How to recover a 67 dash

[500404]

Hello, all over the years I have tried to do as much of my car's restoration as possible.
I search the this site for directions and hints every week. Thanks for all help over the years. I have searched the net and this site for directions for a dash wrap but they generally use a later dash with what looks like a vacuum sealed vinyl cover. The 68 dashes are a two piece and I see why Porsche made the change. I took a few shots and thought I would post them to help someone else. I started at Auto International where I bought the vinyl. The three yards I bought will cover the dash, knee bar, A pillar, inner targa bar, front edge of the targa and maybe the door caps. A little goes a long way. They were nice enough to give me the 1/4" foam for the dash. The material was $38 a yard. I cleaned and painted the metal dash and stared at it, now what I thought. For this write up I will refer the gauge cluster portion of the dash the FRONT dash and the speaker portion the BACK, it easier for me, I am not a good narrator!!




I decided to cut the material with the stretch going side to side along the dash. I measured the speaker grill and printed the design onto a file folder (for thickness).
A trip to Harbor Freight yielded a set of punches and I started to punch 507 holes! Only 30 minutes so I should not complain. I also cut the front material. Since I was using the originals as patterns and figuring for shrinkage I cut the material long. For the speaker surface this means I left extra material where it folds over the window side. For the gauge cluster surface I left the front edge long.


I applied the Dap Landau solvent based contact cement to the back vertical edge of the FRONT dash right before it flattens out to the REAR surface. I read on several sites that the foam should only be glued on the rear and front edges and not the entire surface. I glued the foam along the entire rear edge from the center out to the outside edges of the dash.



I had some Dynamat left over and cut a 1/2" strip and folded it over the entire lower leading edge of the dash because it was uneven. Also there was a few dents in the coconut padding so I bought some crack filler foam applied and spread it out like bondo. once dried I used a grinder to sand it smooth. the finished surface has the same flexibility as the coconut stuff. I then glued the passenger surface and wrapped the foam around the leading edge by 1/4". I then wrapped and glued the right inner gauge cluster surface, then the left inner surface. I wrapped the right and left edges of the dash and finally the inner center gauge cluster. I followed the same formula for the vinyl except when I glued the rear edge of the FRONT dash the vinyl started on the flat section of the speaker surface where the metal strap is held down with metal tabs. Infact I installed that strap to hold the vinyl in place and left it over night. This way there will be a crisp line where the FRONT dash meets the REAR dash.



I left the metal strap on while I glued the FRONT vinyl in place because I knew it woulds prevent the rear edge of the FRONT dash from lifting while I stretched the vinyl over the front surfaces. I used the same order of gluing as the foam. (I am pleased with the finish but happy its over) If you are missing the 5 metal clips that fasten the front of the dash to the car check out your local NAPA store for these $2





I removed the metal strap and the vinyl stayed tight. I then glued the speaker cloth to the vinyl before gluing it to the surface to the metal strap. Turning the material over I wrapped the vinyl over the edge of the strap. I used the heavy duty paper clips to hold it in place. I used a strip of thick vinyl to prevent the clips from leaving indents on the vinyl. I did not apply glue to the top of the strap, only to the underside this would allow me to slide in the foam later.





I used a hammer and dolly to fold the metal tabs down



then slipped in the foam and and trimmed it it 1/4" over. I pulled the vinyl tight and began gluing from the center speaker grill out to each edge.

There are some slight puckers that seem more defined because of the light in my garage. All in all I a pleased with the finish and I like the fact I did it myself. I hope this helps if you are thinking of doing your dash. I can send you the speaker hole template simply private message me.

[500404]

Here are a few shots. Those metal tabs are a pain and leave slight indents.

[Discseven]

500... nice of you to post your journey. I'm trying to see what you did in the photos but they're too small to make sense of. For size comparison, here's an image that's 9" wide by 72 dpi. A bit easier to see the details.

BTW, I've recovered some dashboards so I can relate to this project---was curious to see how you approached the mission.

[bugstrider]

Great write up,

I have two 68 912's I'll be restoring and the dashes are toast. This helps since I've still need to pull and referb them both.

Thanks again

[500404]

Thank you for the size suggestions. I went into photoshop and increased the size to 9".
So this is a test,. I will change the size of the other shops.

[Discseven]

Way to test it out 500! One more suggestion for you... then I'll shut up. Looks like your 9" image was enlarged from a small image. When this is done, the image gets more and more blurry (more pixelated) the larger the increase is. Better to go down in size from the photo's original size. Take the same photo you enlarged but work from the original photo file which should be larger than 9" wide and greater than 72 DPI. Reduce the size of that photo and test that next to the 9" one you already posted---there's going to be a great difference in clarity. I'm pushing the envelope here because sometimes it's the small things we do in a project that make a huge difference. And only if a posted photo is sharp can the subtleties of what we're communicating be effectively expressed. Please take this as progressive commentary rather than my being jerk critical.

Now... I'll shut up!

[500404]

Discseven, I appreciate the tutorial!! I have completed many project because of the detailed photography. I will work on it. Cheers!

[Discseven]

Glad you're not offended 500!

Originally Posted by 500404

Discseven, I appreciate the tutorial!! I have completed many project because of the detailed photography. I will work on it. Cheers!