96 E350 Interior engine cover broken

[ClubWagon]

I'm still pretty new around here. I have a 96 E350 Club Wagon EB I have for about 7 years. Depending on time and funding in the next couple of months I will hopefully be getting started on a 6" ujoint conversion. Anyway that's for another thread. The interior engine cowl/cover on van now is basically falling apart. I would like to replace it with one out of a newer van so I could actually have a couple useful cup holders and maybe some small storage area. I know the dash changed in 97?? and again in 09 or 10?? Not exactly sure of those dates. So I with that said wasn't sure if any of the newer covers would fit my 96. Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or suggestions? Thanks!

 

[ujoint]

The newer covers won't fit your van because of the floor cut, I don't know of many good options. Maybe look for some RV style consoles that can bolt up to a stock dog house?

 

[ClubWagon]

Thanks for the info Chris! I've thought about just trying to modify the cover I have now. So maybe I'll just see what I can do that way.

 

[dwh]

Long time ago, I found something like this, but made of wood, and screwed it to the front of the doghouse of a '68 Chevy van. Loved it. I've done it several times since then on various different vans.

I've even gone so far as to combine both a top mounted "drink tray" with a face mounted "cup holder" (like above) to be able to have 4 cup holders. Not that I needed 4 cup holders, but to have the extra storage space for handy bits and pieces.

Also if you are going to fix/replace your doghouse cover, I would strongly suggest removing the fiberglass insulation and instead lining it with Dynamat or some other such insulating/sound deadening stuff. Make a BIG difference.

 

[86scotty]

Do you mean the doghouse cover (that covers the engine) or the tray/cupholder/console that clips to it? If the latter you have more options. I have seen a pre 97 van (which I have too) with a new style console in a for sale ad somewhere awhile back, but I didn't save it and hate that I can't find it now. I really want to mod a new one to fit mine. All of the consoles can be found on Ebay regularly. There was a 96 on there a few days ago but looks like it's gone now.

For your reference, 92-96 fits your van. There are 2 styles that I've seen, a simple plastic bin and a fold down nice one with cup holders and organizers, etc. I have one of these. They are REALLY rare!

97-07 or so are different and won't fit right up. There are a few different styles, from simple bins to ones with 4-5 cup holders.

In 08 or so they went with the newest style, which will also fit the vans back to 97 but not older. I have seen one modified to fit and will be trying this myself as soon as I find a cheap one to hack up.

 

[ClubWagon]

Yeah I didn't realize that that it was actually two pieces. The doghouse cover itself is okay. It's just the storage area/cup holder that's broken. I'm assuming that it was the flip down type that 86scotty said. When I bought the van you could tell that something was missing but I wasn't sure what it was. I might see if I can make something like dwh said or try the route of trying to attach a newer style to the my doghouse. Also doing sound sound deadening on the doghouse is a good idea too. I didn't even think of that. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[ClubWagon]

I'll be sure to post what ever it is that I come up with or what doesn't work out so well.