Dash Pad vs Dash Cap

[rnolte]

I am about to get my 74 challenger back from getting body work done and thought I'd start looking at the major interior pieces. The most prominent piece needing replaced/restored would be the dash. The metal frame is in good shape and overall is fine but the foam vinyl part is cracked. I was looking at Dash pads but they went from 600 to 750 and apparently have an abs core(?). I found Dash caps though for 150 and was wondering what the difference was? are dash pads foam, vinyl and metal and caps are just the foam and vinyl or is it just the vinyl and no foam? I am all for stripping the old foam and vinyl off my metal frame and adhearing a new cap to it if thats the case I just want to make sure i know what i am getting myself into and make sure i know all the parts to teh dash. I looked at just dashes but that looks like it'll be close to 3k at least and I would prefer to not go that route unless I absolutely have to.

I am also opened to restoring the dash myself I just dont really like the idea of filling cracks with plastic or fiberglass filler and would rather look at options of sticking with foam like it would've been originally (worried about warping in heat as the different materials expand) so if anyone has recommendations on how to restore a dash themselves instead of finding a new one please let me know. I feel it should be noted I plan on having the interior proffessionally wrapped in leather with custom stiching but would still like a decent dash as the base.

 

[duopoli]

Been forever since I looked but dash caps were just a vacuum formed or molded plastic cover that can be glued over your current dashpad. No foam or frame, literally just a 'cover' made to look like the original pad. You have to trim down any cracks that 'stick up' on your dashpad, and also sand the original pad for the glue to hold. You can't strip the old foam and skin off if you intend to use a cap. The only one I ever saw installed was obvious because it 'stuck out' a little on the edges but looked 'ok' for a driver, definitely nicer than the grand canyon of cracks. They feel 'hard' with not much give like a soft padded dash would have provided.

Dashpads would be the vinyl skin over foam and attached to a metal (or ABS) frame. ABS frames have a rep of being more likely to warp over time.

I'm years from getting to do mine but the recommendation I've gotten for a vendor is ABC Moparts but they're at almost $1700 and sold out most of the time. I have not seen one of their dashpads in person.

There's another topic on this further down this page that has good info too.

 

[terrywalker]

It depends on what your plans are for the car. A driver that you won't be entering in car shows to win trophies will probably be an okay use of a dash cap. As stated, it's a hard plastic cover that goes right over the cracked pad. Some prep work needs to be done so the dash cap looks okay. The grain is different from the vinyl grain. I have a dash cap installed in my 72 Challenger I'm working on. Trimming is required and you can see the edges when looking around the VIN tag recess, the front edge near the windshield, bottom edge of pad and around the pad ends at the door. I used more silicone adhesive than the tube that came with the dash cap. Ad I said, it's okay for a driver and costs less than $200 compared to almost $2000 for a vinyl one. Here's a couple of photos of mine. In a couple of areas, I very carefully used a heat gun on low setting to reshape the cap.
Terry W.

 

[Katfish]

I put a dash cap on 20yrs ago and it looked great.
Got a wild hair and bought a redone dash for $800, 10yrs ago.
Dash cap was nicer, no comparison.
I'm seeing dashes are now $2k, no way I'd pay that.

 

[MOPARMITCH]

Waiting for mine to come back from ABC Moparts this week. Was damaged in shipping on the first go round. Looked great, except for the UPS damage....