Dash pad skin,overlay ?
Pro
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 517
Likes: 20
From: Scroggins Tx
My original dash was as bad as it could get. I did the dash skin and it turned out great . It is not just a skin, but a thick over-lay that glues to the original dash. I used strips of wood above and below and a bunch of clamps. It turned out very good.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,709
Likes: 3
From: Savannah GA
I bought a used hard plastic overlay for my 77 from a member here. I removed the dash and did like oledave says... construction adhesive and paint stir sticks and c-clamps to distribute the clamping force. Dyed with VHT spray dye and it looks almost factory. I am very happy with how it turned out, and I have less than $50 in the whole deal.
Last edited by markids77; Aug 5, 2013 at 10:02 PM. Reason: spelling
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,116
From: Crossville TN
The dash 'cover' is thicker and lays on top of the dash. The dash 'skin' is just thin vinyl that replaces the outer surface of the existing dash. I didn't think any vendor still sold the dash 'skins', anymore.
I re-skinned my inner door panels several years ago. They didn't turn out like 'new' panels, but for 1/5th the money, they were an 8 out of 10. But....they were a real P.I.T.A.!!! I would never do that to myself again.
The upper dash would be much easier to re-skin (if skins are still available), however. The difficulty would be getting the dash pad out of the car undamaged; reskinning it to acceptable condition; then reinstalling it without damaging it. I'm not sure that doing all that is worth the price difference, but if it worked, you can legitimately claim [as I have] that your dash is still the 'original' piece.
I re-skinned my inner door panels several years ago. They didn't turn out like 'new' panels, but for 1/5th the money, they were an 8 out of 10. But....they were a real P.I.T.A.!!! I would never do that to myself again.
The upper dash would be much easier to re-skin (if skins are still available), however. The difficulty would be getting the dash pad out of the car undamaged; reskinning it to acceptable condition; then reinstalling it without damaging it. I'm not sure that doing all that is worth the price difference, but if it worked, you can legitimately claim [as I have] that your dash is still the 'original' piece.
Pro
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 517
Likes: 20
From: Scroggins Tx
Here is my 75. As I stated earlier, my dash was in very bad condition. It had a big crack in the middle and I had to re-enforce it from underside with some alum flashing and rivets.
The new cover was a very good fit, but I did have to trim each end of the old dash to get a better fit.
A tube of glue comes with it, but I used three tubes. The dash was from Corvette America.
This is the underside patch.
The new cover was a very good fit, but I did have to trim each end of the old dash to get a better fit.
A tube of glue comes with it, but I used three tubes. The dash was from Corvette America.
This is the underside patch.
Last edited by oledave60; Aug 6, 2013 at 10:10 AM.
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Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 287
Likes: 16
From: Florida New York
Here is my 75. As I stated earlier, my dash was in very bad condition. It had a big crack in the middle and I had to re-enforce it from underside with some alum flashing and rivets.
The new cover was a very good fit, but I did have to trim each end of the old dash to get a better fit.
A tube of glue comes with it, but I used three tubes. The dash was from Corvette America.
This is the underside patch.
The new cover was a very good fit, but I did have to trim each end of the old dash to get a better fit.
A tube of glue comes with it, but I used three tubes. The dash was from Corvette America.
This is the underside patch.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 11,183
Likes: 3,335
From: North of Toronto - Ontario
My original dash had several cracks through / around the speaker holes and looked bad from the outside.
The one I put on was just the skin, same as 7T1's, basically the thin sheet of vinyl formed to the right shape (well close, took several hours with a heat gun to get it to fit nice) used a small hole punch to re-punch all the speaker holes back through.
PIA but worked well enough. Don't think they still sell them. Can't be done in the car.
M
The one I put on was just the skin, same as 7T1's, basically the thin sheet of vinyl formed to the right shape (well close, took several hours with a heat gun to get it to fit nice) used a small hole punch to re-punch all the speaker holes back through.
PIA but worked well enough. Don't think they still sell them. Can't be done in the car.
M
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 11,183
Likes: 3,335
From: North of Toronto - Ontario
Dash removal on these has never been fun, pretty straight forward but you need to start by removing the tail-lights, well almost
here's a thread that has a decent breakdown
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...move-dash.html
oledave60, that looks like a great job, was that a skin or one of those shields?
M
here's a thread that has a decent breakdown
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...move-dash.html
oledave60, that looks like a great job, was that a skin or one of those shields?
M
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,709
Likes: 3
From: Savannah GA
Did mine with the windshield in place, but reinstallation is a bit fiddly. I had previously removed all the lower dash components as well as the steering column so it went as smoothly as possible. Be careful as you set it back in to get the side to side spacing as even as possible so your a-pillar trims will go back in all the way without needing to be trimmed repeatedly... ask me how I learned that!