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I'm noticing on 'almost' all of the cars I'm looking to purchase that the top of the centre panel never fits correctly where it meets the dash top above the air vents, and always looks like it's hanging down.
On the assumption they were not like this when new, is there a common reason why they end up looking like this? it makes my teeth itch and I'd be wanting to correct that before I even adjusted my seat.
I have noticed this on many many chrome bumper cars......it is common. That being said, I would not be satisfied with it, and find a way to get it to fit right. The similar parts on a later model C3 are plastic, and I had to do some "adjustments" to get them to fit as perfect as I require. Its not impossible,.....you just have to not be satisfied with less than perfect.
Last edited by Shovels and Vettes; Oct 26, 2020 at 06:31 PM.
This is exactly what I have on my '74 (and I suspect many others). You can fight it, but that's the way it will fit. The dashes on these cars aren't exactly the greatest fit, or the easiest thing to work on, that's for sure.
Nearly all of them were made like that. The part is a "pot metal" part that is die cast. The operators would speed the machine up to get their production quota done early (so they could screw off the rest of their shift!) and the parts were not completely cooled. That corner is where they pulled the part out and it deformed due to still being soft. All my C3's have been like that.
Hey, it guarantees that the bezel casting is 'original' !!
P.S. No, you cannot heat it to bend it back. As soon as pot metal softens, it melts. But, you can give it a try and report the results back to us.
Last edited by 7T1vette; Oct 26, 2020 at 07:57 PM.
Nearly all of them were made like that. The part is a "pot metal" part that is die cast. The operators would speed the machine up to get their production quota done early (so they could screw off the rest of their shift!) and the parts were not completely cooled. That corner is where they pulled the part out and it deformed due to still being soft. All my C3's have been like that.
Hey, it guarantees that the bezel casting is 'original' !!
P.S. No, you cannot heat it to bend it back. As soon as pot metal softens, it melts. But, you can give it a try and report the results back to us.
Good intel, thanks.
I'll remove the original, 3D scan it, correct the issues and 3D print one out of aluminium out of sheer spite to the production team at the time... that'll show them!
You are correct that the center gauge consoles have “fitment” issues on a lot of C3’s. My 73 was not as bad as the car in your picture. First I would tell you that after 45 PLUS years the vinyl covered egg carton cardboard material has become warped. Second, the omnipresent Bubba was working in there and didn’t do a good job putting all three sections back together correctly. After breaking one of the ears on the pot metal gauge cluster, my new one did not fit any better (surprisingly a good reproduction). Since I didn’t want to the new gauge cluster (almost $300), I started trying different things. I found that removing the Air Conditioning Vents on the cluster provide a decent fit. So I took out my Dremel and removed some of the plastic from the vent that connects to the ones on the top of the cluster. I wasn’t about to dig into the dash to see why the vent was not sitting closer to the fire wall, talk about major surgery. Mine is by no means perfect, but the fitment is ok for a 47 year old car.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
Most of them are broken and not installed correctly. My 68 has 5 screwsholding it in, 2 bolts and 3 other screws holding the wiper switch cover in and the vent tube in the slot below it. Later years should be similar
First fix the console arms that may be broken.
What I did was put 2 Allen head machine screws in the 2 bottom holes with washers so that it pulls up on the center console. Then install the top large screw so it screws into the dash. Then you can screw the side console screws in to anchor the console. Then theres 4 screws that go out from the gauge console into the dash pads. The dash pads have a hard plastic insert that those screws go into. That should get it lined up as good as it was from the factory........maybe an 8 out of 10
Last edited by Rescue Rogers; Oct 27, 2020 at 07:58 AM.
Hi LT. While I agree that the fit between center gauge cluster and upper dash pads is notoriously poor, yours appears to be worse than typical. I also agree with what folks here are saying about the cluster’s fragile design and how careful you need to be when manipulating it.
My guess is that you CAN improve the fit by loosening all the attachments (sides and top) and possibly loosening the upper pad too. I’ve had some success limited in bringing the pad toward the cluster in the past. Be careful. Be patient. Be tolerant of how back then, the auto companies’ mantra was “Good enough is good enough”.
Hi LT. While I agree that the fit between center gauge cluster and upper dash pads is notoriously poor, yours appears to be worse than typical. I also agree with what folks here are saying about the cluster’s fragile design and how careful you need to be when manipulating it.
My guess is that you CAN improve the fit by loosening all the attachments (sides and top) and possibly loosening the upper pad too. I’ve had some success limited in bringing the pad toward the cluster in the past. Be careful. Be patient. Be tolerant of how back then, the auto companies’ mantra was “Good enough is good enough”.
Hope this helps.
Don
Thanks - just for clarity, the above picture is not my car, but an example of what I see all too frequently on cars I'm looking to purchase, raising my curiosity as to why.
When I see it, I instantly think 'bubba', but I now have a better understanding of why the issue exists and what might be done about it.
Hi LT. While I agree that the fit between center gauge cluster and upper dash pads is notoriously poor, yours appears to be worse than typical. I also agree with what folks here are saying about the cluster’s fragile design and how careful you need to be when manipulating it.
LT
You may already know this but here is a photo of the weak spot. As mentioned by others, extra caution is warranted when working on the upper dash bezel, they can break in the weak spot if you're not careful.
LT
You may already know this but here is a photo of the weak spot. As mentioned by others, extra caution is warranted when working on the upper dash bezel, they can break in the weak spot if you're not careful.
Just for grins, next time you go to a Corvette swap meet, look at all the same parts laying around that are either broken at the 2 red circled points or JB welded back together.
I also had some success at improving the lone screw hole that IS in the in upper dash.
That one big screw you see attaching the upper bezel to the upper dash just threads into a molded plastic boss hole (right above "Wiper High" in your picture).
I reinforced that hole with some epoxy and a couple of toothpick sections.
This gave the screw threads some fresh material to grab onto.
But, as others have stated, be careful trying to close that gap - putting too much stress on the bezel can/will snap it off in those thin areas shown in the photo.
Last edited by Bergerboy; Oct 27, 2020 at 03:29 PM.
Pot metal is very weak and very brittle. It WILL NOT bend!!! If you stress it, it will break at the weakest spot which received the stress....usually those thin areas on the sides of the bezel.
new dashpad, original Instrument bezel.
After a reasonably long „fight„ i figured out
that a 5 mm rubber strip between the Bezel
and the console would do two things:
-Lifting up the bezel giving more wiggleroom for the upper edge
(sounds counterintuitve but really works).
-insulating two vibration/rattle prone components.
With my black interior nearly invisible/stock looking
Strip:
Upper alignement (Not the best pic, you ´ ll have to zoom or believe me that the upper edge sits near perfect 😁
Hope this helps
Freddy
Last edited by FuriousFred; Nov 1, 2020 at 04:40 AM.
Reason: grammar
Why does this never fit?
