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The '66 dash looks significantly better than the '68 IMO, can't wait to see how this project turns out.

PS: Please do something different than Watas when you're finally deciding on wheels, I feel like the majority of the 1600s I've seen have them

 

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Well, after considering buying a new dash pad ($500) I decided to try and tackle this project myself. I do have some experience with interior work in the past, but nothing major.

I was dissapointed when I realized that the guy who I bought my parts car from destroyed the dash pad in his haste to remove the dash from the car. Granted it was cracked all to hell, it was in one piece. The "good" car didn't have one in it. Here is what I had to work with (after pulling the cracks that were puckered up off):






The Grand Canyon! (It was almost broken in half here)


I decided that I would recover it with black vinyl.

After some research online I found this stuff:



Which will fill in any cracks, and canyons in my case. It's almost exactly like bondo, except flexable. :idea:


So after applying way too much, and sanding it down here is what it looks like after the first coat. I need to touch up a few small areas but this stuff worked wonderfully!




No more Canyon!

 

Now, I need to figure out the best way to reattach the broken pieces of the dash pad. Then just cover it with new vinyl! Easy right?

This is what it SHOULD look like when finished:






I also started restoring the gauges. These were actually in pretty good shape considering the car had been sitting for 15+ years. The only things I'll be doing to these is cleaning up the chrome rings (they are not removable, so no rechome).

 

I love the idea of that filler stuff.

Another idea that I've seen done by old Z owners is to lay some cloth over the dash. Given that you want the squared off look, the cloth wouldn't look out of place. It would sun bleach though, which would suck.

Now that I think of it, the revinyl is much better of an idea.

 

Wow, very nice project. I'm a little embarrassed to say it, but I honestly don't recall ever seeing one of these, seriously.

 

Thanks The good car had vinyl just laid over the top of the dash with padding underneath. However, it didn't have anything that surrounded the dash itself, which is why I chose to rebuild the existing dash. Plus the dash is really one of my favorite parts on the car, I couldn't half ass it. If this little venture doesn't work out, I'll be buying a new dash pad..lol

There really are not that many on the East Coast. You can find them, but finding a decent one is a damn headache. Cali seems to have a much more abundant following, and pool of restorable cars.

 

I'll keep an eye out on NICO for a dash for you JIC.

 

I didn't go to the garage today, but I brought the center consoles from both cars home with me to try and build one nice one.

Here is the condition of each one after being mostly dissasembled:



Ash Tray Doors (this will be the first item to get restored):


Ash Trays:


Consoles:


Since the ash tray door and surrounding trim were both chrome and they were very pitted from each car I decided to go ahead and sand them down and paint them (these items were painted from the factory on later cars anyway):

Primed after a ton of sanding 220-400-600:


Painted next to the trim which I had just finished the 220 stage of sanding:


Not 100% but really not bad, I'll give it a wetsanding and reshoot it tomorrow: