Dash top

The whole metal frame for the dash interlocks nicely. The steel pieces are covered with black vinyl, and the copper plated center section is covered with aluminum — this model year sported a "crosshatch" pattern that is really difficult to find.

Getting the foam onto the dash was quite easy. It's really just a matter of laying out the foam (I used ¹/₂ inch thickness) and then tracing the vent holes and outlining the entire dash with a generous border. Then, cut the foam vent holes about ³/₈ inch broader than the outline. The rest is a matter of applying contact cement to both the foam and the metal. I found that the "gel" formula contact cement was easiest to use, since it isn't as easily absorbed into porous material, like vinyl backing or foam. It is prudent to check to see whether the contact cement formula reacts with either foam or the vinyl. Do a test, since you don't want your materials to melt away before your eyes.
   Apply the foam to the metal, beginning with the center vent hole, moving outward to each vent hole, and then finally moving "back" to face of the dash. The key is to get the vent holes aligned right. If you have cut the foam generously, you can adjust quite easily. The last part is cutting the outlined edge. I cut the edge as if to bevel the edge slightly.

Contact cement goes on the back of the vinyl and on the foam and in the exposed metal around the vents. One caution: Carefully apply the contact cement to the foam, especially. If too much of it is applied, it can seep into the foam slightly, even though the foam cells are supposed to be sealed. If that seepage occurs, the foam can begin to stick to itself internally, causing a depression on the surface (and in your psyche, too). Using a gel formula contact cement helps avoid this, simply because the cement is so thick it doesn't spread or seep as easily. Light and quick strokes of the brush help.

When affixing the vinyl, I think it's best to begin with the vents at the front of the dash. As with the process of setting the foam on the metal dash, begin with the center vent and then move outward to the vents at the edges. At this point I didn't bother wrappiing the vinyl around the metal. I just worried about getting the top surface smooth and wrinkle free. After the forward (vent) edge of the dash was firmly fixed, I moved toward the back edge of the dash — the edge that faces the car's interior. When you apply the vinyl be sure to avoid uneven tension of the vinyl, since that can cause the dash to become wavy. Take your time and watch carefully.

You can see the final product emerging, but you can also see how generous I was with the vinyl. I trimmed a good four inches (ten centimeters) off the back edge of the vinyl by the time I was done. Appearances are a little deceiving here, though. The picture makes it look as though I had already wrapped the forward edge of the vinyl around the metal. This was not the case, but the vinyl had curled around the forward edge because of the gentle stretching that I did while applying it. At this point, I hadn't even put contact cement on the underside of the dash.

I decided to make edges of the vent openings fold to the underside of the metal. This meant applying contact cement to the underside areas and slitting the center of the vent. Note the "dart" at each end of the vent hole. You can actually cut a little closer to the metal edge. If I were to cut this again, I believe I would have made the dart a little longer, since it's easier to attach a longer piece to the underside. You can see that I had wrapped the edges of the vinyl already.
   Now, the vent opening can also be cut open flush with the metal edge. Since the outside surface has a bronze fitting to outline the vent hole, the metal will not be visible, and the chance of a peel-back of the vinyl is minimized.

The original setup may have had the duct inserted up through the duct hole before the vinyl was cemented in place. I don't know. I do know that the setup I took apart was flimsy and it most assuredly was a redo from the original, since the vinyl I took off wasn't black but tan. The original metal pieces that trim up the vent holes are made of bronze and painted black. They were probably originally attached with sheet metal screws.
   I chose to do the attachment of the duct from below using aluminum clips and contact cement. Not only did this make the trimming of the dash a little easier, but I think it would make eventual replacement of a duct piece easier.

The clips holding the duct in place are attached with a machine screw and nut which replaces the original sheet metal screw. The edges of the duct not covered by the clip need to be glued, so they don't wander into the hole or otherwise separate from the surface.

The clip was a simple matter of cutting with snips and a little shaping with pliers. The aluminum is 0.040" thick. Note that the bends of the feet-like tabs are made to exert some pressure when you tighten the piece in place, though remember that aluminum isn't great as a spring metal. If you go this route, you'll need to make ten of these things, but you don't need to alter the design for the corner vents that are rounded. The clip isn't long enough for the curve to matter on those.

Glove box

The glove box and the major instrument panel in front of the steering wheel are also covered in black vinyl, though unlike the dash top they had no foam backing. The vinyl just goes on the metal, and the trimming is quite easy.

I decided to make a paper template for the dash pieces, since they have an angled surface as well. You can see how much I made the cutting wide, mainly because I wanted to have too much material rather than too little. Since I had a full yard of the vinyl, I had plenty to work with.

The vinyl having been cut from the template and the surfaces covered with contact cement, it was really just a matter of laying the metal piece onto the vinyl and then methodically affixing the vinyl with finger pressure. I started applying pressure in central areas (though there isn't much of a central area on the glove box hole!). Then I worked toward the edges. This picture shows a little innovation using clothespins. I clipped the perimeter where I have wrapped the vinyl over the metal edge. It's probably useful to do this only on surfaces that are hidden from view, because the pressure of the clothespin can flatten the texture of the vinyl. Indeed, the clothespin trick might not really be necessary at all, since contact cement, once pressed into place, sticks pretty well.

The choke control is in place, and I just laid the glove box piece into position and set the dash on top of it. Though it's obviously not in final position, the image gives an idea of what the parts will look like when they're completely installed.