the OEM e-brake handle from a car that did not come with a factory center cupholder console. If that is the case, slot the holes in the bracket and it should fit, no bending required!

Also keep in mind if using the above linked thread Impex may not be able to get these parts any longer due to a change in management a few years ago. The previous management was very good about helping us TDI'ers source some of these parts which had to be special ordered at times.
 

turbovan+tdi

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Abbotsford, BC.
TDI
2003 TDI 2.0L ALH, auto, silver wagon, lowered, Colt stage 2 cam, ported head,205 injectors, 1756 turbo, Malone 2.0, 3" exhaust, 18" BBS RC GLI rims. 2004 blue GSW TDI, 5 speed, lowered, GLI BBS wheels painted black, Malone stage 2, Aerotur
.

I'm going to now do this upgrade to my wife's car and I want to make sure I don't have any binding of the e-brake handle on/against the console.

I have the console and e-brake lever, ;)
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
I have the console and e-brake lever, ;)
Darn! I didn't come back to this thread soon enough. I have the console for the wife's car but haven't gotten around to installing it yet. But, I'm currently refreshing my rear brakes and e-brake cables, in which case I've got my console back out and I'm going to revisit this issue.. I think that I'm just going to look to drill the holes on the brake handle. If for some reason this turns out to be a pain I'll get in touch with you!
 
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