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Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:27 am

Product Review of the BusDepot dash console http://www.busdepot.com/j13123

The item is a special order and took at least a month to arrive. Comes with no special instructions or explanations. Yeah it is two pieces of molded plastic that you need to press together, it has a tendency to repel each half and so does not stay closed without the screws. SCREWS? yes screws to the dash. I attempted to install with the provided black screws, drilled a pilot hole throught the flimsy plastic console and into my dash, however the supplied screws seemed too short to reach and grab the dash through the console. My thought was to anchor this one corner down and then drill the pilot holes for the rest of the anchor points. The dash has a tendancy to want to slide off the dash and the one hole I did drill is ugly.

Here is a shot that shows the 2 piece nature, backside:

Top side with what I assumed were drill points:

I stopped here, especially considering the rarity of a beautiful early non padded dash in black. I don't know, will I really put stuff in this thing to clutter my dash up? I am now extremely hesitant to add any further holes to my dash at all. This console is starting to appear like it truly is, over priced plastic accessory nonesense. Syncrodokas idea of OEM cup holders down by the floor sound more appealing.

Are the consoles with a tray made of sturdier stuff? I mean they are only $20 more than this one was.

Anyone know how to repair small holes in the dash?

Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:45 pm

Bman wrote: Product Review of the BusDepot dash console http://www.busdepot.com/j13123

The item is a special order and took at least a month to arrive. Comes with no special instructions or explanations. Yeah it is two pieces of molded plastic that you need to press together, it has a tendency to repel each half and so does not stay closed without the screws. SCREWS? yes screws to the dash. I attempted to install with the provided black screws, drilled a pilot hole throught the flimsy plastic console and into my dash, however the supplied screws seemed too short to reach and grab the dash through the console. My thought was to anchor this one corner down and then drill the pilot holes for the rest of the anchor points. The dash has a tendancy to want to slide off the dash and the one hole I did drill is ugly.

Here is a shot that shows the 2 piece nature, backside:

Top side with what I assumed were drill points:

I stopped here, especially considering the rarity of a beautiful early non padded dash in black. I don't know, will I really put stuff in this thing to clutter my dash up? I am now extremely hesitant to add any further holes to my dash at all. This console is starting to appear like it truly is, over priced plastic accessory nonesense. Syncrodokas idea of OEM cup holders down by the floor sound more appealing.

Are the consoles with a tray made of sturdier stuff? I mean they are only $20 more than this one was.

Anyone know how to repair small holes in the dash?

Don't do it, Man! After a year or less you'll wonder why you did! If anything get one of the nice
carpeted dash covers and keep the dash looking good for years to come.
I actually bought the small
version of the dash console and took it out after a few months. Went with the dash cover and I like
the looks of it better.

Plastic piece of crap (tho some will love it)

The Dash Cover is oh so soft!

Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:28 pm

Tim,

Yeah, that one hole I do have freaks me out, I'm seriously leaning toward abandoning this accessory, I just don't think permanant holes in an excellent dash are worth it. That small one you tried, did it just slide into your ashtray? That might just be perfect for me, I just need a place to place my coffe man.

Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:34 pm

Bman wrote: I just need a place to place my coffe man.

I don't see the appeal of having a bunch of cubbies full of trinkets and crap on my dashboard, waiting to spray my passenger in the face if I slam on the brakes or worse. I imagine they would also get in the way of hanging my front curtain when time to set up camp.

I have two flip-down drink holders screwed into the lower part of the dash (down my the floor, on either side of my gear selector housing). Perfect location to grab a drink while behind the wheel, a spill won't hurt anything, and they're not in danger of getting kicked off and broken like holders screwed to the seat pedistals. I did have to use spacers to get them to hold cups completely vertically but that was pretty simple to do.

Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:24 pm

SCM wrote: Bman wrote: I just need a place to place my coffe man.

I don't see the appeal of having a bunch of cubbies full of trinkets and crap on my dashboard, waiting to spray my passenger in the face if I slam on the brakes or worse. I imagine they would also get in the way of hanging my front curtain when time to set up camp.

I have two flip-down drink holders screwed into the lower part of the dash (down my the floor, on either side of my gear selector housing). Perfect location to grab a drink while behind the wheel, a spill won't hurt anything, and they're not in danger of getting kicked off and broken like holders screwed to the seat pedistals. I did have to use spacers to get them to hold cups completely vertically but that was pretty simple to do.

These work well with cans but not large coffee cups if you have a manual tranny. I like the idea of
putting them lower on the seat pedestal. The smaller tray was screwed to a board that fit into the ash
tray location. It didn't move around but I never put anything other than a can in it while driving.

Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:09 am

I'm going to order the tray with the map table from eurovancamper.com, is about $18.50 cheaper than other sources right now. I don't like the idea of more holes in the dash but the PO drilled 4 holes to mount a fan and switch so I want to cover them up, so the damage is already done.
http://www.eurocampers.com/Vanagon-Deluxe-Dash-Console_p_441.html

I'm going to add some gauges as well. A few months ago on Amazon I saw a dual digital voltmeter gauge from a marine supplier, would be perfect to monitor the house battery and alt. However, I don't see it any more. Does anyone know a source for something similar? I like the look of analog gauges, but don't have the precision for trying to monitor charging, solar, consumption, etc.

Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:24 am

Hello, I just installed one of these Eurocampers dash consoles last night in my '91.

I didn't need to cut or do any other modification for it to fit, I just let it settle on the lip of the dash, then drilled into the dash to secure it (I don't think I have the same lip as the guy in those first photos). The back overhangs a little on the passenger side (toward the windshield), but I just used a 2 1/2" screw and put a piece of vacuum tubing over the screw to act as a spacer/hide the screw shaft from view. I also installed a dual USB port on the top side between the driver's cup holder and the ashtray, and drilled a hole and fit a grommet to hold my Bluetooth stereo's microphone. I used the gray screw caps we have in our vans to cover the screw heads...that looks pretty nice (better than screw heads).

My question though, is how did you fit the gauges to the front? I believe I have the same size gauges as pictured, but it seems they won't fit without interference from the cup holder/ashtray molding (maybe the cupholders are molded deeper than before)? I have 2 gauges I'd like to mount to the there, but don't think they'll pop in there without cutting the bottom off the cupholder.

Finally, I tried to do the hinge thing as another talked about here, but didn't think it through all the way. I put the hinges on the front side, mounting behind the plywood that lines the front, but didn't realize that wouldn't really allow it to flip up properly (but I'd already put two holes in the dash for that spacing by the point I realized and didn't want to tear up the dash further with more holes). It'll flip up about 75-90 degrees if I loosen the dash screws, but it's kind of a pain. If I did it again, I'd figure out how to put hinges on the backside (though like I said, there's some overhang on the back so that'd bring up its own problems) or I'd dremel out the sections I'd need from the plywood in the front to place the hinges flush with the plastic). As it stands, my hinges really just serve more as brackets than hinges.

In any case, it looks nice, provides much of what I wanted in a dash console and wasn't too hard to figure out how to mount (some work with precise measuring for the dash holes with the hinges).

I hope my wife appreciates the computer tray, as she wished for one on our last trip (she can't stay off the computer in the car on longer trips...groan...), and this led me to pull the trigger on the purchase.

I bought from Bus Depot; the first one that came had some dent damage to the passenger corner (right in your face when you open the door). They had me take and send them some photos and a new one arrived within days...I'm still not sure if they want the daamaged one back or not :) Anyway, I'm happy with having been sent a replacement (that was packed much better :)