Well I got my new dash in and as some of you know I was really unhappy with the fit.

SO this brings up the question of new dash or dash cap. If I had it to do over I would really look at a cap. BUT how far gone can your dash be befor you can't use a cap. I'm begining to think that I might have been able to just grind off all the bad parts of the old dash and then cap it, but at the time I thought it was to far gone.
SO
How much of a dash can you remove and still use a cap?
Maybe this will hep some on in the future.

 

Well depending on if there is still mounting slots/screw holes for the new cap then i dont see how it wouldnt fit. If your planning on grinding it down, how do you plan on filling in the crevices that arent covered by the cap? What exactly is wrong with the dash? just cracks?

 

I already pulled the old dash off and put a new one on. Old dash was warped really bad on top where they ususlly warp. So this question I quess is for those who have done a cap instead of a complete dash. How bad can the orginal dash be befor you can't usee a cap.

Top pick is old dash, but you can't see the warp, second is new dash.

 

I've done caps and they work great! You can literally take almost all the old dash pad off as the cap covers everything with no old pad showing. I test fitted them and took a knife to cut off the portion that was warped.
The caps come with self adhesive tape, but I used black caulk also to adhere better. I put the tape strips around the edge wherever I had original edge, then masked off the area around the cap to protect it from any caulk oozing out. Caulked it in numerous places underneath and kept back from the edge enough to avoid it working it's way out. Then I just slid the cap in place and pushed it down into the caulk until it touched the adheive strips.
I put some books on the top to hold weight on it and left it sit overnight. The next day I removed the books and the tape and all was fine.

 

Thanks Val, If I had known that, I might have tried a cap instead of replacing the dash. But maybe this thread will help someone else. If I ever do another one I will probably try a cap.

 

Check out post #6. FWIW I've read Ecklers is the best. dash cap??? - NastyZ28.com

 

Thanks Guys, This is exactly what I wanted on this thread. The more info out there the better off the next guy or gal will be.

 

F-body is awfully high priced on dash caps. $145 vs. almost half that price at NPD. The dash caps I've gotten from NPD for $80 fit very well, ($91 now) and I can't imagine paying $55 more and getting much better.

 

They are the same I believe. Fbody doesn't charge shipping but I'm sure that doesn't make up for $50.

 

Shalamara, Excellent and timely thread. I had thought that you had resolved your dash pad issues. I guess not. I assume that the gaps I can see along the edges are what bother you, are there more issues?
I was about to order a pad for my car. 77Nomad I followed the link you provided. It left me some unanswered questions. I had already removed my pad and considered a custom cover. I removed the vinyl part from the hard plastic. I had the typical shrinkage along the Pass side top. I also had shrinkage in the top left over the guage cluster. This I had to cut to remove the guages. I could reinstall the pad to the backing if I thought that a cover would be a better fit. Does anyone know if the cover extends to the guage cluster? Do I even need to put the existing pad back on?
I did have some breakage on the far right hand side of the bard plastic.