Dash Facia Backdate? ?

[Rich76_911s]

I did search this but couldn't find anything, so here goes.

Has anyone ever gone from an SC interior dash facia like this:


To an interior Dash Facia from an earlier car like this :



I purchased the interior chrome trim from a Pelican, Thanks Kumma. And have seen the basket weave paneling for sale on ebay. So I can have all the parts to do the job, but can it be done?

If anyone has some pointers for me on this I would appreciate it. If not I'll just have to figure it out solo and see where I end up. As you can see I don't have much to lose! ! !

Rich

[CHILI]

Shouldn't be a problem, but I believe you will need to change the fresh air control unit, too. It looks different (chrome trim vs the black bezel).

[CHILI]

Ohh, and you might have to trim the lenght of the pices on the ends since you have the side vents.

[mjshira]

no, this is NOT easy. First, the vents that are at the end of the newer dash facia present a problem. The best resolution is to get the early car dash facia supporting metal (just the end caps) and cut out your old ones and put in these new ones. everything else will work from there. If you have more questions let me know, I have my dash totally out and send you pics.

[klaucke]

James, at the risk of pseudo-hijacking the thread (not intended), perhaps you could post some pictures of what the dash looks like w/ the dashboard or dashpad taken off, for the sake of the archives and documentation for anyone else who uses the thread. I know I would like to see it. : )

[mjshira]

no problem, only issue is that mine is rather unique. The guy who 'created' my car did the conversion the other way, putting the later model vents in.

[Rich76_911s]

klaucke, I can't believe the nerve of you trying to hijack this thread. I'm telling! Here are some pictures of mine without the dash, but still with the dash facia on there:





I'll get some more this afternoon. Oh and note the rust in the top left of the second photograph, more motivation for you guys to change out those leaking windshield seals!

mjshira,

I saw you were selling the dash facia on ebay. I thought that you had abandoned ship! Thanks for the offer to help, you might begin to regret that! Recently I have been looking at the glove box door and trying to see how it would work. If I leave the old black dash facia on the glove box door and place the chrome trim over top of that it does not look right, and similarly if I remove the SC black dash facia it does not look correct either. Maybe to do this correctly I would have to find an old glove box door and work around it that way? here are some pictures of that:

You can see that without the SC dash parts there is a big gap from where the button level is all the way across the glove box door



And in this photograph you can see that there is a significant amount of overhang of the new chrome trim below the bottom of the door. Which doesn't seem correct to me.

[bkreigsr]

hey, that's my 73
(don't duplicate the fog light switch, its a dummy battery/accessory disconnect)

Bill K

[mjshira]

I will take some pics in a bit and post them. I am glad to help as much as I can!

The facia on ebay is because I went this route

www.rennline.com

[mjshira]

here are some shots of the dash as it is now. Notice that the ends have been replaced with later model venting (I have removed them). Now I won't say exactly what I am planning to do because I want to finish it and then share it but the venting function will remain with a different dash.



I am sorry for the pics, the interior looks pretty rough at the moment. with everything I am changing I have removed about north of 60 lbs from the car which was already fairly light.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by bkreigsr
...don't duplicate the fog light switch, its a dummy ...disconnect)

Its not a dummy anymore!

[mjshira]

let see if these go through this time...

[Rich76_911s]

Well I forgot to take the camera up to my Parents garage this afternoon so no new pictures, but I have figured out the main trouble spots.

1. As James mentioned, the vents on the far right and left of the dash panel. I am considering just drilling holes in there and maybe gluing a chrome grommet around the hole, but I am not sure about that yet.

2. Is the area with the gas tank pull lever


3. Is the area with the seat-belt warning lamp.


I am not sure that anything has to be done to these areas other than some paint and freshening up. I was also thinking I could dremel off the bottom portion of the black sc dash facia and just use what is circled in red.

4. As Chili mentioned the '74 and up ventilation system has a much larger housing in the dash than the earlier models. So either I am going to have to find an old one, or take a dremel to one of the two I have. I could just use the new style one and forget about having a chrome trim ring around it, but that would be defeating the purpose.

5. Is the glove box door. I think fitting a piece of sheet metal over the doors face then gluing the chrome to the sheet metal will solve most of the problems. But the newer glove box doors knob could be an issue to get around.

When I figure out how I am going to solve these issues I'll post them so someone else can critque it, and use it if I succeed. Thanks again for all the help, and I'll post pictures of a totally naked dash face this weekend. There is one longhood here in town, but it is away visiting friends at the Rgruppe meet. I'll have to look and see how the dash was done on the real deal.

bkreigsr,
Thanks for letting me use your car for a demo! I'll be in Ocean City, NJ this summer for a wedding. Can I borrow the car for a couple days, HA HA HA.

Thanks again,
Rich

[mjshira]

you can do this. it won't be 'easy' but you can. look at the pics of my glove box area, a new whole was cut to allow the late model glove box door work (latch). As for the area by the gas door release, I think you need to simply remove all the padding and facia, sand, fill, sand, prim and paint. You can deal with the vents in your year car by blocking/filling and then running the ducking so it points air towards your feet (but remains out of view)

[Rich76_911s]

I just wanted to post the picture of the dash with everything off of it. This is from the '76 model year. The 80 appears to be identical. If anyone needs a different picture let me know.

Rich

[bkreigsr]

""bkreigsr,
Thanks for letting me use your car for a demo! I'll be in Ocean City, NJ this summer for a wedding. Can I borrow the car for a couple days, HA HA HA.

Thanks again,
Rich [/B][/QUOTE] ""

sure Rich, the keys are hidden on top of the drivers-side visor.
do you want to be daring & go bra-less, or keep it on?




very ambitious project
good luck

Bill K

[Rich76_911s]

It has been a long time since I originally posted this and a different car, but believe it or not I finally finished the project. I think I did an OK job. Could be better. Some of the gaps are a little wider than i would like, and the black trim on the glove box door is a little short.

Actually for me the worst part of this project is getting the newer style stuff off. I tried to do it carefully as I had a friend that needed the parts. Also I had to go in behind all the fresh air tubing in the trunk to get the rear window defroster button , the fog light switch, and the cigarette lighter all out.

The air controls do have to be modified. Well you could open up the hole in the early style dash facia to accept the larger air controls as well, but I wanted the chrome trim around the air controls so that wasn't an option for me. I suppose I have a little chrome addiction on the interior.

I used a dremel and slowly and carefully cut away part of my newer style air controls to accomidate the smaller chrome trim. Going this method worked out well. The only problem I ran into was that the new red and black knobs are too large to fit inside the chrome trim. So you'll have to find the smaller early style knobs.

I disconnected the fresh air on the far ends of the car. I thought about cuttting into the dash facia to accomidate them, but in the end decided how much can those itsy bitsy vents do.

I also had to use an early style glove box door. Thanks Shaun! ! ! ! I just added a small tab in the center of the glove box to give the door something to latch onto. Instead of using the newer style left side hole.


Overall not too bad of a project. If I can do it certainly anyone else here can. Next up to bat is Dash replacement. Someday down the road I will have the gauges backdated. Don't have the bucks for that though.

Thanks for all your help.

Rich

[SCWDP911]

nice job Rich

[Facey]

looking good.

i've constantly been wondering how to make my 911's interior match its exterior and its go... cause even with nice seats, carbon door panels, new carpet, new headliner, new dash, really nice wheel...pedals...etc... it is just not that nice... even many of the big $$ builds i see the interior comes out...okay..


my favorite that i have see is the R style stuff... which means just et ride of everything and flat back it. which needs to have the whole interior done to make it work... and that takes time and parts with clean edges so that when u pull stuff off of them the edges look okay..lol

edit: anyone have any other ideas on how to make a ncie interior of the 911? i mean whole theme not just a single item...

[riverstonefly]

Very nice!

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