The Corral

Mavromont Fox-3 Ashtray Door Fix

Written by Christopher Ihara Tuesday, 25 April 2000 18:00

Interior

MavroMont Industries has developed a special repair kit to repair broken ashtray door assemblies. If your door isn't broken yet, this kit will reinforce the mounting to ensure that it doesn't break in the future. The kit we received included machined metal reinforcements and all necessary screws and hardware for installation. The directions were extremely thorough and detailed. We have to admit that we were a little intimidated by their length, but the detail proved very valuable and they were quite easy to follow.

Installation was relatively easy and required no special tools. The only problem was that our kit did not include a replacement spring. You'll need a drill, a 3/16ths and 1/8th inch drill bit, pliers, flat head screw driver, XXmm Socket, Ratchet, and either a metal file or a dremel tool with a grinding or sanding bit.

The first thing that needs to be done is that the battery should be disconnected. You will be working near the power lead for the cigarette lighter which is always "hot," even when the car is shut off. Once you have disconnected the battery, the center console must be removed. To do this, however, requires that the arm rest and shifter boot must be removed first.

Console Removal
Shifter Boot Removal
You may not have to remove the shifter boot all the way. Simply lifting it up may give you enough room to work. This car was an automatic thus we needed to remove the shifter trim completely as there was no "boot" to hold the trim on.

1. Gently pry up the square plastic trim, that surrounds the shifter boot, from the center console. It will unsnap from the console at each of the four corners of the trim.
2. Now lift the the boot up over the shift knob so that it is out of the way.

1. Remove the two oval shaped cover pieces, located on either side of the arm rest supports, near the floor.
2. Using an 8mm socket, remove the four screws from the arm rest supports.
3. Lift the arm rest from the center console.

1. Remove the ash tray.
2. Unscrew the two screws at the front of the console, nearest the shifter.
3. Unscrew the two trim screws at the rear of the console.
4. Lift the console up some. You will not be able to lift it completely as the wiring for the power mirror control and the cigarette lighter will keep the console from lifting fully.
5. Carefully remove the power lead from the center of the cigarette lighter.
6. Remove the harness from the power mirror control.
7. Now lift the center console tray out.

Bracket Installation
The next step is to install the bracket to the center console. What condition your console is in will determine how you need to mount the brackets. If the spring tab is broken off, you will mount the bracket at a slight angle. If your tab has not broken off then you will mount the bracket directly to the spring tab.

Our spring tab was in tact so we followed the procedures for mounting the bracket to the tab itself. We drilled two holes in the spring tab while holding the bracket tightly against the tab with a pair of pliers. This helped to ensure proper alignment of the holes as we drilled. We then screwed the bracket to the tab using the supplied hardware.

Hinge Installation
In some cases, like ours, the hinge next to the cigarette lighter gets damaged. The kit also includes a repair for this malady as well. We simply drilled a small hole, installed a new screw which was included with our kit, and then tightened it down. This new screw will act as the hinge for the ashtray door.