Covering dash..

[tobluforu]

I went ahead and bought one of pelicans’ Dashboard Recovering Kit, Pre-Sewn, 911 (1972-94), German vinyl
Some on this board have bought plastic dash caps and had them upholstered. They then in turn attach/glue them to their existing cracked dashes. I just received the pre sewn material from pelican and in the pic I have attached, the red arrows show where the two pieces of vinyl are sewn together. The stitching follows the contour in regards to the red arrows, but a lot of pics I have seen have the stitching where the white arrows are. Has anyone else ever bought this kit before, if so do you have a pic of it installed? I was going to attach this myself, but after getting the material and seeing what I’m dealing with, there is no way in heel I’m trying this. I think it’s odd that the stitching is where it is??

[Tippy]

Shrink the pic if too big and make sure it has the ".jpeg" suffix or it won't upload.

[tobluforu]

Ok, well I looked at some other pics of dash caps that are covered and it looks like there is stitching in the same spot I was trying to describe, it was just hard to tell by the pic. Off to the upholsterer it goes.

[dshepp806]

I've been thinking long and hard on my dash rework,..have all the samples/quotes from the big-boy upholsterers...sure is cheaper that way.

Today, I think I'm just gonna' pony up (save) for the real deal, factory replacement (big MF' $$$$$$$$)...but, by jove, she'll be remaining stock......

Best,

Doyle

[tobluforu]

Originally Posted by dshepp806

I've been thinking long and hard on my dash rework,..have all the samples/quotes from the big-boy upholsterers...sure is cheaper that way.

Today, I think I'm just gonna' pony up (save) for the real deal, factory replacement (big MF' $$$$$$$$)...but, by jove, she'll be remaining stock......

Best,

Doyle

I hear ya, but my car is no where near stock or in great shape. I just can't justify spending 1700 on a dash, then having to remove it and the window, with no guarantee that it will fit perfect. I bought the cap a while back; test fitted it and made some cuts. It's now at the shop, but they also said that it would be tough to do because of all the curves. The biggest downfalls are that it is a cap and it will have stitching. If it looks like crap, then I'll stick with the stock dash and call it a day. To anyone who is thinking of doing something like this, do not buy the pre-sewn kit from pelican, just bring the cap to a shop and have them sell you the material (cheaper) and they will custom install/stitch it. There is also a vinyl that is out which stretches four ways as opposed to two. The guy showed me the stuff at the shop and it's pretty cool.

[wgwollet]

Hi

I too have cracked dash. What is this kit you bought? I thought the dashes are leather?

My 1973 has two cracks the big one at the right corner of the instrument dash and the little one from the speaker.

I understand about not spending 1700 bucks, but has anybody just used a black filler and sand smooth, the challenge might be to not have any lines and just paint the small area.

thx

[tobluforu]

Originally Posted by wgwollet

Hi

I too have cracked dash. What is this kit you bought? I thought the dashes are leather?

My 1973 has two cracks the big one at the right corner of the instrument dash and the little one from the speaker.

I understand about not spending 1700 bucks, but has anybody just used a black filler and sand smooth, the challenge might be to not have any lines and just paint the small area.

thx

It's not a kit really, it's two pieces of vinyl attached together that pelican sells. Some have leather dashes, some vinyl. There are few great posts, and someone has pulled the dash and filled in the cracks.

[dshepp806]

Originally Posted by wgwollet

Hi

I too have cracked dash. What is this kit you bought? I thought the dashes are leather?

My 1973 has two cracks the big one at the right corner of the instrument dash and the little one from the speaker.

I understand about not spending 1700 bucks, but has anybody just used a black filler and sand smooth, the challenge might be to not have any lines and just paint the small area.

thx

wgwollet: MANY threads out there on your suggested repair (or similar) processes...here and on the other NGs....

YEAP,..it IS a budget thing with me,...period. Like I said before, there's no question about the vendors out there who can produce super-quality reworks,...all with stitching of "some" sorts,..nice stuff, at that.....clearly....

My preference, "in the end"(not to reference RUSH!) is to have her stock. It is just recently where I've finally arrived at the decision. SO: on goes the "dash fund", as this will be an expensive run.....(I've done "those" before......--ahem---)

NOW,..as to any comments with "fit",....has anyone here taken the FACTORY replacement path and encountered "fit" difficulties......(GOSH,..I couldn't imagine this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!),..not at that price!!!!!!!!

I WILL say that it's great that the premier vendors (CRAFTSMEN) are proving such rich selections,..away from the stock,..but CLEARLY BEAUTIFUL STUFF......

911 leather was PARTICULARLY responsive to my repeated questions....good group there,..and they turn the good stuff OUT!

COVERS,...no way in heeellll, for me.....

BEST!

Doyle

[rattlsnak]

My leather dash is fine. No cracks or such. Its the cardboard underneath that has bowed up in all corners.. Anybody make that part?. cheap?

[Mitch Leland]

The under lament is bonded to the metal part of the dash. Mine was so bad I had to buy a donor dash before I had Tony at Autobahn Interiors recover the dash in leather. He did a perfect covering job. Even then he had to make some repairs on the donor dash. The heat shrinks the leather and deforms the under lament. I believe the only thing you can do is to cut the under lament out and put a filler back in and reform it.

If you have a daily driver I would go back with vinyl or keep a dash cover over the leather dash.

[Mitch Leland]

Rattlsnak, the problem is that your leather has shrunk so even though your leather hasn't crack you don't have enough leather now to go around the corners and down into the vents even if the under lament was repaired. Sadly, you probably need a new leather dash...

[KNS]

I had tossed about the idea of a new dash. I talked to one of the Porsche dealers about them and they very cautiously warned me of the difficult fit of the new dashes. He had said that several have been returned because the fit was so poor.

If you can re-use your dash to be recovered I'd go that way. VIP European Auto Interiors in Tempe, AZ has recovered 911 dashes without the seem or stitching and they come out looking great.

[j911brick]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

My leather dash is fine. No cracks or such. Its the cardboard underneath that has bowed up in all corners.. Anybody make that part?. cheap?

A leather dash is nothing but a regular dash with leather over the top. As it was mentioned, when it shrinks it warps the dash board under the leather. Time for a new dash board.

[rattlsnak]

Actually, ran across a car today that had a GT Racing carbon fiber dash, and they simply covered it with some material. (not sure if it was leather, vinyl, or? ) Looked great and 1/4 of the price!

[tobluforu]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

Actually, ran across a car today that had a GT Racing carbon fiber dash, and they simply covered it with some material. (not sure if it was leather, vinyl, or? ) Looked great and 1/4 of the price!

That's what I'm hoping to achieve, will post a pic of the covered cap if they were able to do it. Granted, I'm not covering a carbon dash. One issue about covering the cap is that it is so flexible and the guy doing it said it will be tough to stretch the vinyl on something that flexes so much.

[NOLAsc]

For another idea, check out post 54+ here: 911 track car build.

[Mitch Leland]

As a quick and dirty fix, the plastic dash caps that our host sells is a good way to go. You can get a SEM vinyl rattle can paint to match your interior.. You'll have to cut down the warp parts around the vents and edges of your present dash so the new dash cap will lay down. Then use silicone to attach. Only use a dimes worth around the edges every 4"-5", then weight with sand bags or other material on the dash. I used cardboard tubes braced against the seat backs to push the face of the dash cap back into the windshield. It was a good fix until I could afford to recover the dash and I had reason to remove the windshield.

[tobluforu]

Originally Posted by Mitch Leland

As a quick and dirty fix, the plastic dash caps that our host sells is a good way to go. You can get a SEM vinyl rattle can paint to match your interior.. You'll have to cut down the warp parts around the vents and edges of your present dash so the new dash cap will lay down. Then use silicone to attach. Only use a dimes worth around the edges every 4"-5", then weight with sand bags or other material on the dash. I used cardboard tubes braced against the seat backs to push the face of the dash cap back into the windshield. It was a good fix until I could afford to recover the dash and I had reason to remove the windshield.

Yep, mine are warped in the same place, but not real bad. What I was thinking of doing, but need some info. is instead of cutting I was thinking of drilling and screwing the warped pieces down, is this possible? The cap I have fits damn good, so good that I don't think I will even use glue. I placed the cap on and have driven around a lot and the thing does not move, rattle, etc. I'm thinking of using Velcro since it fits so well and does not move without Velcro, that way if i don't like it I can just pull the cap off. I know Velcro "sounds" like a cheap way of doing this (hell this whole project is cheap), but since the cap fits so well I don't think I need glue, and if I do I can always glue it in later. This is not an everyday driver so it will not be sitting out in the sun for hours on end.

[Mitch Leland]

tobluforu, The only problem I see about screwing the leather/vinyl? down is that the screw heads will probably go right through the material before they suck down the backing unless you were to use fender washers. Plus when you use to 2 layers of Velcro the dash cap will ride up. I would think at this point the dash is a "write off" so I would go for the best look you can get and don't look back. Plus drilling holes through the dash and having sheet metal screws protruding into the dash area isn't the best thing. Once you start it might take more screws than you think...

[rattlsnak]

I havent looked too deep into the dash cap usuage, as i dont really like the look of them. Its way too obvious especially around the corners near the gauges.