1968 Console Installation - Front Pad

[1968Cally]

I am having a problem with the fitment of the front pad up against the dash at the top of the pad. Their is a significant gap at the top and the two attaching tabs are quite visible. The tabs I am referring to are the ones circled in the attached picture. On VMF, I have been told that this is because the pad actually shrinks over time which I guess makes sense.

So, went back out to the garage this morning and came up with a crazy thought. Has anyone ever cut those tabs off at the rear? It would seem that if you were to do that, and use screws with washers, the top of the pad would fit higher and tighter against the dash. Currently, the long bottom pad fits very tight against the bottom of the front pad so I do not think a little gap there from "raising" the front pad would be anywhere near as annoying as the gap I have now at the top.

I kind of hate the thought of modifying the pad especially if it would present other significant problems. Any thoughts on this crazy idea?

Dave

 

[68 special]

Kinda hard to tell, but are the clips upside down? The part of the clip that we see seems pretty thick. Is the threaded part of the clip on the back side of the dash?

just a thought!!

Bret

 

[1968Cally]

Kinda hard to tell, but are the clips upside down? The part of the clip that we see seems pretty thick. Is the threaded part of the clip on the back side of the dash?

just a thought!!

Bret

The clips are part of the whole backing metal backing plate for the pad.

 

[franklinair]

The bugaboo about '68 consoles is the front/vertical pad. Over the years the foam filler dries & shrinks, causing the gap at the top. No one reproduces them (not enough demand) so the only hope is to find one not too badly shrunk, and dye it to the required color.
E-bay sometimes has them listed for sale, but the odds of finding a good one are not good..

Neil

 

[Ruppstang]

+1 Marty

 

[Mosesatm]

There is currently one on eBay.

Well, there was one on eBay. Now I can't find it.

 

[Toy68CS]

There was a thread where an owner bought some matching vinyl. Folded it over and stitched it up and slid it in the gap. Like upholstery piping. Looked pretty good.

 

[1968Cally]

There was a thread where an owner bought some matching vinyl. Folded it over and stitched it up and slid it in the gap. Like upholstery piping. Looked pretty good.

I was wondering about something like that. Then my perverted mind thought about a bead of black caulk. (LOL)

 

[TraveledGTCS]

A few years after I had installed my lower console I noticed the gap was quite wide and was able to solve most of the problem by removing most of the old foam rubber at the top and using a aerosol can of foam insulation gap filler, filled in the area where the old foam rubber was. It seems to work okay. There's still a small gap, but not too noticeable. I think there is some foam rubber spray available which may work better, but at the time that's all I could find. Next time I need to do the fill, I may use foam rubber, but I'm not sure it will be solid enough.

Just a thought.

Bill

 

[68sunlitgold]

Dave,
Another option which I have seen is to use windlace along the top. I will see if I can find a picture.

Doug

 

[1968Cally]

Dave,
Another option which I have seen is to use windlace along the top. I will see if I can find a picture.

Doug

Windlace. Another good thought. Now that the interior refresh is done, I don't really notice it that much as my eye is not drawn to it like it was when I was working on it. I had the center insert de-pitted and re-chromed and painted. That's what my eye is drawn to!

 

[retroman99]

so I had this problem as well and I had a console pad that was in generally good shape except for the problem you are having. the foam was just breaking down and pulled away from the metal backing plate. so I decided to carefully remove all the broken down foam and even a bit more along the entire section common to the top and as it wrapped around. the vinyl was in great shape and still very flexible. after cleaning the area very good getting rid of all the loose foam pieces. I used blue masking tape and essentially pulled the vinyl cover back into proper position using the tape to hold it into position. I them masked all other areas to protect them from overflow. I then used that flexible foam that is used to seal around windows in homes. this stuff sticks to everything so be careful. don't use the stuff that dries hard. the stuff I used stays flexible. I started as deep in the cavity as possible and worked my way out. I started with a small section to test how it would react. remember I didn't have anything to lose. I took a picture of the finished pad installed. I had to cover the radio holes as well. the nice thing about the window foam is it remains flexible and doesn't seem to distort provided you give it some room to expand. try small areas before going crazy. just a suggestion. I'm not in favor of the windlace idea and every pad I found seems to have this problem so I gave it a shot and it looks good and has remained flexible and soft.