The windshield has to come out to inspect the frame and pillar posts ,as these are very vulnerable areas .Once your at this point the rest gets .There is less then 20 screws to remove on the lower dash pads and centre gauge counsel.At this point the upper dash pad is only held in with clips at the front and you slide the pad back to free them.gentley lift and carefully bend the pad to remove it Once the upper pad is out of the way you can see what you have to disconnect easily(speedo ,tach cables ,wires ect).Yes it is a pain but mush more of a pain when the car is all back together.An AIM is a very worthwhile investment as is tagging and marking your connections AND as many pics as possible for reassembly.
Once again a good resto shop should know this stuff and realize the importance of doing things right the first time .There always tuffer to do the second time.

 

I'm not saying your are doing anything wrong .My point is why stop
1/8th short of a mile.

 

Considering how old the wiring is, I would strip it all out. Just my 2 cents.

 

I dissagree ....IF he decides to sell ..... Why could he not just declare that he has not been into the dash and checked it out ? If as has been said the cost of doing the dash would be hard to recover IF he sells straight away , then why should he take on that expense ? If he tells the future buyer that he has done the frame , interior , engine BLA BLA but ran out of $$$ and so didn't do the dash , Why would that be a problem ?
As a buyer , I vould value that honesty quite highly

 

Thats the bottom line. I'll tell a buyer what he wants to know, but essentially its about $$$.

The car is an investment to me. No way I wanna get upside down, but conversly, I dont wanna put in all the time and work, stop short and not get the $$$ that the car is worth.

Is a black/red int coupe 327/350 4sp tele wheel A/C car. Everything is done EXCEPT THE DASH.

Again, if I keep it, I want it to accure value and be worth more when I do decide to sell. I know guys who have their cars ripped down most of the time. While I know that you are never truly "done" with a car, I'd like what I have to be "done" enough to be at its peak market value...-without putting in money that WONT be recouped...

Thanks for all the replies!!!!

 

With you doing some of the work and having 30K in the car let us know how much profit you make. I though you farmed out the whole job.

 

I think another reason the shop doesn't want to touch it is that it is very easy to damage the tach/speedo panel, gauge bezel, console, etc, during dissemble/reassemble. The vinyl covering and plastic substrates are very brittle after 40 years. I'd guess the shop doesn't want to take any chances getting in a dispute as to who is going to pay for a damaged part.

I've probably done three or so dissemble/reassembles also. The last time took a long time to get back in because I had moved the wireharness around quite a bit and it took a long time to get them in the exact position to allow the panels to fit back in. The factory was probably making 60 or more cars a day. I'd really like to know how in the world they did 60 or so interior installations a day. There must be some sort of a secret!!

 

whats the verdict- leave it or pull it..?

 

If your worried about cost, you could wait till you got it home, pull it, and go through it there. The main problem with this course is rust. It's gonna be allot harder to repair any rust issue on the birdcage upper with the car reassembled. If all you care about is making a buck at the expense of someone else, who might find the problem, after having paid for a "frame off" restored '68, I suggest you post elsewhere. But it seems your concious is getting the better of you, and if you really didn't care, you wouldn't have asked the question. I think you just need a little push to do what's right. If you do care about restoring the car right, and getting a fair price for it, with the work done, it's obious that the dash needs to be pulled. The problem is that it's in the shop now, it would have been bettter to have pull it before hand and look for rust and repair and regrease-(electrical grease) the electrical and replace the vacume lines before hand. Cost-wise, I would have them pull it to look for rust and document with pics. then repair any rust found and give you the parts to re-assemble your self later. best i can see you doing for cost/situation standpoint right now. good luck, and thank you for asking the question.

 

Nah, I dont wanna F%*K anybody....Thats not what my dilemma is....Its investment vs. return, plain and simple!!!!!

If I put the cash IN, am I gettin in back OUT...?

 

If money is no object then pull it. For the two lower dash pieces and the top dash (new) you will pay just south of $1,000. In a first-rate redo there will be other parts to replace as well. I am sure I have 30-40 hours into my dash and console (I work slowly). Switches, gauges, vacuum lines and parts, bezel, and many other items are involved.

If you are on a budget (like me) you may want to economize here. But if you are doing a professional rebuild you probably are not on too tight a budget.

 

If the upper dash pad and the drivers dash are in good shape and the tach and speedo worked OK, then leave them in the car. There are not that many vacuum lines under the driver's panel...just the manual switches [which you can easily reach] and a couple lines going to the headlight switch [which rarely go bad]. If you just get the steering wheel dropped...but not removed...you can still change bulbs in the driver's dash area. And with everything else out, you can mask off and re-dye the dash panel and upper dash pad in the car.
Since you are considering selling it, DO NOT REPLACE ANY INTERIOR PANELS THAT ARE NOT DAMAGED OR SEVERELY CRACKED. Just patch/repair minor damage and then re-dye them with the vinyl dye. You can make your whole interior look like new for less than $500 if you don't have to replace panels. [That even includes new insulation padding and carpeting.]

 

I, myself am doing a full frame off restoration, to me if I were a buyer of a full frame restoration Car, and later found a rotten Birdcage after the fact, I would be extremely pissed, your doing a frame off, do the right thing. pull the dash and atleast check out the bird cage.
Then inspect vacuum and wiring repair as needed.
Trust me, you will be glad you checked everything out now, instead of after you get the car back together, and are wondering why your wipers and lights don't work properly.

I have just done all of this work myself, it is the correct thing to do.
69Vett

 

I might do this part of the job myself...How long did it take you..? How much $$$ invested..? What book do I need, as I never did it before, and literally SUCK at wiring..?

 

Thats what I'm talkin about!!!!! The dash is in good shape. the tach, speedo, wiper , headlights all functioned....

So, just drop the steering column and pull the windsheild to check for rust and its good to go...?

 

Sounds like he is aiming for a repaired car vs. a restored car