Anyone with a cracked dashpad ??

[red403]

stephen44......I haven't thought to much about what to use for the heater vents and not sure I am going to keep the speaker either. I will have to look at the grill covers on the dash and see what I can come up with.

[basketcase0302]

Triggerbilly,

keep imagining a brown recluse spider jumping at me !!

I had the same thing in my chebby service van.
Doing like 75 down the interstate and the thing appears right by the left side of my head!
Bout' ran the van off the road "swatting" at the thing.
Took the van home/bug bombed the van/don't really know if it killed it or not.
But for another 7 months after that when I drove the thing it was always inmy head that it was still there!

Basketcase

[Caseys71]

ForingaMex....my 67 does have the dash pad on top and it is to far gone for repairing that is one reason I am thinking of going padless. The new cab I have for it is from a 72 and is already stripped so no better time than now to weld and fill holes before stuff gets changed over. I think the only holes I will not fill is the heater holes even though the truck won't be driven in winter I do live in Alberta. I would still like to see some pictures of it though.

what are your intentions for grills to cover the heater and radio vents ? - I am having to do the same for the same reasons on my 67 - the dash was more or less MIA - when i got it

- Stephen

Figured I'd step in here as well, I just removed may dash pad today because I really just didn't like the way it looked with it on there. I think that the best thing to do as far as to fill the holes would be to weld sheet metal in the alignment slots for the dash-pad, either pull the vents for the heater out of the dash pad (they are integrated in there and metal) and weld them in, or get some sheet metal and drill it similar to the holes found over the center speaker, and weld it over the holes for heater. But if your going for the kind of look I'm going for then I think you'd be happy to weld something in there. And in case you haven't removed yours yet lemme tell ya it looks great.

Peronaly, I like the plain look without the dashpad. It would just be a lot of work to weld up all of the mounting holes. (or whatever method you would use) Did the 67-69 come without a dashpad? I have never had one but I was considering buying 67 or 68 and it had a smooth dash. No holes exept the heater/defrost holes and the speaker grille.
Jake

I'm not sure on that but the look without a dash pad looks great, on my dash there isn't a hole for a speaker though, I mean the speakers there but it is mounted via a bracket under the dash, and the grill for it is integrated, only bad part about removing it on my truck is the slots left behind for aligning the dash pad they don't look good at all, my intentions are to weld sheet-metal in place of them, and as posted above either take the vents for the heater out of the dash pad or make my own similar to the speaker grill to weld over the hole.

Has anyone gone dash padless with just the bare metel. My dash pad is gone so bad this won't be a option and I was wondering what it would look like without it. I will replace it with a good one if it doesn't look good without one but I would like to see some without it.

ive seen two bumps without dash pads they look alright but a nice cap looks alot better

I think that a truck without a dash pad looks a lot cleaner unless of course the pad is a brand new one and if you actually replace the entire thing rather than just one of the ones you place over top of the existing one then they can cost some serious bucks, I've been checking them out and they can run in the price range of around $400, but I think the replacement caps would look great as well and the ones I've seen you can't even tell whether it was just the over the pad type cap or the dash pad itself was fully replaced.

Has anyone gone dash padless with just the bare metel. My dash pad is gone so bad this won't be a option and I was wondering what it would look like without it. I will replace it with a good one if it doesn't look good without one but I would like to see some without it.

I took mine off today, as I was going through some of the interior figuring out some wiring and whatnot. Without the pad looks great except for the alignment slots for the pad and, the holes for the heater.
Here are some pics:

Dash Padless from Driver's side, I didn't get a chance to clean it up yet but I think it looks good.

From the Passenger's side

There's the pad sitting upside down notice how the vents aren't part of the mold itself.

[1971ford]

Yep the vents even have pre drilled holes so you can rip them out and screw them in. i wonder why Ford did this? were they thinking of us in the future? I'm guessing they are from another Ford car or something.

[Caseys71]

, your dash looks great by the way , I'm guessing you welded sheet-metal into the alignment slots, that or the angle of the pic hides them as my pic did a good job at doing .

[1971ford]

Thanks. Unfortunately, the dash looks nothing like it used to... that's my '71, the race truck now.
But I'm putting the '69 together with some great parts and it should look even nicer. I actually just got a dash pad for it and installed it but later on down the road i think i am going to pull it off, weld the holes and repaint the dash because i think it looks nice all metal
That pic does a great job hiding the slots

[red403]

The more I think about it and the more I see without the dashpad the more that is what I want to do with mine. The dash pad is already removed from the replacement cab and it does look good. I don't think I will use the speaker grill holes as nice as it would look. The vents in the dash pad direct the heat in 2 directions. I will have 2 spare cabs shortly so I can use the speaker holes for the heater vents and see how it looks.

[Caseys71]

Thanks. Unfortunately, the dash looks nothing like it used to... that's my '71, the race truck now.
But I'm putting the '69 together with some great parts and it should look even nicer. I actually just got a dash pad for it and installed it but later on down the road i think i am going to pull it off, weld the holes and repaint the dash because i think it looks nice all metal
That pic does a great job hiding the slots

I thought it might have just been the angle of the picture, and I checked out your build thread and saw that dash-pad it looks great, but I still like the metal look too.

The more I think about it and the more I see without the dashpad the more that is what I want to do with mine. The dash pad is already removed from the replacement cab and it does look good. I don't think I will use the speaker grill holes as nice as it would look. The vents in the dash pad direct the heat in 2 directions. I will have 2 spare cabs shortly so I can use the speaker holes for the heater vents and see how it looks.

I think that would turn out pretty neat if you did that, and if you do could you post pics I think it would be nice to see how it turns out .

[fordman]

as far as replacement grilles i have been saving some of those. for anyone who might need them. i know i have 2 sets right now. i just tore the old dash pad up to get them out. it was pretty easy. they do have predrilled and beveled holes in them. i cleaned up one pair with a wire wheel brush to get down into the louvers. and then painted it primer and all. they turned out very nice.

[ToughOldFord]

I believe these dashes were designed without a dash pad. Then DOT required a pad to help passengers from popping their melons in an accident. (A bad aside brought to you by lap belts, your arse remains where it's supposed to, but your bean contacts the dash.)

[hazelnut]

Dash pads were a option in 1967 and in 1968 all fords came with padded dashes, I asked someone thats a old ford guy and 99 times out of a 100 he been right and i can remember some 67s that had the metal dashes in them from when i was younger.

[Caseys71]

, I'm pretty sure the '67's were bare as well that's how my dad recalls it. So the DOT decided to put dash-pads into play , I would've thought a Ford Engineer would've already thought of it, and the explanation makes since I'd rather not crack my skull because I'm running a bare dash with lap belts , exactly why some shoulder belts will be in order on my build .

[1971ford]

So do some '67 dashes not have holes?

That's interesting and definately solves the mystery. I looked at the '69 todady and i dont think i'm feelin the dash pad. I love the bare metal dash. So i think later on down the road, in a few months, im going to pull the pad, weld the holes shut, repaint the dash, colorsand and do a little buffing but i don't want it too reflectiony because of the sun. I think the dash pads are too bulky or something i dont know. But i am definately getting 3 point belts or else i wouldn't pull it off.

[Darren]

My previous '71 was dash pad was messed up, so I took it out and found that if you don't put those vents pack in there, the defrost will work only in a small area. I managed to find the proper vents at the salvage yard, painted them and all was well. A few weeks later I found a perfect black dash pad at the same place for a whole $20 bucks. Point is, it pays to spend some time scouting.

Currently, my pad is in the same sad shape as before, but I bet I won't find a blue one anywhere!

[Darren]

My previous '71 was dash pad was messed up, so I took it out and found that if you don't put those vents pack in there, the defrost will work only in a small area. I managed to find the proper vents at the salvage yard, painted them and all was well. A few weeks later I found a perfect black dash pad at the same place for a whole $20 bucks. Point is, it pays to spend some time scouting.

Currently, my pad is in the same sad shape as before, but I bet I won't find a blue one anywhere!