repop dash fitting tips

[ddare]

Anyone have any luck with these buggers?? I started to fit mine yesterday afternoon but was having a lot of trouble with the gauges. When I left it in the car overnight, the pad shrunk and ripped where two of the screws on the bottom hold it to the metal dash part.

I don't want to start jabbing around with a flat tipped screwdriver, but I think I might... It just doesn't want to slide on the black plastic piece that holds the gauges into the pad. it doesn't help that there are two tabs jutting out of the sides, either. Can I cut those off??

-Doug

[ddare]

Okay I went back and read posts saying that they took the black plastic fittings off of the gauges to make them fit. I did that, and now my gauges just kind of hang there. The gas gauge doesn't even sit inside the dash pad, it just kind of rests behind it.

I would like to add that I am thoroughly disappointed with these pieces of junk. They don't even bother to pre-drill the top two screws (right next to the corner in the windshield) because they know there is no way that anyone will get it to sit somewhere even close to where it should. The instructions even go so far as to say "It will install easily and precisely." All of my lower passenger side screw holes ripped, making it impossible for the little chrome piece to go where it should.

[tiertender]

Which dash cover did you buy? I recently bought a dash cover, however I have not installed it yet.

Mine is a Dashtop by Palco Industries.

[Barter_Builder]

You should have just saved your money and hunted for a good used dashpad. Aftermarket dashpads are junk and will not fit like the original.

[tiertender]

I quickly found out. After reading ddare's post I went to fit mine to my dash. What a joke, Oh yes it looks good coming out of the box but does not cover correctly. The person I bought it from gives a money back guarantee. I guess I'll be sending mine back and will be back on the market for a new/used dash.

[Bobnotch]

Yeah, what ddare is going thru is normal with these pads. It doesn't seem to matter who you buy it from either as they are just pure crap. The tooling was made from the late style (71 to 73) dash that had shrunk, and are incorrect for the early cars. These pads don't even want to fit on the cars they were designed for either, which only compounds the problem. This leaves 2 choices, find a good used/ NOS pad, or remove the pad, fill in the holes and paint the top of the dash. I may go this route on my Roadster 2, as the OE pad is getting more and more cracks in it as it absorbs more moisture (was from down south, where water was a foreign object). Hopefully some company or individual will save the day and make some correct fitting pads for us.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[ddare]

Dunno which pad I got (I bought it from Bill and Steve's in Downey) but needless to say I probably won't be getting my money back, due to all of the rips in the tabs where the screws go. For right now the dash pad just kind of sits there and makes me angry.

What do ya'll use to fill in the holes? Do you bother trying to smooth out the back where there's the curved metal piece where the rear of the pad sits?

[Zarana-X]

My POS das did the same thing with the rips. I used some of that stick on door edge protector and stuck it on. Looks OK, and it covers up the holes. Plus I lost the damm clips to the moulding .
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"In order to create, you have to destroy."

[Bobnotch]