capehorner said:
I HAVE OWNED THIS CAR SINCE 78. IT'S A 1970 E9, 2002002. I HAVE JUST HAD THE ENGINE REBUILT, CAR PAINTED AND YOU CAN SEE I HAVE NO GARAGE TO WORK IN...BUT IT'S COMING ALONG. THE ? IS..SHOULD I TAKE OUT THE DASH BEFORE I REDO THE INTERIOR. I AM MECHANICALLY INCLINED BUT DON'T HAVE THE MONEY YOU GUYS DO. I REALLY JUST WANT TO GET IT BACK ON THE ROAD AND DRIVE. ANYBODY LOCAL TO ORANGE, CA CARE TO COME BY AND GIVE ME SOME DIRECTION. I'LL SUPPLY THE BEER. HOW DO I PUT UP A PIC ON THIS SITE??
PIC'S ON PHOTOBUCKET.COM/CAPEHORNER MATT BOWMAN
7147137249
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I have now seen some of your pictures and pasted them above. Hence this revised post.
From the pictures, it looks like you have most of the makings of a superlative E9. From the look of things, the only thing between you (the driver ) and your firewall that needs attention is your dash and, in particular, the dash cracks. It does spoil the look of your gorgeous body work. Since you have gone to so much effort with the rest of the car, with your patience, and since you apparently have the windshield removed, I might be inclined to pull the dash and replace it with a good used one if I could locate it.
Is this the only reason you wonder about pulling the dash or do you need to work on the wood or instruments too? If the dash cracks are your only concern and you are very impatient, you could still leave things alone - unless or until I had a better donor dash. The problem seems to be the severity and number of cracks as opposed to one or two. Again, I think your time might be better served by searching ebay, placing a WTB post on this board's classifieds, checking with BMWCCA classifieds or contact Coupeking or 2002AD or similar sources. Didn't I just see a post for an entire E9 in a junk yard?
Since you already have the windshield removed you have removed the biggest impediment to dash replacement. After the glass is back in, if I remember correctly, you need to find someone with fetus-size hands to get those fasteners.
If you are unable to locate a donor dash, how about trying the repair in place - Now? See:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2077554_repair-cracks-dashboard.html http://www.automedia.com/Dash_Pad_Restoration/res20000718dp/1
Incidentally, there are outfits that advertise redoing a dash but I cannot personally recommend any. I would expect they would require you sending them the dash.
Going back to your own handiwork, there are the dash repair kits.
http://www.superiorrestoration.com/ProductInfo~productid~DRK.html
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...93&zmam=73771597&zmas=4&zmac=78&zmap=ZX125493
I have heard some of the 911 folks discuss this although many of their dashes are covered in leather and talk is talk. I have also heard of folks fixing their own cracked dash boards with (believe it or not) body filler- a.k.a. "bondo" and then masking and painting. This is also something I have considered but not tried.
I doubt you will damage the top of the dash any more than the sun's work, so why not give it a shot? If worse comes to worse, you can always go this route:
http://www.dashcover.com/dashcovers.html :roll:
hth
