Hey,
I just noticed that I have sewveral cracks in my dash, probably from the really long cold winter. Of course, they all start where the tach pops out of the dash.
How hard is it to replace the dash? Do I have to replace the whole thing, or does the padded area go on and off seperately?
What am I up against?
Thanks.

Since you didn't mention the year your car was built, I'm not sure if my solution applies. However, I managed to do fairly respectable repair job on my "71 142, by filling in the cracks with silicone goop, trimming them as flat as possible after the silicone had set up overnight. Then I cut a piece of leather-grain vinyl a bit over-size in the fore-aft dimension and anointed it and the dash itself liberally, twice, with old-fashioned contact cement (the stinky, glue-sniffers-favorite variety). When that had dried to the point where it was no longer tacky, I covered the dash with some wrapping paper and laid the vinyl on top with about an inch of overlap toward the windshield. This I tucked under rhe edge of the dash pad, making sure it got glued on good and tight. Then I stretched the vinyl toward the dash face while also keeping tension on toward the sides so it would stay as close as possible to the winshield-frame/door-posts, gradually withdrawing the paper as vinyl attached itself to the dash pad. Finally, I stretched the vinyl around the front edge of the dash and trimmed the excess off with a utility knife. After blackening the edges of the cut vinyl with ink marker, you have to get pretty close to notice the repair. It's a finnicky job, but a lot easier than replacing the whole dash, if you can find one that isn't cracked. Removing just the dash pad from a donor is virtually impossible without ruining it in the precess.
Bob S.

Don't know if this could be used since it doesn't have a hole for the dash mount tach but you could rig it up.
Check this auction

That one is going for far too much. I got mine for around 40 and that's my car he's using in the auction pics. Though I guess that's a pretty specific one two years. You could pop the whole top pad off it's a pain in the ass to do but if you did that you could have the whole thing wrapped in some new vinyl or whatever material you want to use, would look really nice. Just make sure the cracks are sanded flat and filled.
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I got a cracked dash where I put a tach as well. I do not think there is a remedy except crack repair with vinyl rubber compounds(which look better than the crack), JC Whitney type covers, or finding a non cracked dash and replacing the whole dash unit.
My dash transplant sits six feet away from me in my living room as I type this message. I am awaiting resolution of gettin a working fan motor before I perform the switch.

Joel
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Antique Swedish Steel (Never Rusty) Silver 71 142E

Depending on the width of the crack, isn't there some vinyl repair kit on the market? It is still too cold in MN to do that kind of work.

Klaus
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98 V70Rawd(101Kmi), 95 854T(85K mi), 75 164E(173K mi)

Hi Klaus,
I'm in Ny, but yeah, it is probably still too cold, (20's at night). But thank you, that's a great idea. there is a sort of "Y" shaped crack, but doing a vinyl repair will probably be good when it gets alittle warmer. Eventually I'll want to replace the whole thing...maybe. There's much more to do first.
Thank you.
Chris

Well, it looks like I am going to just do a vinyl type of repair for now. One day when I am feeling really ambitious, and have a new fan motor also, and maybe want to spend for GT guage setup, or build a custom dash face with guages how I want, ...then maybe I'll go the whole 9 yards and redo the whole dash.
Thanks for the advice.
Chris