virfighter

Hey,

I did some searching and people seem to say this is a good piece... but does anyone have any pics of one installed? The dash on my '83 is cracked and it seems like this or the Victoria British one would be a good solution.

So any pictures? Or anyone have an opinion to add?

Thanks.

anthrax

Well if you can get another dash that is not cracked you can buy special paint to paint the dash to match your interior colour.

It turns out nice. Have seen it a a couple of restored Mustangs.

I beleave it is a vinal paint.

It may have to be redone once in a while but it is a solution for thoes of us that don't have a gery interior and need/want interior parts.

anthrax

virfighter

anthrax,

I'm sure what you are referring to but my question was about the Mazdatrix dash cover. My understanding is that it is not a paint of anykind, but rather a a molded piece that glues over top of the existing cracked dash.

A new dash would obviously be ideal but seems like an easier solution.

82mazdarx7

I have put the replacement dash cover in my 82 Rx-7. For the most part it looks very nice. All you do is clean the dash in the car and apply a bead of silicone around the edge of the cover. Then you just slide it over the old dash in the car. I dont have a way of taking a picture of it, but it really does look nice. Near the vents and on the very side of the dash (when you open the door) you can tell that its a cover. As for near the vents, you cant tell unless you are really looking for it. As for anyone thinking its a cover, they wont =)
-Hope this helps

Brad

virfighter

Brad,

Thanks a lot for the input. Did you get the mazdatrix one? Is there any difficulty as far as lining it up? Or does it pretty much only go on one way?

My dash is split pretty bad in a couple places so a factory looking cover would really be a nice solution for me, especially if people can't tell its a cover unless they really look close.

RXTbone

I used a Victoria British dash cover - I think they used to call them "dash caps", but I was very happy with the results. You couldn't tell it was a cap, unless you were really looking for it. I remember the install well - I knocked myself out. I was trying to strap a bungie cord from the defrost vent to the brake pedal, and it let lose. Snapped me right between the eyes hard enough to deck me. Still have a nice scare to this day as a reminder... I was worth it, though. The dash looked great!

virfighter

Ouch!

I dont' even want to ask why you had a bungie cord going from the vents to the brake pedal... :p

I'm glad the dash cap turned out well for you though. Do you have any pictures of it?

Thanks.

82mazdarx7

My dash cover did come from Mazdatrix. As for the cracks in your dash, I had a couple bad ones too. You take some sand paper and sand down where the cracks have come up above the rest of the dash. When you get the cracks level with the rest of the dash you put some silicone around the outside of the cover and just slide it on. Trust me, its a piece of cake. The dash cover comes with instuctions. Its pretty simple. Ill try to see if I can get my digital camera and take a picture for you, but if I cant, you will be happy with the results no matter what.

Good luck

RXTbone

No pics - it was my second RX (I've had 4). I bought it when I was living in LA... sorry. What color is your dash? If you go through the FS forum, there's almost always dashes for sale. There's a black dash there now - thought about changing out my tan dash (tan interior) with a black dash - thought it might be a more modern color combination...

virfighter

Mine's black, I saw that one in the classifieds. I'm kinda between the two options right now. I'm not sure if putting another 20 yr old dash in my car is such a good idea. Even if I take care of it and try to protect it from the, who's to say it won't crack in a few years?

Seems like it'd be a cleaner solution than gluing a cover on top. Like I said though, I'm weighing the two possibilities out in my head.

jimmyrose99

cracked dashes suck, i gotta get mine fixed, i got it how it is now, its got a cover on it though but it dosent look too good

RXTbone

There's no guarantee a stock dash wouldn't crack, but I would think you'd get along fine if you conditioned it well before installing. If you can find one that isn't cracked already, I'd say chances are that it's been taken care of most it's life. Something else you might want to ask - the cap I had had a nice grain and finish. When you Armor All'd it, it didn't shine like cheap plastic, it looked very close to the original dash. That was 10 years ago, they may make them differently now, or there may a difference between manufactures.

The bungie cord incident: I'm fairly **** about my ride, and the only way I could figure out to get the cap squeezed down flush with the front of the dash (I wanted to make sure you couldn't see the silicon from the front of the windshield), was to use bungie cords pulled over top small blocks of wood... Short of the self induced knock out, it worked swimmingly...

speedracer_not

RXT, your bungie cord incident made me procrastinate and procrastinate.

A 4 foot long 1/4 latex rubber tubing has the right amount of elasticity to hold the dash cover in place and not rip out the defroster vents. I bent a metal clothes hanger to make the hooks.

It looks OEM unless you know where to look. And a hell of allot better looking than that cracked dash.

boyee

iTrader: (3)

wow!
procrastinate for more than 5 years?
because that is how long it has been since this thread has seen the light of day!
some of the members that posted havent logged-in in years too!

speedracer_not

boyee, Ha Ha.

I so that others might benefit from my discovery that latex tubing has just the right amount of elasticity to hold the cover in place but not rip out the defrost vents while the silicon glue is drying.

And come to think of it, the original dash cover started cracking in 1995, or 13 years ago. So I've procrastinated 13 years.

dmc83RX

The one from Black Dragon will look ok if you take your time to fit it before you glue it. The grain pattern is a little different from the original. My old dash was cracked and swollen so I am having to trim and sand here and there to get it to fit. If you have the cash and want a new dash, I have heard this might be a good solution - www.justdashes.com. They rebuild your original.