Here is a low res quality of my new dash for my 79 spider. I'll update with others later once I get time to take some proper photos. Mom and Dad gifted me with the very nice fiberglass repro dash from AR for graduation and it fit extremely well. In this post and following I'll write some info on the products purchased and any pertinent info about them.
First I'll go through the list:
Dash - AR
Stainless Bezels -AR
Dash Center Trim - AR
Classic Radio - RetroSound
Dash: Really high quality IMO. No mold marks or seems anywhere. Fairly resilient to scratching and I only managed to give it one small scratch during installation. I think Crayola can help me fix that. There is no metal backer plate for your center dash instruments so one must use the one from the dash they are replacing. It required beveling the back side of the dash in the middle to get the plate to fit but it wasn't too much work - plenty of dust though! Only a few things seemed off with the product...or my car. One of which is the steering wheel hump. It was at least half an inch to three quarters to the left of where my wheel originally sat so I had to unbolt the wheel, slide the dash in and tighten the wheel to the new location. This has resulted in my wheel being slightly to the left and the face of the wheel is mildly oblique to me. Its not a huge issue for me personally but I thought others might like to know or have some tips on how I might remedy the issue of possible.
The second issue was that the vents on the top of the dash would not sit flush within the dash. I had to grind the back side of each down by about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch to get them to sit where they would in the original dash. Again - not a lot of work and not a real issue of concern.
The third issue I found was that the portion of the dash, immediately above the recess for the dash panels is not like the original. The original dash comes out towards the driver to lay on top of the gage panels flat, before turning upwards. This product begins to turn upwards immediately above the recess.This results in an unavoidable gap between the dash panels and the dash unless one bevels the back side of the dash to fit perfectly...something I would actually consider doing because I like the dash so much.
Fourth, it is very squeaky due to vibration from the road. I would encourage anyone that installs this dash to put some door or window gasket material behind the back lip before inserting it. If I ever take the dash out, I will certainly do this.
Overall I think it is a great product and am very, very happy. The shortcomings I have listed might be related to only my experience with the product, but I thought I should share them anyway.
Bezels - Fit like a glove! Very nice indeed. There was an unevenness to the quality of the brushing on some of them but who is really going to notice other than the person installing them? The are very strong bezels and I was not able to bend the stainless over to form a lip around the gage. I ended using a bead of silicon to hold the gages in and its held up just fine on my trip across the country. In addition, not being able to bend them gave the gages some additional depth on the dash, something I thought looked quite nice. Another great product.
Dash Center Trim - An ok quality product. I think the overall piece is nice but there is a glaring casting mark right next to where the hazard switch goes. If one has any intention of painting it black to look like the original I suggest you bondo that casting mark well because it is highly visible. Shame on me for not noticing when ordering the product - it is visible on the website photos. Additionally, I found the piece to be slightly off from perfectly square. But...when do things ever really line up perfectly in these cars? Luckily, Dad came up with a good idea of putting the striped decal across the center piece of the trim. The lines help to conceal the casting mark pretty well and now it complements my ash tray nicely. Way to go, Dad!
Classic Radio - I ordered the product with the chrome ring knobs and striped backers if anyone is interested. It is an expensive product - It nearly rivals the dash - but I am pretty darn happy with it. It even comes with stickers that replicate the old school number style face plates if you are into that. It is enhanced by being able to hide the digital display. I haven't gone down this route because I have a feeling there will be a lot of air bubbles behind my sticker application. Installation to the console was very straight forward and it comes with a lot of different fastener options to help you get the desired fit. The knobs stick out a tad far for my taste and the rubber boot you are provided to put between the knob and the face plate is not the best thing in the world, but its hardly anything to complain about.
The main reason I got this was to use the bluetooth on the cross country road trip to listen to some great tunes. Unfortunately highway speed rarely permitted anything audible without the risk of blowing out my speakers. The bluetooth option is a bit tiresome to get too but it beats the alternative of the radio/cd player combo I had in there before. Many that Sony was ugly. It came with the removable faceplate feature to ensure that no one would steal your radio from your car. Do people even steal radios anymore?! Radios that play cds!?
To paint a better picture of the interior prior to my installation of the mahogany dash panels I fabricated, you should know that the panels had been painted silver by the PO to match the exterior of the car. Matt silver is not a bad look..so long as its not chipping and peeling off....
To top things off, Dad sanded my steering wheel down to bare metal and took care to give it a brushed stainless look like my gages...yeah...he's a real good dad.
People had made mention that a shiny dash panels, gages and a steering wheel would kick off too much glare when being hit by the sun but I never once had a problem with it. My dash panels are actually so shiny you can see your reflection in them, so if you anyone is thinking gloss for their own Spider, I say YES!
