I had received a dash overlay that came with a car that I bought but didn't
like the way it looked. It all depends on how much you want to take your
dash apart. I was doing a full restoration, so the car was in pieces and I
thought I would try this. I went to the trouble of carefully removing the
original cap from the metal dash top trying to salvage the foam underneath
the vinyl. I disconnected the entire dashboard from the top which requires
removing gauges and everything else that goes with it. I then cut off the
raised lip of the split or splits with a razor blade to make it as flat as
possible, filling in the split with body putty and sanding it down. Then I
used contact cement to glue just the edges under the cap close to the
windshield, wrapped it around to fit under the dash panel and glued it
there. I was able to form fit using a heat gun around the ash tray and the
raised area above the gauges but just glued the area around the ash tray to
keep the indentations on both sides of the ash tray. I don't believe that I
used glue all over the entire dash top so the vinyl can flex a bit. I then
glued it back onto the metal dash top and bolted up the dashboard to it.
This was done at least four years ago and it still looks like day one. Back
in the 70's I did this to my tr4 dash top and it too still looks good after
all these years. They now have a full replacements for these dash tops but I
am still too cheap to go that route. Hope this helps. Bob Krivenko
-----Original Message-----
From: Spitfires [mailto:spitfires-bounces@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Doug
Braun
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 6:28 PM
To: Spitfire Group
Subject: Re: [Spits] dash cap
I did a dash cap about 10 years ago (before remanufactured originals were
available), and it looks fine to me, certainly a lot better than the cracked
original.
If I remember correctly,
I completely removed the dash pad, clued on the cap, and re-installed the
pad.
Doug
On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 3:43 PM, Kevin Rhodes <krhodes1@maine.rr.com> wrote:
>
> Ib m going to try to install a dash cap on a 75, not a full
> replacement dash.
>
> some of the forums said its better to just fill the holes and vinyl it.
>
> anyone done either and/or have a recommendation?
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