Dash pad fit to A pillar - 70 RR

[wwheel]

I am not familiar on how well the dash pad fits into the A pillar molding for this year. Attached is what the fit looks like on my '70 RR. That is some kind of ugly. Dash pad was recovered by Just Dashes about 7 years ago. I have both original and repop A pillar moldings and both fit exactly the same against the dash pad. The dash frame is on a jig and I am just hand fitting the A pillar molding. But all of the A pillar screw holes line up with the holes in the dash frame. No problems there. No, the dash pad just appears to be 1/4" short per side. It is exactly 52" long from end to end now. Is that correct? Does the dash pad fit into the A pillar molding or just butt up against it?

Any pictures would be greatly appreciated. Given the price of new dash pads, i would like to see if this pad was incorrectly covered or if I am doing something else wrong!

Thank you!!!

 

[Charles Cook]

That’s as good as it gets Wallace. I went through the same thing when I was installing mine. The after market ones are even shorter. I sent two back to the people I bought mine from. Just dashes only recover what you send. If the one you had recovered was aftermarket it was short to begin with. I’ll get you some pictures of mine tomorrow. It’s short too. Looks like crap. You would think they could correct this issue.

 

[wwheel]

Thanks Mike! I feel better now, sort of. I might see how I can compensate a bit. But yeah, not great. I don't really know where that pad came from but only know that it was recovered. Thank you for the input on this. I wonder if the factory fit was any better?

I had to grind out the holes in the dash to "press fit" the pad in place. Wasn't expecting that! All day process.

 

[Charles Cook]

Thanks Mike! I feel better now, sort of. I might see how I can compensate a bit. But yeah, not great. I don't really know where that pad came from but only know that it was recovered. Thank you for the input on this. I wonder if the factory fit was any better?

I had to grind out the holes in the dash to "press fit" the pad in place. Wasn't expecting that! All day process.

I had to drill mine too. My original pad is 1/2 inch longer than my aftermarket one.

 

[dspur]

I am not familiar on how well the dash pad fits into the A pillar molding for this year. Attached is what the fit looks like on my '70 RR. That is some kind of ugly. Dash pad was recovered by Just Dashes about 7 years ago. I have both original and repop A pillar moldings and both fit exactly the same against the dash pad. The dash frame is on a jig and I am just hand fitting the A pillar molding. But all of the A pillar screw holes line up with the holes in the dash frame. No problems there. No, the dash pad just appears to be 1/4" short per side. It is exactly 52" long from end to end now. Is that correct? Does the dash pad fit into the A pillar molding or just butt up against it?

Any pictures would be greatly appreciated. Given the price of new dash pads, i would like to see if this pad was incorrectly covered or if I am doing something else wrong!

Thank you!!!

View attachment 1682354

View attachment 1682355

I'm dealing with a similar issue on my 69 Bee with Rallye Dash. It simply is not going to fit perfectly.

 

[Under Pressure]

I Believe my 70 GTX would be the same pad and fit to to A pillar trim, some pics if it helps

 

[Charles Cook]

I Believe my 70 GTX would be the same pad and fit to to A pillar trim, some pics if it helpsView attachment 1682402View attachment 1682401


View attachment 1682403

That’s how my original fit, but not my aftermarket one. Yours fits nice.

 

[mr. b]

here’s what mine look like it’s the original pad on a 69 road runner

 

[wwheel]

Thanks for the pics and that helps explain the situation. Yeah, looks like even in the best case scenario, not a great fit. I figure my pad is overall a 1/2" short but will just have to live with it. I'll futz around with the A pillar part and see if there is any help there. I just was not expecting that sloppy of a fit.

 

[wwheel]

An update on this. I found a dash pad that was not original to the car but was in the car when I bought it. Not in great shape but is 52-1/2" long!!! Exactly 1/2" longer than the repro dash I have now. That would make the fit much. much better. But the other big difference is that triangular shape on the ends. The original shape is not as wide at the big end. see pic and highlighted in orange. It fits perfectly into the A pilar molding. The repro dash pad is about a 1/4" wider at the big end and doesn't fit well. So what to do?

I called just dashes and they quoted basically $1000 and 5 to 6 months lead time. That's not going to work for me. I think I am going to try to make a filler piece and cover it with vinyl. It will bridge the gap and make the transition less noticeable. I dunno, maybe not worth the time.

If you have a good fit, feel fortunate.

 

[Charles Cook]

You are right, my original is a 1/2 inch longer. I didn’t want to pay that $1000 dollars either, and wait. If you come up with a solution, please share. Thanks

 

[wwheel]

Will do. I think the goal will be to make the filler piece bridge the gap and so not to draw your eye to it so quickly. Damage control....... I can't wait and need to get the dash in to keep the project going. If I were looking to buy a new dash pad, first thing i would ask is how long the pad is. Maybe they have fixed it, but doubt it. If I knew this years ago, I could have had the original recovered and not spent the $300 to $400 on a new one that doesn't fit well.

 

[wwheel]

Good news and found a solution! It turns out the pad that was too short was a repop that I had bought in 2019. It wasn't a recover job and I guess my memory isn't what it used to be. I complained about the fit and was able to return. They said they hadn't had any complains in the past about the fit. I called Legendary and asked about their pad length since their pad was $200 more. I figured it had to be a different part and turns out that is correct. Theirs is right at 52-1/2"! I have to say that the quality of the legendary pad is a notch above the other. It fit very well onto the dash frame and snugged up the way it should when tightened. But the best part is the fit to the A pillar. It is as the factory was.

I wish it were 52-3/4", but beggars can't be choosers. I think they were trying to hit what the factory did and no better. So fair enough. That is half the price of getting it recovered and was in stock. The others said they were going to fix their tooling and make it right based on my information. So later it too should be correct. Good news all around.

 

[wwheel]

BTW, now that the dash pad issue is solved, time to install the dash! Once installed, the fit to the A pillar was a bit different on either side due to the dash being off centered by an 1/8" or so. It was a very tight fit and no changing that. Moving on....