[gvz16]

hi guys i had a question regarding my dash pad.

so my 68 is an original non ac car. but i removed the entire dash (wires, steering wheel, the dash face, gauges, the whole 9...) and i was wondering if i can swap my original non ac dash pad with an AC dash pad from the same year.

anyone have experience with adding ac dash pads to your gto's?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Andy

[nytrainer]

I won't say it can't be done but there will be some cutting involved I believe.
Below is a pic of a green 68 dash (NON A/C) with the pad off. To the left of the steering wheel you can see the rectangular hole where a dashpad retaining clip should be. Below that (painted green) remains visible with the pad reinstalled.


When you look at the 68 A/C dash below (don't have one with the pad removed) you will see the pad covers the metal part of the dash that the non a/c pad does not. In fact there is an a/c duct in that location behind the visible register. Without cutting the non a/c metal dash I do not think you will be able to put on the dash pad.



If you decide that you want to cut it keep in mind that you need different clips (2) in those rectangular holes for an a/c dash pad and, I believe, the ones that are repro's are for the non a/c pads only.
With all that said I think your best bet would be to either trade with someone looking for an a/c dashpad (a/c dashpad rarer I would think) or sell your a/c dashpad (I assume it's in good condtion and that is why you want to use it) and use the money to buy one. I found an OEM for my non a/c car on this forum. They make repros but not sure how well they fit.
Dave

[gvz16]

great pictures! what a great help.

im convinced i will put the originial style ac vents in the car and im gonna go ahead and do the cutting. does anyone have a pic of an AC car dash face with out the gauges and dash pad?

thanks

[Verdoro 68]

Are you putting a/c in or doing this just to use the dash pad?

There's also a lap vent piece that connects the a/c-heater box to the dash vents that's not on a non-a/c car. Since a non-a/c car uses kick panel vents I don't think there's anything in place on the firewall that would connect to the lap vent assembly.

If it were mine, I'd go aftermarket a/c or sell the A/C dashpad and use the proceeds to have Just Dashes redo my original.

[gvz16]

thanks verdoro 68,

my 68 did not come equipped with factory air conditioning. so after looking into cars that did have AC i realized that the entire dash pad was different. so i figured into buying a dash pad with the AC inserts and bolting it onto my car until i realized there was a difference.

It is starting to seem a lot harder than i thought, but im sure there is a way to do it.

I think im just going to end up having justdashes re-do my original non A/C dash pad and get an aftermarket AC system.

thanks guys.

[Verdoro 68]

Yeah, there's a pretty significant difference between a/c and non-a/c cars. Having used my a/c about twice in the last 20 years, if I were buying another one I'd go sans-a/c. It's such a pain to work around.

[Greg Reid]

I completely deleted my A/C system. Left the A/C interior features along with dashpad and kick panels so it can be re-installed if someone desires to do so some day, but I love the uncluttered engine bay.