Got a new Dash Board Today...thoughts?

[Ryan King]

Today I acquired a very nice dash from a fellow DeLorean member who was installing a Houston Dash on his car.

He didn't like the very minor cracks that were starting to sprout up around the glove box lid area, so he swapped them. I jumped all over getting his old dash. He removed it without any damage. I currently am running a Houston Repro Dash, but I haven't been too happy with it, so I am planning on going back to the stock set up.

Questions though, there are some cracks, as shown in the photos below. I am wondering if I should just get these cracks repaired, or should I get the dashboard recovered all together? My concern is that with repair, it might just end up cracking once again after installing it.

Anywho. General thoughts on dash cracks, repairs, recovers, anything would be helpful. Anyone have any experiences with recovers or repairs.

-Ryan

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[WelmoedJ]

My dash at the time of purchase had been severly damages by cracks in the vinyl.
I therefore stripped all the vinyl, repaired the cracks in the softer material that covers the metal dash plate.

After that I had a car upholsterer cover the dash (and binnacle) with leather.
With proper care leather won't crack that easily, especially over here in "normal" summers.

Picture attached for your information.
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[NightFlyer]

For such small/minor imperfections, you may want to consider trying something like this:

[louielouie2000]

I'm just curious- what makes the repro dashes so bad that you're considering going back to a cracked OEM one?

[Ryan King]

I'm just curious- what makes the repro dashes so bad that you're considering going back to a cracked OEM one?

The new Houston dashes are hollow plastic. In the case of mine, which is a black dash, I've noticed some of the black paint is wearing off the edges exposing a grey plastic underneath. This is where the door closes near the edges by the dash endcaps. When I was installing mine one of the studs underneath sheared off as I was tightening down a nut. It doesnt match up to my A-Pillars, which leaves a gap. There is also major gaping between the dash and the defrost vents.

[Spittybug]

So in other words the fit and finish is on a par with the rest of the car as it came out of the factory!

[SoCalDMC12]

Why not just cover the DMCH dash with leather?

[Ryan King]

Why not just cover the DMCH dash with leather?

If you had a choice, would you spend the money to recover a thin plastic dash or a rigid metal one?

[SoCalDMC12]

If you had a choice, would you spend the money to recover a thin plastic dash or a rigid metal one?

Oh... I didn't know the oem part was made of metal. Cool.
(I've never bothered to examine its construction.)

[sdg3205]

Ryan,

I decided that some day (maybe after the wife and I pop out a kid, raise it, send it to college and retire) I'm going to have Just Dashes do the work. They quoted $950 for the dash, but they strip it and re-do the foam and match the vinyl.

That's not cheap, and hence why I'm not going to rush into it. I'd rather throw the money at exhaust.

I'd rather pay $950 and be happy with it than $500 and not be thrilled. Some people love the new dashes, but a lot of people don't seem to like them. Given my aversion to non OEM parts I'm afraid I'd fall in the later.

For the record, they quoted me:

$950 - dash
$500 - binnacles
$200 - glove box door
+ Shipping

Again, not cheap, but you get what you pay for.