I'm looking for a economically friendly way to spruse up my interior. I like the price of those plastic dash caps, but are they any good. If anyone has one please let me know the following:

Does it cover the complete dash? Can you see any of the old dash, especially around the front? (My biggest concern)

If it does cover entirely, does it lay smooth over a cracked, bumpy dash? If not, what should I do to get it to look good?

Also, do they hold up to the sun and heat?

Any help would be great. I'm trying to make a nice truck, but I can better spend $400 dollars on body and performance rather than on a new dash. Please let me know.

Thanks in advance,
Greg

 

Greg, I too need a dash cover. Here's a url for an on-line store that has good prices and three models to choose from. I generally shop on line find what I want then go into one of their local stores. I don't know where you are from so don't know if you have shucks where you are but these look good and seem to do the job.
http://www.cskauto.com/main/main.asp

Good luck!


Lonallie@cs.com
lonnie.dotson@boeing.com

 

Thanks, but I'm talking about one of the dash caps/covers that are sold through several of the resto magazines. There supposed to glue on over the existing dash and look like a new dash, not just a little cover.

Anyone else have some info? Thanks

 

I have the exact same problem.
I have spoke to a body work friend of mine about it.
He said I have several options. We can always have it covered too.
But first the most important part. How to get it smooth before we apply the chosen cover. He suggests the canned expanding foam applied into all the cracks and uneven areas of the dash. Then sanding or grinding the surface to match the original shape. He said after all the dash is comprised of foam in the first place and it's very easy to shape. Then you install what ever surface you choose.
That's what I intend to do to mine. then I'll get and install a cover.
I read (I think here in the past)that they install rather easy and do cover every thing. My friend says he knows someone with a dash cover installed and you have to really look hard to tell there is a cover in place. Only the owner can tell according to him.

Hawkeye

 

Thanks! Do you know where I can get some of that expanding foam? I'd like to do that.

 

I bought a dash cap for my 70. I set it on my dash with no glue to check the fit. It looked OK, but not good enough in my opinion for my frame off/ground up restored F100. I ended up selling it, and buying a really good used dashpad on E-Bay. For the average truck though, they are probably good enough. As for the foam idea, I imagine you would have to remove the dash cover. After applying the foam, you would have to shape it almost like you would with a foam surfboard blank.They use special saws, sanders and grinders. This is almost an art form that the average person most likely would have a really tough time duplicating. I've used some of the spray expanding foam quite a bit. It's hard to control the expansion rate, and it's very messy.

 

Thanks, but where can I get the foam?

 

Home Depot, Lowes, or any building supply store sells it. I'm not sure if they keep it in the insulation section, or just exactly where it is, but they have it. One brand name is Great Stuff.

 

Hey, i bought one and installed it, and it looks great. I tried rebuilding my old one, as you are discussing, and after about 20 hours of wasted time, I just bought a dash cap and installed it. I felt stupid after spending all that time, when all I had to do is spend about a hundred bucks for a dash cap, glue it on, and move on to better things to worry about on the truck.

I guarantee you that if you try to rebuild the old dash by hand, it WILL NOT look any better than the new dash cap. I can't figure out why I doubted the quality, fit, and final look of the dash cap. It's excellent, and the common observer cannot tell the difference in the cap and the original dashpad.
Plus the dashpad will outlast any used dashpad you find.

I did the EXACT same process you are discussing, and finally got my sanity back when I figured out I was going to spend 100 bucks on all the materials to rebuild it anyway, and was going to be trying to reproduce an injection molded piece by hand, which is impossible.

 

Thanks, if that is the case, I'm gonna go with the dash cap. I've just about got the mechanical aspect of my truck in order. Some body work and everything will look good from the outside. I just don't have the cash for the interior yet. A dash is an easy project one day down the line. I just need to get by for a few years until then. Thanks for the help!

Greg

 

There are many things a person could use I suppose to fill the cracks with, prior to install of the cover. I have thought of silicone sealants to putty to foam. Yes the dash would need to come out, which isn't to big a chore from the looks of how it's held in. I do have a concern with the foam in it's hardened state, in that the original foam is flexable. I haven't found one yet to match that aspect. But I know many people out there have dashes in the same shape as mine, cracked with the famous upheaval and spreading as much as a 1/2 inch. That all can be cut away with a knife of some sort and filled in and sanded down in short order. Then the cover installed for a very near factory appearance.
I'd love to install a new dash but, the cost being near what I payed for my truck in the first place and the fact that they offer only black for the color (My truck is Blue inside and out) stops me cold in my tracks.
Unless someone turns me on to a better idea to recondition mine I intend to do the foam job and sanding, then install the cover. I may have an advantage over some in that I do a lot of hobby building of radio aircraft, these involve lots of fine sanding and shaping, hence the dash sanding looks very simple to me. Even for a severe cracked dash I still don't think the shaping would be that tough if handled with a little patience. If I end up making a mistake? Well, then it's another little squirt of foam and sand it to where I wanted it.
It's cheap and quick setting too, just watch out for how it expands,
a little goes a LONG way. Yes it's available at any major hardware store. I have even seen it in Target, or Walmart type stores before.

Hawkeye

 

I'm curious about what kind of foam you can sand? I've sanded foam, but it was always the stiff kind, like a styrofoam ice chest is made of, not the flexible squishy open cell stuff that are in dashes. I would think that when you try to sand it, it would just flex???

 

Lots of great ideas here! To those of you that have worked on filling the cracks in your old dash...did you do the work in place or remove the dash from the truck? If so, how do you pull the dash out of the truck? I can`t seem to determine how the dash is attached. Thanks

 

Hey everyone, I'll weigh in here. I put one on my 71 and love it. As far as filling the cracks I feel it is not needed unless you are using the carpet type of cover. Mine is made of hard plastic that is pretty rigid. All I did was cut down any ridges or high places with a razor and glue it on. It is loose in places now and needs some attention but still looks great. At $100 beats a new one unless it's a perfect truck. Mine is not.
Clint

 

How to remove a dashpad, clean it up, and put on a new cover


Take the dash pad out of the truck. You have to pull the glove box liner and the instrument cluster out. there are two rows of screws that protrude down through the metal of the dash. they are held in place by 3/8 nuts. One row is near the windshield, and the other in the curve of the dash, where it rolls from flat to horizontal.. the closest spot to your face I guess. Make sure you get them all, because there are some hidden in the corners. Once you get ALL the nuts off, you can pull the dashpad toward you and rock the windshield side up, or rather, the part closest to the firewall should lift up a bit and allow the dashpad to just roll of the dash into your lap. Don't try to push the part closest to you up first cause it won't work.
After that, scrape all the old flakey crusted skin off it, dig out all the crusted and stiff foam, and get a tube of black silicone and just fill the cracks with silicone, and then smooth with a putty knife. After all that, just glue the new dashcover over it and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS or you'll have wrinkles in the new dashpad.