Classic Industries dash pad

[craigsta]

Vernski,

Your blue dash looks great. Did you order the padded dash in the factory blue color or did it come in black and you dyed it blue?

[Vernski]

Originally Posted by craigsta

Vernski,

Your blue dash looks great. Did you order the padded dash in the factory blue color or did it come in black and you dyed it blue?

Craigsta you can order them in all the factory colors from Classic Ind. Here is the link www.classicindustries.com/ ....Vernski

[y5mgisi]

Sign me up for one of these!

http://www.classicindustries.com/tru.../14031899.html

[chevymadness]

I dont understand why so many people want a vinyl dash lol i just dont get.It havnt you guys ever heard of paint thats how the originals really are.Its just painted sure vinyl looks great but its to easy a fix and looks thrown on to get ride of its scars in someoens garage and looks cheap specially if its stitched out and use it on everything.Its also cheaper and can be done for way less then 100 bucks by just painting it yourself its faster and better!!

[Reziel_1983]

I bought a classic industries dash pad and I have had so many troubles with it.. I wouldn't recommend it to ANYBODY. There have been so many humps in the dash pad sticking up while trying to get the clips in. The pad wouldn't correctly go under the weatherstrip in front of the windshield. We had to cut off a LOT of crap that had been sprayed on the bottom part of the pad to get the humps in the pad to go away... and they still aren't gone.

I probably won't be doing business with Classic Industries for a LONG time.

I don't think I'm doing it wrong... if anyone thinks I am maybe they could give me some more information on how to do this. It's my first time to ever take a dash pad off.

[tucsonjwt]

chevymadness - can you post pics of your metal dash? I am curious about how your got a metal dash.

[Vernski]

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

chevymadness - can you post pics of your metal dash? I am curious about how your got a metal dash.

X2 I would be interested also, I sure didn't like the looks of mine without the pad it's real ugly under there...Vernski

[chevymadness]

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

chevymadness - can you post pics of your metal dash? I am curious about how your got a metal dash.

nope dont need no metal dash my dash is original and doesnt have no crappy vinal.Im going to sand it down and paint it it will look like factory when im done

[tucsonjwt]

I'm confused. These trucks all came with vinyl padded dashes (73-87). When you remove the vinyl dash you see the metal framework with various holes in it.
Are you talking about removing the vinyl and padding from the dash pad, and sanding down the framework of the pad and painting it?

[chevymadness]

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

I'm confused. These trucks all came with vinyl padded dashes (73-87). When you remove the vinyl dash you see the metal framework with various holes in it.
Are you talking about removing the vinyl and padding from the dash pad, and sanding down the framework of the pad and painting it?

yes im talking about removing the actual vinyl padding and painting the actual dash pad.

[THE "10" SILVERADO]

Got mine ordered tonight.... $189 + shipping......along with a few other dash parts.... let's see how it goes

[Stitch]

cool deal...I think I'm gonna wind up covering the one in my little diesel in leather along with the bucket seats and door panels

[JAG66]

I've read this thread 3 times. Back to the original topic of Classic Industries dash pads: I'm in the market for a nice fitting dash pad for my 87. I want good fit with the correct grain. I think I understand that Classic Industries sells the dash pads manufactured by Dashes Direct?? I get lost sometimes when reading the comments trying to figure what to filter. (metal backing, wood, rubbery, vinyl, eurethane, etc)
I looked at dash pads from different vendors at a swap meet this weekend. They looked good. One was in a Dashes Direct box. Another vendors looked just like it, but claimed not from Dashes Direct.

The $189 deal from Classic Industries looks good. Need some unbiased opinions from people that have actually seen and installed them.

[Reziel_1983]

Originally Posted by JAG66

I've read this thread 3 times. Back to the original topic of Classic Industries dash pads: I'm in the market for a nice fitting dash pad for my 87. I want good fit with the correct grain. I think I understand that Classic Industries sells the dash pads manufactured by Dashes Direct?? I get lost sometimes when reading the comments trying to figure what to filter. (metal backing, wood, rubbery, vinyl, eurethane, etc)
I looked at dash pads from different vendors at a swap meet this weekend. They looked good. One was in a Dashes Direct box. Another vendors looked just like it, but claimed not from Dashes Direct.

The $189 deal from Classic Industries looks good. Need some unbiased opinions from people that have actually seen and installed them.

I just bought one of these dash pads from classic industries and I would not recommend it to anybody. The clips that were originally on there have started to come off and we had to cut quite a few places for the dash pad to fit properly. I still have not gotten it on there. We have decided to take the clips from my original dash pad and put them on the classic industries one because the clips on the new one are very easy to break and they don't seem to work that well. I wish I wouldn't have bought this piece of trash.

[y5mgisi]

Thats a bummer. Seems like a good 90% of people are a t least "satisfied" With the dash. Knowing that its a reproduction unit i wouldnt hold my standards too high. I would know going into it that its going to look better then what i got but not as good as factory.

[Reziel_1983]

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

Thats a bummer. Seems like a good 90% of people are a t least "satisfied" With the dash. Knowing that its a reproduction unit i wouldnt hold my standards too high. I would know going into it that its going to look better then what i got but not as good as factory.

Yeah, I agree, it does look a lot better than what I had before, bunch of holes everywhere :P. But I really wish it would have fit better without me having to make so many mods. I finally got it on and all, but it could look better imo. That's what you get when you by reproduction stuff I guess.

[RuralRoute C-30]

Originally Posted by JAG66

The $189 deal from Classic Industries looks good. Need some unbiased opinions from people that have actually seen and installed them.

Well I decided to change out the dash today for want of seeing what it would like. At this point, of all I have bought for this truck, this is the one disappointment.

Granted, I am going to take it back out for a third time sometime this week when I get the chance. Will do some more trimming and work on a tighter fit along that window. But for now, it is what it is and I "own" my decision to have purchased it. Yet would I do it again? No. Instead I would probably have paid the money for oem or drive without a dash pad while the old one was being recovered somewhere.

With this said, here is where this dash is at now as I ponder how I can adjust and trim some more to get it to fit better than it currently is. Actually today the plan was to get everything to fit right, pull it all apart, and start cleaning the dash metal. Will see how it goes...it has been a long day just to get it to look this "good". Oh well, it is aftermarket.




Off topic I know, but at least this part came out right.

Will be changing this part back to black when I get to it.


So that is my opinion at this time on this dash. Yes, it is better than what I had (no cracks!). No it is not as nice a product as I planned for the money spent, but here again, I got what I paid for. No fault no foul as this is not advertised as oem.

Will it work for a daily driver? Yes, but for the money the quality of fit for this product should be and could be better in my opinion. (why do they all come needing "trimmed"? ...and plan on it if you buy one)

Rare do I criticize a product but this was a fight from the beginning in terms of fitment...after what I went through today to get this to look like it does for $200 plus after shipping...knowing what I know now I would never have opened the box and returned it immediately.

At least I now have a dash that can be recovered while able to drive the truck with this installed.


My opinion only of course. Good for a daily driver if your dash is shot but don't expect oem quality. It's not even close.


Mark

[Reziel_1983]

Originally Posted by RuralRoute C-30

Well I decided to change out the dash today for want of seeing what it would like. At this point, of all I have bought for this truck, this is the one disappointment.

Granted, I am going to take it back out for a third time sometime this week when I get the chance. Will do some more trimming and work on a tighter fit along that window. But for now, it is what it is and I "own" my decision to have purchased it. Yet would I do it again? No. Instead I would probably have paid the money for oem or drive without a dash pad while the old one was being recovered somewhere.

With this said, here is where this dash is at now as I ponder how I can adjust and trim some more to get it to fit better than it currently is. Actually today the plan was to get everything to fit right, pull it all apart, and start cleaning the dash metal. Will see how it goes...it has been a long day just to get it to look this "good". Oh well, it is aftermarket.




Off topic I know, but at least this part came out right.

Will be changing this part back to black when I get to it.


So that is my opinion at this time on this dash. Yes, it is better than what I had (no cracks!). No it is not as nice a product as I planned for the money spent, but here again, I got what I paid for. No fault no foul as this is not advertised as oem.

Will it work for a daily driver? Yes, but for the money the quality of fit for this product should be and could be better in my opinion. (why do they all come needing "trimmed"? ...and plan on it if you buy one)

Rare do I criticize a product but this was a fight from the beginning in terms of fitment...after what I went through today to get this to look like it does for $200 plus after shipping...knowing what I know now I would never have opened the box and returned it immediately.

At least I now have a dash that can be recovered while able to drive the truck with this installed.


My opinion only of course. Good for a daily driver if your dash is shot but don't expect oem quality. It's not even close.


Mark

I agree with you 100%. The dash pad REALLY isn't what i expected for $200 + shipping. But that's what you get with aftermarket products. :P

[DREAMER1]

Rural route c, wuts up with that silver instrument panel? I've never seen one like it. Give me some info on it if you don't mind.
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[SeanPaintsFlames]

In regards to the metal dash pad skeleton that is under all the foam- I had a similar idea. Once I finally cleaned all the foam and junk off the metal frame, there are just as many holes in it as there are the actual dash board. You'd have to end up welding a bunch of quarter-sized holes shut. Also, the area of the dash pad that comes out past the gauge cluster turns out to be all foam. So, when you take the foam off, the gauges seem to just sit on top of the dash. To make it look even a bit normal, you'd want to fabricate some metal to come out past the gauges like the foam does.
All that being said, you might as well just fix a cracked dash with a grinder. the home depot can foam and some paint.

[JAG66]

Thanks for the honest feedback about your installation. BTW, it looks fine in your pictures.
I'm well aware that aftermarket is never as good as OE, but was hoping the dash pad from Classic Industries was an acceptable fit. Guess I'll look at other options.

[Vernski]

Originally Posted by JAG66

Thanks for the honest feedback about your installation. BTW, it looks fine in your pictures.
I'm well aware that aftermarket is never as good as OE, but was hoping the dash pad from Classic Industries was an acceptable fit. Guess I'll look at other options.

Jag66 check out my post #54 of this thread, it was not an easy job installing the classic ind pad it takes two people to do it right and get the clips in the proper position. You have to do some prep work making sure the clips seat right in the new pad. I also had to grind off some off the speaker on the right side there was a ridge making a lump in the pad although the original pad did not do this in all fairness it turned out acceptible to MHO but I can see why some are frustrated with the process cause it's not a easy job...Vernski

[1425956]

Originally Posted by SeanPaintsFlames

.......snip, snip...
All that being said, you might as well just fix a cracked dash with a grinder. the home depot can foam and some paint.

Anyone actually tried this technique with any success?

[Telecasterjoey]

Damn I'm disappointed, I really wanted to order this dash! RURAL ROUTE do you have any pics of the problem areas? I wonder if i could live with it lol.

[RuralRoute C-30]

Originally Posted by Telecasterjoey

Damn I'm disappointed, I really wanted to order this dash! RURAL ROUTE do you have any pics of the problem areas? I wonder if i could live with it lol.

I took a bunch of pictures so will do tonight. Day job had a ton of problems, none of 'em mine, but a tough Monday that went way too long. Got home from a 14 hr day...it happens.

Still hoping to salvage this project. At least it doesn't have any cracks!

Mark