I decided to pull the shifter mechanism and clean it up. At some point water got into the console and sat in the bottom of the shifter.
With the shifter mechanism out I had to clean a lot of rust scale from the metal mounting plate. The result of earlier water intrusion was a a couple of holes. Fortunately the overall plate is still solid.
With the console out I took the opportunity to put down a layer of sound and heat deadener. Lots of wires, but not too messy. four pairs of speaker wires were needed to connect up the radio. I tag wires so I don’t have to trace them all over again later.
This is an amateur restoration so I’m perfectly happy to use fibreglass to repair the damage to the shifter mounting plate. I didn’t use sound/heat deadener where the shifter is located as I didn’t want to raise the mechanism from it’s original position.
Cleaned and painted shift mechanism back in place.
Gauge pod went in OK, but something shorted and the fuse blew and the clock stopped.
The clock contact is at the lower right. It is loose from the circuit board backing and I probably pushed the connector in crooked and caused the clock tab to contact the tab above it which is a ground. Most of the tabs on the right side and one on the left were loose from the circuit board backing. I used a small drop of crazy glue on each and it held them to the plastic of the board nicely.
Gauges and radio are all working OK now. Time to tackle the new console cover.