Izzy

Don't feel like blowing money on a new dash or dash cap?

I still have a dash cover anyways, but if you have minimal damage, anything less than a completely cratered dash this might be a decent alternative for you. Loctite makes the kit, you basically fill the crack with vinyl then mix up vinyl paints to match the color of the dash, paint it on then use a heat tool to concretize it. I have no pictures but in the spots I tried it on my dash, if you can get the color right it works great! My only problem is the whole dash is completely dried out so its a temporary fix.

It didn't even cost but $30 and I figure I can use it on the seats/doors later if need be.

http://www.permatex.com/auto/autoint...&item_no=81785

cjeckert

I tried that however within a mounth in VA's hot summer sun it had turned a different color and crumbled away. Then i put the dash cap on and all was well in the work of dash.

alordofchaos

Izzy, I'd appreciate a followup in a couple - six months to see how the Permatex holds up. My '86 na has a black interior, so color matching will be simple

GOBOGIE

Dash cracks... what are those?

Porsche-O-Phile

I've yet to meet a dash cap I like. At best they look & feel cheap, rattle at the slightest vibration and texture/color doesn't match the remainder of the interior pieces. At worst they'll warp, crack themselves, etc. They might be a good temporary Pep-Boys-feel-good solution until something better can be done about a cracked dash, but as a general rule I can't stand anything that gives people the opportunity to slap a "duct tape, chewing gum & baleing wire" solution onto a problem. This is done all too often by what I call "unscrupulous 944 flippers" - you know the type (refer to Ebay if you don't and spend five minutes browsing the 944 listings or PM me - I can give you a list of 8 or 9 individuals particularly guilty of this). I have something of a personal vendetta against these people to single them out and expose them. . .

Like I said, if it's your car that you plan on keeping for a while and it makes you feel better for a while until you can "fix it right", fine. If someone was going to buy a 944 and I saw one of those, I'd turn and walk away on principle unless everything else was damn nearly perfect. Logic being if they'll cover up cracks on a dash, what else will they cover up/hide?

Sorry, just don't like 'em but whatever thrills ya'.

FRporscheman

Sometimes replacing a dash is just way more trouble than it's worth. I mean, it's just a cosmetic issue, it's not like you're doing a belt job without doing the water pump just to save money. I think covering the dash is the most acceptable solution for someone who has more important things to do than spend time hunting for a clean dash and waste time swapping them. And I've never seen a dash repair that looked any good unless it was the kind of repair that involved removing it and completely redoing it - too much trouble for something merely cosmetic. Just my opinion. My mom's 944 has a dash cap, and both our 944s have dash cracks... I'd pick her covered dash over my nasty one any day.

Ultimately, a dash cap is just like sweeping dust under the rug. I think it's OK to sweep minor things like this under the rug, and maybe tend to them someday.

testarossa_td

Just don't glue it!

As you can see the previous owner tried and glued and I don't mind telling you it warped big time and then when it came to remove it, it took a huge chunk of the dash out! So I had to plunk that foam dash piece back down and put a new overlay...worked like a charm. Only problem I ever had was an occassional squeek on a hot summer day.

tifosiman

I would rather see a well-done dash cover than a cracked up dash. Like someone else in this thread mentioned, there are a lot of other things to worry about first. My car has like 2 very small cracks in the dash near the middle defrost vent, and I covered it up with a coverlay because the cracks bothered me, but not enough to spend the time and $$ to source a perfect 944 dash (that will crack again) and swap it out. I will probably do that someday when the rest of the car is *perfect*, but for now it's just fine for me.

I don't think that just because someone covers the dash with a cover they are covering up or hiding other things on the car. Especially if they tell you up front it is a cover. Now if they lied and told you it wasn't, that is another story alltogether. But if someone comes to buy my car, and gives me crap about the dash cover after I tell them about it...............I'm gonna send them packin'.

And while you are preaching the "do it right" mantra, take a look at your own thread here on the BBS about buying another pair of white 951 fenders because the paint on yours isn't the best. Don't you think the right way to fix that is to have your current fenders prepped and colormatched by a shop? Wouldn't buying used white fenders from another car, with possibly a different amount of sun and element exposure, just result in something that doesn't match and look half-assed?

Food for thought.

SD Porsche Fan

Anyone know where to get a blue one for a dual airbag car? Having a blue interior is pretty cool because it is relatively rare but you just can't find many matching parts!

tifosiman

Coverlay makes a blue one that matches, but there is no cut-out provision for the airbag. You will need to cut the Coverlay out in the airbag area, or, disable your passenger airbag and use the cover as a whole to cover the whole dash.

Izzy

I'd just paint one blue.

SD Porsche Fan

Paint or vinyl dye?

Izzy

You caught me, dye would work better I'm sure. I've seen people do amazing things with interior panels and dye, you can't tell whether it came that color from the factory or not.

Porsche-O-Phile

Well, I get what you're saying. . . Where a particular person "draws the line" between acceptable and unacceptable repair jobs and the resulting implications / conclusions that can be made based thereupon vary. For me, I just hate the cheap dash covers. I personally think it's not THAT hard to get the dash recovered or replaced with something that shows a little pride in ownership.

Of course you could also make the conclusion that a particular seller took better care of the care because he/she had enough pride in it to NOT drive around with the dash cracks and invest in a cover - I'll give you that - it's situational dependant and kind of depends on what else is observed. . . For me, spending $400-$500 on a dash to get it repaired properly or replaced with a suitable uncracked unit is different than replacing two fenders 'cause I don't like the paint condition. It's subjective. If I bought two alpine white fenders for my car and the color match was appreciably different from the rest of the car, I'd go back to what I had. Ultimately the determining factor becomes "what's better?" Given how well the base (non-metallic) paints hold up on these cars, I'd expect a used pair originally painted alpine white to be a pretty damn near perfect match to my car and therefore better than the somewhat peely-looking areas on my fenders. If not, I'd just resell them. . .

It all comes down to where you draw the line. For me, $500 on a replacement dash is acceptable and getting soaked for 2 grand at a body shop for a respray of two fenders and a nose, I balk. Someone else may draw conclusions based on my dedication to my 951 based on this also. . . Just the way it is, but yea - I get your point.

I just hate the dash covers - sorry. Just the way I am. Something about plastic crap that just doesn't sit right with me. . . But that's just me I guess. . .

tifosiman

It sounds to me like you have never seen a dash cover that has been installed well, in person. You really can't tell the difference unless you look at a couple of key spots (and look very hard). As far as the fact that it is plastic, the dash underneath it is nothing exotic. Have you really looked into the effort it takes to remove the dash, and the expense of replacing it or having it recovered? A $100 coverlay that looks great (if you do it right) doesn't seem so bad after taking a hard look at the alternatives. I am one that does not like to cut corners either, for certain, but I think the coverlay is a decent solution. I have yet to have anyone (who did not know already) get in my car and notice anything out of sorts in regards to my dash.