Ghosteh

I posted this on the 911 forum (without pictures) a while back, but of course most of them don't have a leather dash.

You can see the warping around the center vent. The car came from Texas & I suspect that had a lot to do with it. Anyway, that's the only issue with any of the leather & I'd like to do what I can to correct it.

For the last month, I've been feeding conditioner to all the leather & I've noticed it responding. It's much softer now and I believe it's settled a little around the vent (At least it's not as tight). I was thinking the correct way to fix this would be replace the dash, using the existing leather to recover a new core. But the thought occurred to me that maybe I could make it much better by placing a towel on the dash & a weight directly over the vent in an attempt to bend it back down a little. I doubt it would be perfect, but you can see it's not incredibly bad now.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

John D.

First, that dash is stunning! Very nice..!!!

As well - Rennlist used to have a Sponsor who did custom leather (and absolutely AMAZING work!!) - hang on- I'll see if I can find them..??

OK - got it!

http://www.designpaulchampagne.com/PorscheLeather.html

You can PM him through link:
https://rennlist.com/forums/members/6423-champagne.html

You might call them or ask them to visit this thread and see what they say?

I know it's not the help you were looking for - but Paul has a stunning reputation on Rennlist (mostly in the 928 Forum)....

Best to you!

John D.

Ghosteh

It's far from stunning! I might say that if it didn't look like a mirror in a funhouse! haha!

Ah yes, I know of Paul. I had 928s for several years & always admired (but didn't require) his work. Amazing skills!

Good idea! I'll reach out to him.

MUSSBERGER

Look at wachuko's post 197 on his build in the air cooled 911 forum. His first attempt at a dash recover is impressive. Should be on the first page of the forum.

Ghosteh

That's a great thread! I love to see projects like that, and it's even more impressive because he's doing so much of it himself!

His dash recovering isn't really what I was looking for. First, I want to keep mine stock & not loose the factory leather currently covering the dash (which is perfect). What I'm looking at is the plastic/rubber dash core underneath. I'm assuming that it's the same dash as the standard 911 cars had, and they simply glued the leather over it. In that case, all I'd have to do to make it perfect is get a used dash & do the same with my leather. But with my luck, it's an oddball core that you can't get anymore.

Anyway, this will be a project that I shelf for a while, because I'll have to remove the front windshield to do it right. I'll just save up all my momentum and do a lot of little things all at once so I only have to take that area apart once.

Meanwhile, I was wondering what everyone thought of trying to get the dash buckle above the vent (pictured) to subside a little by placing a weight over it. I'm not sure it would do any good, but if it's covered & can't hurt the leather, I don't think it would hurt anything.

MUSSBERGER

I believe the reason for that is the leather drying and shrinking. The leather surrounding the vents on my 81 had the same problem . Liberal amounts of leatherique seemed to help.