I've been thinking about this project for a little while now. I just don't have anywhere to mount my Yaesu FT2800 2M Ham and I don't use 70cm enough to justify buying a new radio with a remote mount head yet - my eventual plan is to upgrade to an FT8900 or FT8800 which is slightly smaller and should fit the frame I'm building now. A few months ago I found this console on Dept of the Interior and that got the gears turning (BTW, their application list is HUGE - don't know if they export though)


This is my starting point, wall shelf track cut and tacked to the profile of my headliner (excuse the poor stitch job on the panoramic). It's a structural shape and will be fine supporting the minimal loads I plan to use it for.


The front mount is getting sandwiched between the rear view and the roof. The rear is where I had a problem. Pulling the interior light out and feeling around, I realized there is a metal channel at the back of the roof nearly 2.5" wide. This would suffice with the help of some RivNuts. So I measured and drilled holes . . .


. . . before popping in a few 1/4" RivNuts. The ones I got from the local Grainger are Stainless and were a lot harder to put in place than the cheapie aluminum ones - I have no doubt they will not pull out of the sheet metal


BTW, for cheap 2" wide x 1/8" thick (12ga) flat stock, check out the lumber tie straps at the big box home improvement stores - I got this 36" piece for less than $10


I got it bolted up, but far from finished, today.
Front sandwiched between the rearview and the roof:


Rear needs some slight "fine-tuning" to get the rest of the bolts in + I'm going to run 2 scraps of channel back onto the plate for reinforcement:


Overall, for now:

I got the radio brackets made and welded on today. Amazingly enough, all the holes were in the correct spots and the radio bolted right up after it was tacked onto the frame (out of vehicle, NOT using my radio as a jig while welding). My head is still fairly far away from the radio, I would really have to try to smack my head against it. In an accident, as long as the seat belt locks like it should, I'll have plenty of room.

I also drilled a bunch of other holes in the mounting bracket to adjust the angle of the radio. I plan on getting thumb screw type bolts so I just have to remove one from each side and move the radio to the angle I want - probably face it down a bit more if I'm expecting more use.



For the trim so far I'm thinking of leaving the side of the radio completely exposed so I can get to the adjustment - just running an acute triangle from the very front of the frame to the above the radio face.

I'm also not sure what else I want to mount up there, so suggestions are welcome. Probably a small "project box" with my lightbar switches. I'm thinking 2 low amp 12V power outlets piggybacked off the radio power circuit would be useful. I'd also like some map lights that I can aim (preferably something I can find at the Pick N Pull for cheap), maybe something like this


or this from the older Fords

I found a bit more inspiration on which direction I might take next, but I can't find any info on the company that built these. I kinda dig the fold-down compartment in the last pic.

The frame is done, so the next step is to bridge the spaces with MDF and then fiberglass over it all. The big flat bits on the left are the radio mounts the short diagonal parts near there are the switch panel mounts. The trapezoid thing on the right is for light/soft/small object storage - it's getting MDF on the front, rear, and bottom with a bungee mesh on both sides.

When it's upside down, it kinda looks like a big remote control car or mini rat-rod frame

Using 1/8" MDF, I "sewed" panels onto the frame. Screws would have shown through the 'glass and I figured nylon thread will soak up the resin and not show on the final product. Since the switch panel comes right to the top of the radio face, I decided not to have the power outlets (for plug in gooseneck map lights, etc) in the panel itself - anything I plugged in would get in the way of the 2M radio. So I welded on 2 more small panels to side mount the power outlets.

I still need to drill the holes for the shock cord mesh that will keep things in the small storage area and make a hole to recess my remote CB speaker, but otherwise I think it's finally ready for 'glass. From the switch panel forward (to the left in the pic) will probably just stay as painted metal while the rest will get covered in 'glass cloth - maybe just 3-4 layers and following the contour of the frame to give me recessed areas for future mounting options. So far, my total cost is less than $20 - I expect it might hit $30 after I buy some fiberglass cloth & resin

I think my problem was that I was trying to use pieces of cloth that were too big - if you've ever played with fiberglass cloth you know how easily small piece fray and come apart. That, and years ago I got some sage advice from a trusted body guy, "At some point you gotta stop *%&#ing with it or you'll just make it worse." So I used a razor to cut off the parts that didn't stick to the frame and laid down strips of cloth over the bare parts. The cloth and resin stuck to the MDF boards just fine. It still wasn't adhering to the metal quite how I wanted, so I put a piece of tissue over the cloth and set a piece of wood on top to hold it down. The tissue will soak up some of the resin, but should be easy enough to tear or lightly sand off once dry. A friend also told me that doing this outside (~50 degrees, no work shop) probably didn't help much.

Anyway, I got the frame all covered and somewhat finished - I'm going to live with it for a few weeks before I string up the shock cord. This isn't going to be the final color - it's just some cheap paint I threw on to see how wavy the fiberglass really is - final color is going to be a flat or matte grey like my dash. If I had it to do over, it would be much easier to fiberglass, and the results would be prettier, with mdf on both sides of the metal frame.

So here's "good enough for now" - eventually I'll drill the holes to zig zag some shock cord across the small storage area. The plate above my Yaesu still needs to be drilled for the lightbar switches, and you can see the power outlets that I might use for goose-neck map lights on either side.




I also have this in mind to keep the mic cord from swinging around. I already tested it out just haven't mounted it, when I pull on the mic the cord falls right out of the holder. If you need to know where I got this little plastic gem . . . it's a piece that has to be removed from an ES300 window regulator before install (holds a wire spool in place).

finished and mounted the switch plate. The red LED toggle powers the light bar switches - that way I have some kind of visual letting me know I may have flashing lights on my roof. The 2 top toggles are the white take-down and alley lights. Yellow cap is the amber rotators, red is amber/red front and rear flashers and the green cap is for the stage closing green rotators.



now I'm thinking about fabbing a new light bar mount so I can use the Yak towers with false gutters on the back and ditch my bolt on cargo rails . . . it never ends, does it?