Dash Top Re-Covering

[Brakin80]

I'm looking to restore the dash top in our 1960 BN7. It was poorly redone by the PO (vinyl fit loosely, no contrasting piping on sides). I noticed in peeling back the black vinyl that it had been covered previously with red vinyl. The red (original?) was fixed directly to the dash wood.

My question is, what is the proper way to re-cover the dash top. Does the vinyl get applied directly to the wood or is there a layer of material/padding between the two? Glued or stapled? I'm assuming that the contrasting piping in white is correct for this car. Am I right? Thanks.

 

[Keoke]

Hi Braken80, I do not know of any Piping used on the dash pad. However, regarding its covering it requires a bit of padding under the vinyl. the cover is not attached to the wooden structure except on the back side where it is glued and stapled.---Fwiw---Keoke

 

[Rob Glasgow]

As I recall, there is a 1/4 inch padding between the vinyl at the wood. I think I used some handy foam padding when I recovered my BT7 years ago. Also the ends of the dash, where the dash meets the doors, is finished with a short strip of piping. The piping on the dash of my car was white, to match the white piping on the seats.
Rob Glasgow

 

[GregW]

That’s interesting. I don’t think my 67 had any staples on the upholstery. They used maybe 3/8” tacks and glue. There was a thin foam on the top and strips of foam underneath around the demister vents. When I redid mine, I glued the vinyl to the underside that rests against the windshield first. After drying, I wrapped it over the top, then glued and tacked it to the hidden side of the firing strip.

 

[John Loftus]

Here's some info that pertains to "crash pad" or "dash top". The photos below show a BJ7 original example. The 6-cylinder cars had contrasting piping at the ends (up to the BJ7's) with the color of the vinyl and piping matching the interior. The BJ7 dash top matched the color of the interior and the BJ8 is always black regardless of the interior color.

As Greg points out, staples were not used and there are a few well spaced tacks or brads along the inside of the wooden thick edge along with glue used along the entire edge. The foam appears to be 3/16" and there is coach wadding or jute felt (not sure of the exact term) used along the thin leading edge. The BJ7 used jute felt gaskets around the demister vent and must have changed to foam later as Gregs photo shows. There is a thick bullnose foam edge along the front which is covered with the thin foam.

Cheers,
John

 

[GregW]

When I rebuilt my dashpad, I had a little fun with some LED’s. Made a courtesy light with 6 that are hidden underneath. I bought a 3 position switch to replace the panel light switch. One click, gauge lights. Next click, both gauge and interior.