Kobrak
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Has anyone had any experience with the overlay dash pads being offered? Are they any good, or do I need to bite the bullet and spend the money on the real thing?
1972 Dodge Charger dash pad
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terrywalker
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Nothing can beat a quality reproduction dash pad. I assume you are talking about the dash caps available. I installed one in my 74 Rallye Charger. It looks okay. I had to take alot of extra time to get it to fit properly and to get the inserts to fit using a razor knife and heat gun and lots of RTV glue. Here's a couple of photos. The grain is not exact but overall it looks okay if you don't want to buy a reproduction pad or have yours redone. I did remove the entire dash frame from the car to do this.
Terry W.
Terry W.
Kobrak
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wow! looks great! So do you remember who you ordered yours from?
terrywalker
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I used DashTop by Palco. I bought two of them several years ago for about $110 each. I have two Chargers and if I messed one up, I could use the other. I used a Challenger one probably almost 20 years ago and did minimum preparation and it looks it. Turned out terrible on the Challenger. With the blue Charger, I took my time and worked it to fit, then used SEM to paint it the right blue color. Then I glued it on using more RTV than was supplied by Palco. I had weight and pieces of wood lathe strapped to it for a few days to make sure the RTV glue held. I then fitted the plastic dash insert and other pieces carefully using a razor knife and a heat gun very slowly so as not to make a mistake. I installed the dash as a unit when I was satisfied with how everything fit, installing the insert and glove box last. Photo of dashcap label attached.
Terry W.
terrywalker
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For clarification, I did a lot of test fitting and trimming prior to painting the dashcap so as to minimize any more heating and trimming after painting during installation.
Terry W.
JR_Charger
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I put a plastic cap on my dash and the cap tore, despite all the care I took in installing it. My creative solution for the tear was to put a tach in the hole -
That gave me the excuse I needed to cover the hole with a piece cut out of a bottle of hand lotion.
The cap and hole cover are both painted with SEM. I had to use several layers and colors of SEM to get the cap to look good. It looked terrible on its own.
Another problem is that the cap prevents the center speaker grill from being removed. If you know about the problem in advance, perhaps you can trim the cap back to solve it.
That gave me the excuse I needed to cover the hole with a piece cut out of a bottle of hand lotion.
The cap and hole cover are both painted with SEM. I had to use several layers and colors of SEM to get the cap to look good. It looked terrible on its own.
Another problem is that the cap prevents the center speaker grill from being removed. If you know about the problem in advance, perhaps you can trim the cap back to solve it.
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