At first, I considered doing this thread as an "ugly dash contest."

After some reflection, I decided it just wouldn't be fair.

I am hands-down the winner, and its not likely anybody could even run a close second to what my '88 is wearing.

Here she is.








I don't know how much of the original dash pad even exists under this "creative" improvised cover. I've been reluctant to try to remove this thing to inspect, because, I'm not sure it won't just crumble into dust if I start yanking on it, and I FOR SURE don't want to put it back in there - even for a few days - once I do rip it out. In the meantime, the car is at least driveable with that thing on there.

From the looks of what I'm seeing by just peeking under the edges, I'm thinking that whats under there is NOT a good candidate for one of the cover-only products such as http://www.1aauto.com/1A/Dash_Pad_Co...55/229675/1988 There has to be some sort of foundation to attach the cover-only product. Not wanting to order a cover-only, and then discover that the “foundation” on the car is about as much of a foundation as a sandcastle built at low tide, I’m not willing to risk the cover-only.

On the theory of "buy once, cry once," I'm looking at the aftermarket dash replacement at http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/pr...-Dash-Pad.html
The complete replacement will probably will be just north of $400 after shipping.

I understand that there are various parts "not included" with the complete replacement. Anybody have any experience with this complete-replacement part, and can give me some ideas of what to expect with the whole process? I like what one of the members did at https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...ash-cover.html
I’m not sure I’m that good though.

On the '88, I'm betting that vent-covers, and speaker-covers, and whatever-else-covers are all missing or trashed under the existing contraption. What am I getting myself into here?

 

i think i would tie u next time im out in the barn ill have to grab a picture of mine in the twin turbo iroc

i think the same guy who did urs did mine cause they are strinkingly similar lol

 

destroy it and replace. I'm not sure there's much saving that one.

 

I've looked around at replacements for when mine goes bad. Here's one..

http://www.classicdiscountparts.com/...-Dash-Pad.html

I know that someone had a thread going that compared I think this one with his original and it looked pretty close. I'll try to find it and post it.

In the meantime, I'd buy a dashmat http://www.dashmat.com/ to make it look good. You can then use it on your new dash to help protect it.

 

Trash It and buy a real one!!!!!!!!

 

New pad arrived today.

Pics at https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...ml#post5494345

 

Pulled the old pad out today.

 

Looks like the PO shaved most of the old shell and foam down to the metal to get it to fit against the windshield, while still allowing him to use his blue boogie-board foam.

More of the now-disintegrating old foam was left on the edge nearest the driver. This allowed the job to maintain some semblance of the original edge-profile of the dash cover.

Naturally, everybody wants to know whether the new pad is installed yet.

Answer: NO.

If you've been following some of my other threads, you know I have a serious issue with a water-leak into the cabin. The souce of it is not immediately apparent. I'm starting to lean toward suspecting the windshield seal. With the jerry-rigged dash-pad out of the way, I can see the windshield gasket now. It looks almost as crumbled as the old dash. I'm going to talk to the body-shop on Monday to see what they think about pulling (replacing?) the windshield, and getting that leak suspect locked-down.

There is some rust-rot on the driver's side A-pillar too. There's no way rot-remediation on the the exterior of the A-pillar is a job I'm equipped or competent to undertake as a DIY. Its looking like there could be some economy of effort in getting the rust-rot fixed at the same the windshield gets re-sealed.

Check out the dry-rot on the gasket where the windshield meets the firewall/cowl.



Here is water on the UNDER-side of the windshield, over the VIN number, that was not there before today's rain.

 

I've been trying to order one for a couple of years from Classic, their always NS,due to R&D.So I drove all the way to Dover AF Base to get a pretty nice used one,about $200 and about 3 1/2 hrs.of driving.

I still don't have it installed but I have a dash cover on the one in it now and I'll keep that as a spare as these things just crack because of age.

 

Windshield replacement and rust-rot remediation on the A-Pillar, and along the roof lines above the doors, scheduled for Monday, March 4.

 

How much you want for your old one?

 

You can have it for free if you want to pick it up at the shop doing the work in Fairfax.

Trust me though.

You don't wan't it.
Its got a star from a rock impact, and the driver's-side lower corner has a milky discoloration where the glass has started to de-laminate that looks like poisonous toads have been trying to spawn there.

Plus, the body shop guy wouldn't guarantee that he wouldn't break it getting it out.