[East]

I have the original dash pad that need to be refurbished. I had the dash pad recovered back in 1982 by Valley Auto Upholstery and it needs a refresh.

When Valley Auto Upholstery restored it, that added foam on top of original pad and recovered it with a black vinyl.

It looked okay but would always haze the windshield .

I have read on these forums that replacements are not very good as compared to factory. I don't have the money to send it to the vendor that restores them the best.

I was thinking of installing the molded cover for the time being. I seen a restoration of a 1969 Firebird being done on a website. The man posted every process of his restoration in great detail with great pictures. He used a molded dash cover and it looked pretty good.

Unfortunately, his website has left the Internet many years ago so I cannot reference his information.

The Firebird was painted silver. I think that he did a very good job restoring the car being that he was a young man, working stiff , in a regular sized home garage.

[north]

You have a few options...

...a cap as you mentioned, they are easy to install and look ok but they tend to warp with heat cycles when in use

...a repro dashpad, there are two versions (metal core and plastic core), both look nice and fit well when installed but they tend to give you trouble with time as they deform on the leading edge near the windshield

...Rebuild the original with Just Dashes, looks nice but not as "slim" as the factory original, sort of puffy. More expensive than the other options but not that expensive compared to bigger and more complex dashes like in a 69 GTO say

...find a nice original, rarely turn up but if you can find one this is the best choice if you get lucky

[East]

Good advice.
Thank you!

['ol Pinion head]

Need of dash remolding, I's suggest getting a hold of Al Knoch Interiors in ElPaso & see if they're doing '69 Bird dashes. Just Dashes just doesn't cut it here. Typically too puffy a remolding/restoration job & ridiculously expensive. that said, have used Just Dashes several times, & unfortunately, for many year models, Just Dashes is the only source.

[East]

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

Need of dash remolding, I's suggest getting a hold of Al Knoch Interiors in ElPaso & see if they're doing '69 Bird dashes. Just Dashes just doesn't cut it here. Typically too puffy a remolding/restoration job & ridiculously expensive. that said, have used Just Dashes several times, & unfortunately, for many year models, Just Dashes is the only source.

I appreciate your honesty and consideration. I don't have deep pockets. The Firebird is always the last thing around my house that extra money get used towards.

I was in a good mood and was trying to figure out a way to fix the dash pad.

-----Kevin

[grivera]

This is a YT video from a fella named Tom Rogers describing his experience with the OER dashpad and the Al Knoch dashpad - neither got a good review...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry9nSVXtiIY