68-9 dash pads, was : <VV> Hard not to get involved!

[airvair]

As another poster said, the center pad should have some welting filling 
the gap between the center pad and dash pad. It's stapled on to the 
center pad, BTW.

To glue the foam back on, use a 3M weatherstrip cement. It comes in a 
spray can. And glue only the pad to its backing. Also be aware that the 
center pad never did look all that tidy. Even when new it had large gaps 
and a generally sloppy fit.

And on the ashtray pad, DON"T PULL ON IT, at least not the way you would 
an earlier tray. It requires a gentle tilt/pull DOWN motion, in a 
direction like you were going to roll it under the dash. Use your thumb 
in the "handle" depression, with your fingers against the bottom of the 
tray pad. It takes some getting used to. I've had a '69 since '72, and 
have never torn its padding off, though I well know how that's happened 
so easily to others.

-Mark C

Chuck Kubin wrote:

>A question for the late-late owners. I have two '68s,
>both using a center-mounted pad on the ashtray and
>around the radio bezel. On the older one, the foam is
>coming apart, allowing the pad to pull away from the
>ashtray face and dash, and on both, there's a fairly
>sizable gap between the top of the bezel's pad and the
>dash pad. I'd like to be able to pull the ashtray
>open, although I quit smoking, without pulling the pad
>off.
>This raises three questions: is there an effective way
>to glue the foam back together? Is permanently
>cementing the pad's edges to the dash the only
>solution? And was there originally some sort of piping
>in the gap at the top?  Without these, anything I've
>tried looks REALLY shoddy!
>
>
>Chuck Kubin
>  
>