Ok i may have asked this before, i have a new dash pad for my 69 firebird from classic industries. I dont undestand hw the pad screws to the dash ? The pad has slots under the dash secion , but the dont line up with oringanl holes in the metal beind it. on top the studs are fine. Also the holes in the dash bezel dont line up with either. The repop dash pad also has big 1/8 thick metal tab pointing down?

Wish you would've posted up before you bought. What brand did you buy? OER?

Yes i believe it was. Why ?

I wish i would have kept the original!

nobody, this site activity has gone down .

What most people are doing is taking the original to Just Dashes and getting them redone. Expensive but look great! Keep a look out for a core.

What does that have to do with my question ? im not concerned at this point about opinions about quality. i need to KNOW how it attachs to the car..lol

Thanks anyway I called ames perfomance , they explained how it attachs to the dash frame and then how the instrament panel attaches to the pad.

Do tell.
Reason I asked is because I, and others on here, have bought the same POS. Can't help with your install question because when I took it out of the box I couldn't even imagine putting that piece of dog sh!t on my car where I would have to look at it everytime I got in. I do see alot of them on cars though.

So you have no dash pad ? it actually installs like the original, I just wish i would have saved my old one for referance.

I do agree though, many parts i have recieved were junk. So i sent it back. I ordered a non-ac heater bezel for a 69. It came in ,looked just like mine. But it was totally the wrong size , way too small. they insisted it was for a 69. i sent pix of the 3 '69 bezels i have next to the one they shipped to me. it was for a 68. LOL

No, I have a dash pad. After hanging on to the OER one for a year and a half without looking at it when I did pull it out to install I almost threw up. Bought from Ames. They eventually took it back but charged me(it's been awhile so I'm not positive)a 40% restocking fee. I was happy to get anything back really. So originally paid $250 for it plus oversized shipping. Sent it back for $.60 on the dollar plus oversized shipping back to them. Then sent my original to Just Dashes. $425 plus shipping both ways. I figure after it was all over I probably have better than $600 in it but you know what, it's perfect. No regrets other than I wish I had gone that route in the first place.

One thing im lucky enough to live 40 minutes from ames i drive out that way weekly to see my parents. So i can atleast look at the parts before buying. Right now the dash pad is good enough. I will probably go the same route everybody else recomends, send a core to just dashes. I live 1/4 mile from camaros plus, and he has a couple birds in the yard with core pads.

Too bad you have to do it twice. I'm not sure you can get the pad off without pulling the gauges first and if you have AC...UGH...I don't even want to think about that. Good luck.

Has anybody installed the oer dash? Just about dead center of the dash panel a metal tab is pointing down . no idea what to do with it. its about 1 to 1.25 inches down and maybe 2 inches wide made of thick metal.It looks like it should bolt to the metal dash , but behind it. so i would have to widen one of the slots in the metal dash.

nah i find it easy to do no biggie. next summer project. i just want to get the repop fitted best i can.

i just called classic industries. LOL i bought it 5 years ago! i sent them pix of the dash pad. i may buy a new repop. has any one bought a new repop dashpad lately?

They still suck! Use Just Dashs to fix your old one.

i dont have it. i threw it away before i knew how bad "fits perfect just like original" meant well it kinda looks like the part if you squint and [censored] your head just right. I am going to see the two birds at camaros plus this weekend. He needs computer work, i'm a dell engineer. So he will swapp me parts.

you threw yours faster than I did...at lerast I waited until I opened the box , it 'looked" really good, so I threw the old out...then,... next week, well, you know the story.........lol

Live and learn, eh? Never throw anything out. Being a Firebird parts hoarder is not a crime! At least that's what I tell my wife.

yup live and learn. i basically took the car apart and as i did if the part looked like junk, i checked to see if a new one was available. Then tossed the junk part. No more, lol i keep everything nuts bolts you name it.

Pi$$er is im almost done. just the interior needs to be installed. Im still going to go with it, dash isnt hard to take out 20 minute job.

Good news i got a dash core for free!WOW i guess its been a long time since i tossed the old dash pad. Your right firebob repops are junk. i also pulled a good set of kick panels for free! Im going back tomorrow to get the rest of the vent tubing under the dash. Best part is its 69 deluxe ! so he is going to look for the door panels for me.

calling just dashes now .

Ok so just dashes wants 450 to redo my core, but i dont have the cash for that right now. So if anybody can help me use the repop for now. I just need to use it for the summer. so can anybody give me some hints on "making it work" some people must be using these , they sell a lot of them.

I have an OER installed....dont like it..."make it work" is not going to make you happy.....just my 0.02.

its like marrying an almost not hooker, 'making it work', lol

Yes i understand i just want something in place for cruising this summer. i am going to do the recondition with just dashes over the winter. i see the big difference in the repops. But right now i just want to drive for the summer. Looks is unimportant right now. i just want something on the dash for the season. The extra work doesnt bother me, ive taken this car apart and back together doing an R+R on the dash is easy.

I was thinking about using aircraft nylon nuts under the dash pad, and black screws to secure the rubber section above the glove box. one thing that doesnt fit is where the plasic clips on the legs attach to the dash panel. so i'll need to alter the clips in the dash.

Why wouldn't the almost hooker not work? think of the posiblities. Gotta keep an open mind..LOL

I've heard of people using a hard plastic dash cover. Not sure where you get them but I think they are alot cheaper than the OER POS.

oh use the real dash with cover. thats a good idea.
Funny part, i was just looking at the pictures of when i got the car. the orginal dash had 1 small crack and it was minor. if i still had it. i'd put it back on.

Just got mine back from JD..
That quote is a little light, plus factor in shipping
Before.


After.. Looks great

oh i dont have an issue with the price , but if i dont have the money right now , i don't. i see the quality is like new.

temporarily use dash cover....

If you decide to have it done, I got my bill from JD and it had a 50.00 off discount coupon inside. If you send yours off, let me know and I'll send it.

That's pretty good. Free shipping one way and maybe a little more.

does the coupon have an experation date/ if not , i'll use it.

I have recently done this and OER dash pad has two problems.
1. The opening for the gauge carrier is slightly out of alignment with the OER dash pad. To correct this you will need to trim the OER dash opening with an exacto and this will take some trial and error. Also DO NOT torque down on the nuts that attach the dash pad to actual metal dash frame keep them loose until the very last. In fact I just used wing nuts so I could control the postion of the OER dash pad until it lined up. Also the gauge carrier needs to be as loose as possible so that you force it over a little bit.
2. The OER dash has no internal bracket or header where the upper side of gauge carrier attaches to it. There is just a slot in the rubber. You will have to attach a backing (I used thick styrene) to this either by using screws or adhesive (this failed miserably).
Once you have attached the backing to the OER dash pad line up the gauge carrier and use a Sharpie to mark where to drill the screw hole.
Once marked remove gauge carrier and drill screw hole.
Keep everything loose until you get gauge carrier aligned with the dash pad. Only when this occurs tighten the nut that attach the OER dash pad to the frame.
The outer end has plastic studs that go in clips that are available Classic, Year One etc.
put ths clips in and jam the stud into them only after you are happy with the alignment. They are hard to remove and usually something will break, its is a one way ride.

ok got it. what about the metal tab that sticks out about the middle of where the dash carrier is ?

As for metal tab I have no idea.
I just bent it out of the way.

i looked at the original and it has the same tab just more around a 1/16 of an inch thick.
Im going to reinforce the area where the dash bezel atttaches to the pad with a thin strip of metal.