GT Jackson

I am unable to tell if the dash is leather or vinyl. Is there a sure way of checking before beginning a repair job?

V-Fib

I too, recently put a hard dash cap on the 79 (including pod) It looked great until I left it in the sun (hot Texas) w/o my windshield sunshade for 3 hours at work before remembering to put it in. Mine too warped over one of the defroster vents. Tonight, I used 2 small strips of wood about 10 inches long, 1/4 inch thick and one inch wide on both sides of the vent. I clamped them down with large electric test clips (similar to alligator) on the wood and inside the defroster vents. I then took a heat gun (on low) and heated the area for a short time (just a few seconds, and let it cool. I repeated this 4 times. After completely cooled, I removed the wood and it is nice and flat again. You must use a proper fitting sunshade in your windshield anytime it is parked for more than a few minutes if you use a hard plastic dash cover. I found this out the hard way. They do look better than a cracked dash though.
Addendum: DON'T wedge anything between your dash and the windshield! There are horror stories of cracked winshields.

Anthony Tate
79/928 Silver Metallic

Shark_gts

Dashes are a real problem. Problem to cover cracked dashes and also to protect ones that aren't. Any 928 we have never sees sun unless it's on the move.

Anyway, we had a meeting just yesterday with our leather specialist. We have a busted up dash in the shop and a pod. The goal is to make a really nice leather (optional) or vinyl dash cover, owner install with hardware for the vents. Available in custom colors.

We are using a thin EVA heat moldable foam called Ultralon as a base, non-destructible adhesives, and possibly velcro. He has the parameters, knows the mission, let's see what happens.