Yeah, getting down to the minutiae here.

I'm just wrapping up a refresh of my center console, and I'm looking at my sad, chipped console hold-down screws. The only two visible screws on the entire dash, right there in the middle of the middle, holding the shift and radio surrounds in place.

Looking at them, and I realized that I can no longer remember if I repainted them before or not, and can't for the life of me recall what color they should be.

Any of you gents with original hardware in the console, can you please let me know; what color are the screws? Black oxide? Gunmetal? Flat black?



Oh, and in return, a hot tip: good hobby stores now sell various sizes of structural carbon fiber rod, both round and flat shapes.

This is not the 'woven' carbon fiber sheets that people like to make pretty things out of, but pure long-strand aligned bonded CF. Rings like a cross between glass and steel when tapped on something hard. RC plane buffs use it to reinforce wing spars and suchlike.

This stuff is far lighter and easier to cut (with an abrasive wheel- wear a dust mask) than steel or aluminum, adheres to both epoxy and CA adhesives very well, and is about as rigid as similar-size spring steel.

It is the PERFECT material for reinforcing the inside of a radio surround that has, say, been cut for a DIN style stereo & is showing some stress fracturing. Or backing up other plastic repairs at stress points.

Spent part of the weekend reinforcing the back of my stereo surround with it. Works incredible; thing feels rigid like it's metal now.

 

aaaannnnddd the where are the pix??

CF reinforced SAs. wot next!?

Pic from 78 production JDM brochure. Allowing for publication color accuracies and eye-balling my console screws I would venture to describe is as a semi-gloss medium-black (ie not jet black, some gray in it).
4 points of highlight around screw "X" seem to suggest the not-quite-glossy finish. Greenish cast is palette of the brochure photo.

cheers DD

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

i think i'll agree with Stu and go with semi gloss for sure. Glen, i have several original mazda screws that are in excellent shape. if i have a spare set do you want me to drop them in the mail for you?

 

Stu;

High-quality pix of the finished job (from the exterior) will need to wait until the wife gets back from a trip... she took the 'good' camera with her. Pix of the reinforcement work on the interior will have to wait until something else goes wrong, as there is no way in hell I'm taking it apart again just for snaps, heh. I was working under time constraints and didn't pause for photos.

Unlike stock builds where the console surrounds basically 'float' over the actual components, the modded surround in my car also supports the front rim of the DIN mount for the stereo. Removing it requires first disconnecting and removing the stereo, which is a major evolution.

Dave;

If you have a pair of console screws you're willing to part with, I'd have a hard time saying no, even though there's nothing really wrong with mine outside of maybe not being the right color.

I'll get a close snap of my current screws soon as I can, using my junky old cam I keep for garage work, & put 'em up. They look to be a sort of dark gunmetal grey, suspiciously like my exterior paint color, and they are definitely painted, which is why I think I may have painted them once years ago.

I think the stock color is the sort of semi-transparent black-oxide coating seen on a lot of the interior screws in the car, but which also tends to pit with age and moisture exposure. Not to mention the depredations of several dozen dates with screwdrivers over the years.

Your LS surround is gorgeous... and of course, I was looking at Stu's likewise-pristine from console the cover of last years' calendar, with his spunky "Euro-Obvious" icons on the OUTSIDE of the idiot light bar. But I just couldn't quite make out the screw color from it.

 

Glen, if you remove one of the screws and take a picture of it and post it up we can compare screws and find out exactly what you need. because i sold the LS i can't go remove the ones from that and compare to some in my screw collection..so unfortunately i need a pic. or you can judge based on the pics i provide in this post.

should be one of these two screws. i'm thinking the shorter one:





if you see any other interior hardware that i can help with, here's a pic of most of my assorted unsorted hardware:

 

It looks to be the longer of the two; I'll measure, photograph, and post tonight when I get home.

The two short ones look a lot like the screws that hold the top trim plate in place, up under the dash cover.

If you could post a nice tight photo of just the heads, I think I can get the color right from that info alone.

No need to deplete your stock when I've got two good screws on hand that just need the proper finish. You may need those for future work - - you handle many more cars than I do!

 

You might be able to find non-defaced ones some where else on the car in a less
visible place and use em in this location. No refinishing required. You could also try
just hitting the shiney spots with a sharp to dress it up.

 

i agree with the black oxide, i believe my SA was like that. i also have them if anyone needs, i just need the length...

 

Length:



Head color (on my non-scratched up one:



Really bad shot of almost finished job (surround not aligned right yet, crappy ol' 10-year-old 1.3mp pocket cam)

 

i will look thru the bucket of doom....

 

Glen i have the screws ready to go. looks like they will be the long ones. i can get pics of each head if you'd like. i don't mind sending them your way if they'll help.

 

Dave, if you're happy to send them, I'm thrilled to accept them!

 

Impressed - or: maybe aghast - that we can all prattle on with 12 (...13) replies about a screw. hmm.
Did that come out right?

you guys are my kinda peeps.
I am a very poor judge of character however...

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Glen shoot me a pm with your address and i'll ship them out to you. i really don't have a need for them and i think they'd be better suited in your 7 than in a plastic bin with various RX-7 interior screws.

 

Stu its right up there with RWL tires, replacement antennas and mirror light domes.

I think its because we're all poor characters

 

The finish actually looks the same as on the 81-83 radio surround. The two screws that mount at the top.

 

Too true; if we were all rich characters instead, we'd just contract out for exact reproduction parts as needed, like Jay Leno does.

We may be poor characters, but we're cleverer characters thereby.

 

A little late seeing this. Looks like you have it covered though Glen. The color of these interior bits is a little odd. Not really a true black, a little greyish-green in appearance in original form. I'be been looking for an oval headed, phillips screw that holds the door latch in the door frame if anybody has a spare. It is held in with three and I am missing one. Been buggin the crap out of me. I'm leaving out of town today but should be back by this weekend if anyone can hepl. Thanks.

 

i will add it to my bucket (of screws) list!

 

I may have one of these. can you take a pic of what it looks like.

 

Guys, Thanks! Stu sent a PM saying he dropped one in the mail so I should be good to go.

 

and the bucket fails! i found 1 screw that looks like its new. 1 that is very nice, but its got a little scratch on the head. a bunch of used ones, some gold cad, and even a chrome one...

 

if you need any more, i have several i can send your way. i recently parted out an 85 GSL and i have all of the door hardware from that.

 

Dave;
Thanks so much for the screws! They are installed, and looking fine in my completed console refresh:



My others were definitely not the right color.

 

Your boots look good too Glen. What is that plugged into the lighter?