My 1980 Monte has a large crack in the dash. I'm planning on reupholstering the blue leather with tan and redoing the carpet and vinyl interior. I have the tan vinyl strips from a 1981 Monte and I'll be painting the unique pieces like the t-top vinyl.

But the dash bugs me. Has anyone used these dash pads? Is this the right fix since I'm changing the interior color?

Here's a listing on ebay of what I'm talking about:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/77-80...spagenameZWDVW

 

I have actually never used them but have seen them installed on a few cars. and never ehard back from anyone in a bad way.

the one thing the guy who was putting them in said MAKE sur eyou have a real good adhisive. as they will move in the winter and summer months etc...

But here is a question .

if you plan on covering it anyway are you thinking of this as a cure to coever it up?
Or are you thinking like one of the rug style covers?

if you plan to paint it etc. you can cut the crack smooth to the rest fo the dash pad. then fill it with bondo and it should stick to the surounding plastic enough to keep in the crack.

and then sand it smooth and paint or cover etc...
or you could do this and then skim coat the whole thing and sand and paint it if your in to the smooth look

 

Thanks for your thoughts Mickey, really. I'm still gathering my thoughts on all this and your opinion means a lot.

The dash overlay I was looking at is on ebay here:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/77-80...spagenameZWDVW

The idea is that I have a white Monte Carlo with blue leather interior. I'm looking to paint the car black and change the interior to light tan leather.

The blue vinyl dash has a big crack top center and the thought was I could kill two birds with one stone by buying the tan color overlay that would change the color and cover up the crack.

My problem is that the last hobby car I owned was a DeLorean, so every time I think of a job, I think in DeLorean terms. The dash in the DeLorean is extremely difficult to remove and replace. For whatever reason, I tend to think of a dash as being a big pain to remove.

Is it different on the Monte?

Another question! I keep using the Training Day Monte Carlo as a reference towards what I'm trying to do (minus the tan interior and T-Tops and maybe the header panel):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InPoPRfqNWM

If I'm right, the side mirrors are 1981 aero mirrors, somehow bolted onto a 79 Monte.

So, I'm thinking I might do the same thing. Any recommendations? A pair are on ebay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ksid=p3907.m29

There, all my secrets are out!

 

trying to think (i know this is difficult)
but i belive the camaro miorros will work on that styel of car. and they are all that same style. Also sincew this styel went threw to 80 i dont think it will be to difficult to use those doors on a 79 from a 81 im betting they are nto to hard to get to retro fit on those doors. the angels on those years were simular.

as for your dash those are not to awful tuff to get in and out fo the car for that year. ALSO. the nice part is once you get the HVAC and the pod out there really is not that much left there.

and your right it would defently take out both with one stone. but like i siad you need to make sure tha tyou either cut that crack down etc.. so it wont allow it to pop back up due to presure pushing up on it.

Also there is a place called JUST DASHES i belive they actually have a web site as just dashes.com

But i know when they stole the stereo out of my old one that was the place that was goign to fix the dash then the whole car was stolen before i could find the dash i needed to fix mine.
But that is always another option also. they use yours and basically recover it to factory spec in any color ya want