Dashboard Rubber

Hi all,

Has anyone had any experience with Year One's aftermarket "dash caps" for '70's era Trans Am's? As I understand it, they cover the existing dash pad. They look like the original whole dash but evidently fit over it like a glove. I can't quite picture this - it must be awfully thin to fit in all the contures around everything without being obvious. A rep said it's put on with adhesive and you just need to smooth down the bad cracks to make it fit smoothly. my old OLD friend
Stan, from Detroit said " nawww don't get no durn dashboard rubber." I'm about to order one anyway just to see. It used to be easy to just walk in a salvage yard and snag one for $75, but not anymore. Never underestimate Armor-All.  

Brazil  

Brazil, again, you are in luck as I purchased one of these from a dealer on Ebay for about a quarter of the price of a new dash pad. It is made of plastic not rubber and I don't have the name of the dealer handy right now. I will be installing it after the floor pans so be patient and we'll see how it works together. It looks really nice and it covers the entire dash, you actually have to remove all the radio trim plates and instrument panel so it can fit tightly into the corners, not like some that are just a face pad. The worst part is my dash is perfect except for one spot where the original owner stuck on one of those tacky plastic/foam sunglass holders, right in the middle of the dash! It sat there getting twisted back and forth for over twenty years, eventually cracking the vinyl. Too bad, otherwise it would have only needed fresh dye to save it.
Steve  
Trying to help... 'cause we don't all have to learn the hard way!

I guess it must be thin enough to not look extra bulky. I'm going to go ahead and order one, it's bound to look better than the shredded mess that's on it now. All of my dash's usually crack because someone laughs and slaps their fist on it!  

Brazil, cut and paste this address into your address bar. It is the same dash cover I bought from the same seller. He also sells them pre-painted to match your interior, I bought mine in black and will have to paint it myself. He was an excellent dealer to buy from, I paid with my Paypal account and had the cover within the week and that was shipping from US to Canada!
Steve

http://cgi.ebay.ca/70-81-Pontiac-Firebird-Formula-TRANS-AM-NU-Dash-Pad-Cap_W0QQitemZ400071853611QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item5d2624062b&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14  
Trying to help... 'cause we don't all have to learn the hard way!

Thanks Steve!!  Wow, your in Canada? I bet you don't have to deal with overheating as much as we do down here in Texas!  peace  

Yes, Eastern Ontario, just across the St Lawrence river from upper New york State. It gets hot here in summer, not as hot as you get in Texas, but occasionally high 80's to low 90's and we do get some killer humidity too. But we get to deal with the effects of winter road salt on our classic iron, hence the new floor pans in my Formula! Cruising season here starts anywhere from late March to mid-April depending on the weather (this year was an early spring, so late-March) and if we are lucky we can stretch it to well into November, although we had a freak snow storm a week before Halloween last year, but it melted and warmed up almost until the first week of December.
By the way another of our forum members, addacore, is stationed in Texas with the Army right now. Check out his 76 Firebird in Reader's Rides, I've been helping him diagnose his overheating issues recently. I think we got it fixed though.
Steve  
Trying to help... 'cause we don't all have to learn the hard way!

Brazil,

I ordered a dash cover from Ames, for my 69 GTO, a couple of weeks ago, part number V418.  It is a thin plastic cover that fits nicely over the original vinyl.  After receiving the cover I was not initially impressed with it.  My original dash was in bad shape with cracks, fading, pealing, and a few cigarette burns from a previous owner so, something needed to be done.  After I received the cover and realized that it was just a plastic shell I decided to take my dash to a couple of shops in the Houston area to see if it could be re-covered with a fresh pad and vinyl (I too live in the Houston area, Katy).  I quickly found out that this is an expensive task since the original vinyl was vacuum formed onto the dash.  So, I decided to try the plastic cover.  I play with the cover for about a week before I committed to gluing it down.  

First off, all the raised spots and cracks needed to be smoothed down so that there wouldn’t be any raised spot in the new cover once attached.  It required a bunch of clamps and a few heavy bags to push everything down.  Be careful not to put the adhesive everywhere because the pad needs to be able to expand and contract with the temperature changes.  Also, don’t put the adhesive right on the edges because it squishes out and makes a heck of a mess to clean up.  After everything was glued down and dried I painted it, black in my case.  It really looked nice.  So, I started putting all the trim back on.  Everything went well including the fit and finish of the glove box door.  The only thing that didn’t work out was the top center AC vent bezel opening in the new plastic dash pad is too small and therefore covers the chrome ring of the bezel.  I’m not sure what to do about that yet.  Second, some of the contours are lost using the plastic cover but, it is really not that noticeable.  

Overall I would say that I am impressed with how well the plastic cover worked out and would recommend it to others if their dash is in as bad of shape as mine was.

Regards  

Great!
Thanks for the review, I was afraid the general consenses would be "are you kidding?!"   I'm glad to hear yours turned out well, and am anxious to see how Steve's turns out - his is the Firebird dash like mine. I haven't checked with Ames yet, but Year One sells them for $119.
Thanks again!