Drove the 55 to work today. I had some spare parts in the back. Work was a little slow and boring mid morning so I went out to tinker with the 55 for a 'minute' (i'm self employed so the boss was ok with it). 2 hrs later my dash was completely disassembled. I figured since I had the dash cover in the back, may as well install it before reassembly. Ended up spending the whole day out back. Put on the dash pad cover, completely dismantled and cleaned the guage cluster, installed a new cluster pad and a new (used) glove box door.
Dash pad install was super easy. I used some painters tape and some clamps from the wood shop to hold it tight while the silicone dried. I wish they would have made the cover so that it completely covered the sides all the way to the bottom. For some reason they stoped about 3/4" short. You can't see it, but still, why cut the corner? Must be a reason I don't understand.
Retro stereo install next.
Turned out pretty good. SOR guage cluster pad in the picture. I don't love the quality. Looks good at first glance and i'm sure it will hold up fine. The stock unit has a metal frame built into the pad which is nice. My stock pad is pretty warped from sun over the last 40 years so the guage cutout wasn't a perfect circle anymore. The foam was also pulling away from the metal frame in some spots. I used some locktite super glue to fill gaps in the foam then shimmed it out around a can as shown in the picture below. I looked around town for a funnel or something rigid and tapered that might work better, but i was unsuccessful so resorted to the shims and cans I had in the shop. It actually improved the pad quite a bit after sitting for a couple of hours to let the glue set. Much better but still a bit warped. I think i'll heat up the pad some and try again to see if I can get any better results to hopefully replace the SOR pad. Anyway, thought I'd share that if anyone has thought of trying the same. I'm probably the only fool to consider it.
Dash pad install was super easy. I used some painters tape and some clamps from the wood shop to hold it tight while the silicone dried. I wish they would have made the cover so that it completely covered the sides all the way to the bottom. For some reason they stoped about 3/4" short. You can't see it, but still, why cut the corner? Must be a reason I don't understand.
Retro stereo install next.
Turned out pretty good. SOR guage cluster pad in the picture. I don't love the quality. Looks good at first glance and i'm sure it will hold up fine. The stock unit has a metal frame built into the pad which is nice. My stock pad is pretty warped from sun over the last 40 years so the guage cutout wasn't a perfect circle anymore. The foam was also pulling away from the metal frame in some spots. I used some locktite super glue to fill gaps in the foam then shimmed it out around a can as shown in the picture below. I looked around town for a funnel or something rigid and tapered that might work better, but i was unsuccessful so resorted to the shims and cans I had in the shop. It actually improved the pad quite a bit after sitting for a couple of hours to let the glue set. Much better but still a bit warped. I think i'll heat up the pad some and try again to see if I can get any better results to hopefully replace the SOR pad. Anyway, thought I'd share that if anyone has thought of trying the same. I'm probably the only fool to consider it.
.
They were wrong!