More on dash covering
Hello Gordon,
Your description of covering your dash top is very informative. I tried something similar except I did not have the fiberglass nose; I carved one from dense foam and glued it to the steel lip on the dash. The disadvantage is that there was no way to clamp the front edge of the vinyl down. My scheme worked fairly well except after a while, the glue between the foam and vinyl let go. I used a stretchy fabric-backed vinyl and the glue did not hold to the fabric backing very well. What kind of vinyl and glue did you use?
Thanks!
The adhesive I used is an upholstery adhesive, just for this kind of application. It came from an upholstery shop where I know the owner. He buys it from "DuBois Light", phone# 708-499-4240. There are two types, one they call green (it's green) and one called clear, (it's actually yellow). It comes in 5 gal cans, but my friend gave me a can with about a quart left. I used the clear/yellow, but it would probably be best to call DuBois and be sure that ones the best. As for as fabric, I took my old cover to my friends shop and matched pattern of the vinal top. There were a few. Then I took a heat gun to the samples, and found the one that was thinnest, fabric backed, and stretched most easily without loss of vinal pattern. I have no idea which one it was, just the one that would work best for me. Best bet is to visit a friendly upholstery shop that will talk to you. On the nosing, the very first one I did, I cut the nosing out of 2 sections of 3/4 inch plywood, glued together, and then cut with a band saw, rough finished with a router and finally rasped and sanded to shape by hand. Took forever, came out beautifully, I'll never do it that way again

! When I found the fiberglass Giulietta replica nosing, I jumped with joy. A tenth the work, not as beautiful, same final result. I hope all this helps. It's nice to know others won't suffer the learning curve if they read my notes!

Gordon Raymond