Underneath the ashtray is the airbag sensor though (visible in one of the pics) and I'm not sure if it clears the empeg.

Well, I was going to say you could relocate that "whatever-it-was", but if it's the airbag sensor, I guess it's not something you should be fiddling with!

I'm trying to keep the wood panel (it flips up) to have a stealth look.

Hey, now that would be really cool. We'd need pics of that for sure.