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Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:41 pm

My dash was in pretty bad shape, so I decided to strip it down to the bare metal and paint it. In all the photos I've seen of this, the dash pad is left padded. My dash pad is in pretty bad shape, and I'm not sure that it'll even work right if I stripped all of the foam off of it. I know that the dash pad in a '69 is different than the one from later years, but can a later model dash pad be made to work?

Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:37 pm

definately. all 68-79 will fit the same. 68's and many 69's have a slightly different look. but i know bay bus dash pads are interchangeable and easily so with one exception: a 68-69 may have two more studs, so it might be hard to get them into 70's models. but fitting a later into earlier is cake. i've got a spare mint one for sale now.

Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:23 am

For unknown reasons (a PO?), our 68 Westy's dashpad, glovebox lid, etc. came looking like it was used for knife & chainsaw testing. A nearby owner was parting out his 78; it's perfect dash parts were purchased and easily mounted up. The metal dash parts were prepped & re-sprayed first.

Personally, I prefer the white on black layout of the later instruments, so those were acquired also and match well with the aftermarket VDO gauges that have been added. The late fuel guage is surrounded by a couple extra warning lights; they can take on new indicating functions, ie. fog lights, engine bay lights, etc.

J.R.
68 Westy
(+ others)

Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:12 am

ok, cool. I think I might be able to get one from a late model. thanks guys.

Sat Aug 19, 2006 6:55 pm

My 68 dash was all cracked up by the sun so I thought I could simply put on a later bay dash. I am now finding out that the long steering column plate under the ignition switch has a different shape & bolt pattern! Also the ignition switch housing has a different shape from the 68 so things are not aligning up as thought? Has anyone else out there ran into this dash problem and had a workable solution?