As I mentioned previously, the new dash pad appears to be very high quality, but at a glance, you can see it’s not an exact match to the old one.
When I got started installing it today, it became very apparent this was not going to be plug and play. First, I had to cut off a big section to fit around the ignition switch in the steering column.
Next, the glove box door was bound up and would need a heavy trim.
The kick panel speaker looks pretty good hanging out all casual over there.
In preparing to re-mount the decorative grill plates around the speedometer, I decided to use some of that black vinyl as a backing. The benefit is two-fold. It looks pretty nice, but will also block some air coming in from the poorly sealed front end.
The new dash pad has a speaker hole cut in it and there won’t be a speaker in there anymore.
Time to bring the Matte Vintage Blue out of retirement!
Apparently, I didn’t get them clean enough before spraying the first coat. There are lots of bubbles.
I picked up this washing machine drain hose at Lowes (Lowes link) and it fits perfectly without the need for clamps. I cut both ends off, then cut it in half. It’s an 8 foot hose, which is way more than I will need, so I can cut each side to fit.
Since Dupli-Color engine enamel has been letting me down lately, I just grabbed this can of generic black primer and gave them a few coats.
The rubber gasket around the fresh air intake box is really hard and crusty and it’s always kind of damp under the bonnet, so maybe this foam window seal will work to bridge the gap.
It’s a nice thought, but the adhesive always lets go immediately on those things, so I don’t have very high hopes.
I pulled the speaker out of the dash. I was wrong before, it’s not a Kicker, it’s a Dual.
When I ordered the new vents for the dash install, I also added fiberglass kick panels to allow me to install front speakers. Because I have spent so much money already, I did the sensible thing and ordered Pyle speakers (Amazon link).
I have had nothing but good experiences with Pyle products in the past. They have always fallen into the “this thing has no business being this good” kind of category.
I previously had an 8 inch bass cannon (Amazon link), multiple sets of 5x7s (Amazon link), and my drum recording setup has four Shure 57 knock-offs (Amazon link) that were a fraction of the price. They have all been great!
I traced the openings using the paper template that came with the speakers. I drilled a hole just large enough for my jigsaw blade to fit through, then cut them out.
That is not the right blade, but it’s all I have. It needs to have much finer teeth.
Next, I put the speaker in place and drilled holes for the mounting screws.
Obviously, I don’t want to leave this ugly, raw fiberglass panel in view, so I started looking around for something to cover them with. I can order carpet pieces if I need to, but like I said before, I have already spent a lot this year.
I grabbed the bit of vinyl I peeled off the dash pad (what a fiasco), but it had too many cuts in not the right places.
Then it came to me! I had previously made a speaker hutch for the luggage compartment and just had a saddle blanket draped across it. There’s plenty of extra material there, so I cut off what I needed.
I’m confident in the strength of the 3m Super 77 (Amazon link) and have plenty left over, so I hosed the kick panel down and let the glue start to set up.
When I got the blanket fitted on the front, I flipped it over and sprayed some more glue around the edges on the back, to hold the blanket in place.
The pattern is a little crooked, but it was my first attempt. Now I know what to look out for next time.
I think they turned out great!
My original idea was to mount the speakers from the back and not use the speaker grills. The center bit of the speaker protrudes quite a ways and it wouldn’t have been flush with the face of the kick panel. OK, so I have to use the plastic trim piece and speaker grill.
I’m an idiot and got the first speaker mounted before realizing I needed the plastic trim piece under there to house the speaker grill.
When ordering the new padded dash, I added a few other parts as well.
My ash tray face doesn’t have the shift pattern printed on it, as I have seen in lots of pictures online and in the original owner’s manual. It’s also missing one of the press nut/washers that holds the plastic face to the actual ash tray. Someone had smeared RTV or something in there to glue the old one on.
The black paint is all chipping away off the spring mechanism and that’s certainly something I can rectify.
Or at least I could if I wasn’t still making silly string from yet another can of Dupli-Color 1634 engine black…
OK, maybe not an actual win, but it will look better once mounted in the car with the ash tray closed.
It’s not dead, just sleeping.
Anyway, next up we have a new, more Beetle-y looking gas cap.
This has a nice rubber gasket. The one that was in there originally had a paper gasket that looks like it has seen better days.
Last on the list for this wasted afternoon is the dome light.
The one that’s in there looks melted. Also, when trying to pull it out in the past to check the bulb and wiring, it felt like it was going to crumble into pieces in my hand, so I left it alone.
Now that I have the replacement part in hand, that is exactly what happened when I pulled the old one out.
The bulb is burned out and will need to be replaced, but at least the new one fit without issue and looks nicer. Edit: I didn’t bother trying to turn it on at the time, since the glass in the bulb was blackened, but it actually does work. Not with the door switch, but it does turn on with the switch on the light itself.
The overnight rain that was supposed to finish up around 9AM lasted until noon.
Once I was able to get back outside to start piecing together the guts behind the dash pad, the first thing I noticed were these two plastic hoses, all cracked and broken.
They run from the center of the air vent assembly under the bonnet down to a pipe on each side of the car. Being a man of action (seemingly only when that is not what is needed), I went straight to the parts store, hardware store, parts store, hardware store, and hardware store, looking for something suitable to replace them with.
If I knew then what I know now, this afternoon would have been a lot more productive. Once I was in the store and looking at the different varieties of hose by the foot, I was concerned that there may be heat coming in or out through these hoses and didn’t want to risk melting vinyl, or at least heating it up and smelling bad.
So, after a bunch of runaround, I came home empty handed and decided to start googling the part. It turns out, they are just water drain hoses and anything that would fit would work. I found a post on the samba saying that washing machine drain hose worked. Now I have a plan for tomorrow.
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