Has Anyone Done This? Options

[lsintampa]

I'm in the middle of rebuilding my dash.

I'm using the following parts (all from 914 rubber - Thanks Mark!)

New top dash.
New top padding and vinyl that goes on the top between the windshield and back of the dash top.
New rubber seal for inside front windshield to dash top.
New dash face metal and vinyl.

I removed the steel dash frame - as it made a lot of sense to me.

It appears I can assemble the whole dash (all the parts above - except the seal that would go on last) onto the steel frame, and then install the whole assembled dash in the car. Then finally install the windshield seal.

AS OPPOSED TO - putting the steel frame back in - then putting the dash on the frame, etc.

Bottom line is putting the dash onto the frame and then into the car - seems to me to be a whole lot easier to do.

Has anyone done it that way?

Thanks,

Len

[Rob-O]

Probably the most difficult part of this is the heater controls. It won't go through the hole in the dash as you're pulling the dash out (even with the chrome trim ring removed). So you have to pull it before the dash will come out. The problem is getting the heater control cables off. Next to impossible to pull them from the heater controls because there just is t enough room to get under the dash and move the controls to a point you can release the cables (the cable clamps are on the top side of the controls, so you can't get them off from lying under the dash). So you need to pull them from the flapper boxes in the front trunk. Which makes sense, I'm sure the dash was installed first at the factory, then the flapper boxes were installed. This is the exact reason why the flapper boxes are a PITA to get out. Once the dash is out of the car, you'll see how much more room there is in that area inside the car and how easy it would be to pull the flapper boxes.

It seems like to long job, but really after you've done it once, you'll never spend that futile three hours dicking with turning those two plastic nuts under the gauge hood 1/32 of a turn at a time.