Dash pad opinions

[jugalo]

Here are some pics of my newly repaired dash from Al Knoch. I have to say I thought for the high price it would be perfect. Otherwise I would have done the DIY thing. I give it a 7 out of 10. 2 questions.

So do you guts think the leading edge is acceptable? Too much gap in my opinion. And the height is a bit inconsistent.

And is there a way or a trick to improve it?

Im not sending it back, it took 3 months. 

[jugalo]

Having difficulties loading images as usual , stand by...

[roadking77]

Does not look right to me. I am sure it is but have to ask anyway, Is it properly hooked into place at the joint between the dash and the metal? Its kind of a pain to get it 'locked' in and it looks like its unhooked. IF it is connected, def not right.

Do you know exactly what they did to it? Has it been wrapped with a material? 

It looks nice, without hands on not sure how to fix it.

[jugalo]

Yeah its in all the way. So I removed it and cut some excess wraparound vinyl off then sanded some of the plastic down to bring it down. I also enlarged the holes in the metal panel, but I am going to go another 3/16 or so. I think they just built the thing up too much because it was so bad. Maybe they didn't have a reference. In my opinion they should have one to use as a template. Im so disappointed in their hackery. Its hard to tell in the photos but if you look close that leading edge is very wavy.

It closed up a bit, but Im gonna try to get slightly better.

[TonysTA]

Hi,

That's pretty wavey, but you already knew that which is why you posted for feedback. The edge is high in some spots and low in others which is a bummer when you pay someone good money to do it right. The gap may be OK provided it is somewhat consistent, the waves would drive me nuts, especially if I paid someone else do it. If it was me, I would send it back for a redo. You said 3 months for the initial work? Maybe he could bump you up in the queue since this is a redo.  I blocked mine down and can tell you the edge that abuts the cowl is pretty straight, I could surf on yours

-Tony

[jugalo]

Hi,

That's pretty wavey, but you already knew that which is why you posted for feedback. The edge is high in some spots and low in others which is a bummer when you pay someone good money to do it right. The gap may be OK provided it is somewhat consistent, the waves would drive me nuts, especially if I paid someone else do it. If it was me, I would send it back for a redo. You said 3 months for the initial work? Maybe he could bump you up in the queue since this is a redo.  I blocked mine down and can tell you the edge that abuts the cowl is pretty straight, I could surf on yours

-Tony

Hang Ten!!

Yeah thanks Tony, for your honesty. You are right on all of that. I fought with it for a few more hours and I think I can live with it. Less wavy gravy. Lipstick on a pig. Pics below. Feel free to burst my bubble on the improvement shuttle as it seems. And of course it really shows up on the tan and light blue. Dark colors hide it better.

As far as giving them another shot? It was such a bad experience having it redone once all the way around, I have already exhausted my luck with this one. Sad thing is they have a stellar reputation in the Vette world spanning decades.

Ill know better next time. Some of you guys have done a good job DIY, but I wanted the factory style covering. Ill do it that way on my second project. Time is getting away from me on this one, so moving on to the wiring and mechanical side.

[Maxthe222]

Actually, he does a really bad job. Everyone on facebook pages have worshipped him to much, now that the quality is faulting, it is landing on deaf ears. That guy who has been doing the wholesale price for the al knoch dashes now blocks negative feedback and doesn't believe the dashes are being done poorly. I've been saying since last year the quality and fitment are bad. I would seriously complain about the quality of the dash, but I'll be honest with you, it will be another 3 months before you get it back.

[TonysTA]

Hi Jug - The last set of pics looks better. These cars were never perfect from the factory and at some point, you have to be OK with where it's at.  I second Maxthe222 comments, I would leave feedback about the guys shoddy work. I had a really bad experience with J&S machine olds, he put used ignition parts on my car and charged me as though they were new. Had I seen more honest feedback in these forums, I never would have sent him the engine.  Anyway, stay with it, your project is coming along nicely.

[Wallington]

Everyone on facebook pages have worshipped him...

I steer clear of anyone that the Facebook followers flock to, most the time it's just a trend and the majority don't have any experience or opinion on what they post, just that they've seen others do it.

[roadking77]

It looks much better after you worked on it a bit, which you shouldnt have had to. Im glad Max chimed in. I was pretty sure he had a bad experience with that company as well. They may do perfect work for one car (vette) but not so great on others. Personally I have never seen their work but from what I have seen here and heard about I would not use them.

I do agree that the original dash has a bit of a bump/wave just past the instrument housing but other than that they should be pretty flat. As they got old they tend to curl up/delaminate along the front edge, maybe they just covered over rather than a repair first?

[roadking77]

Everyone on facebook pages have worshipped him...

I steer clear of anyone that the Facebook followers flock to, most the time it's just a trend and the majority don't have any experience or opinion on what they post, just that they've seen others do it.

I steer clear of Facebook altogether!

[Wallington]

If not sending it back or going to question it with the guys that performed it, then I guess you have to be satisfied with it being as good as it will get. Even before test fitting to find the gap, you can see the dash edge isn't right, as 'restored'.

[JJ 109]

The second pics don’t look bad at all.

Mine is original and looks a lot like that.

What did you do to improve it so much?

[jugalo]

The second pics don’t look bad at all.

Mine is original and looks a lot like that.

What did you do to improve it so much?

Yeah, it looks pretty good now, not anywhere near perfect but it now resembles the $50k auction cars you see. It took about 5 tries but i just cut off the excess vinyl on the bottom then sanded down the thick plastic in the bottom surface with a die grinder sanding disc. I elongated the holes in the metal dash to push the pad forward to help close the gap. On the spots where it was low I slid a washer between the metal and the pad as a shim so its pretty even across the whole distance. Of course this all could have been avoided if they hadn't just randomly built up the foam as they thought was good enough. Which of course could have been avoided if they had a scrap metal cowl panel to use as a mock up jig. So dumb.

Everyone on facebook pages have worshipped him...

I steer clear of anyone that the Facebook followers flock to, most the time it's just a trend and the majority don't have any experience or opinion on what they post, just that they've seen others do it.

Good advice. Facebook only became useful to me after this site was ruined and not... never mind.

Actually, he does a really bad job. Everyone on facebook pages have worshipped him to much, now that the quality is faulting, it is landing on deaf ears. That guy who has been doing the wholesale price for the al knoch dashes now blocks negative feedback and doesn't believe the dashes are being done poorly. I've been saying since last year the quality and fitment are bad. I would seriously complain about the quality of the dash, but I'll be honest with you, it will be another 3 months before you get it back.

I didn't know that, I thought about posting my experience on 2ndGG but why bother. Hopefully people will see this when they are researching. Wish I had.

[scarebird]

My repop dash has a nice fat pucker right over the main gauges.  Dashes here in New Mexico get it but good and some fare far better than others.

Simply put, the Pontiac OM design sucks when you examine other dash mountings, especially newer cars. 

[jugalo]

True. Heck it it were easy than we would have had a successful repop by now but even they have stopped making them. It surely wasnt for lack of demand!

As a sidenote Scarebird, my VA is mounted to your brackets. Very nice. I only wish i had installed it in the correct order. LOL