So the process was fairly straight forward. Only thing not obvious was the removal of two trim pieces that hid the front bracket.
Philips screw..wow how ugly was that old dash???
Top screw removal
There were 3 philips screws along the dash next to the windshield. A nice long screw driver worked nicely. The holes in the dash cover for the screw were pretty deteriorated, but it was good do know that the dash was really metal covered with the padded vinyl so the screw would hold forever.
passenger side screws – remove and done!
There were 4 more screw on the passenger’s side. Now if this were a Mach I it would have a clock located there, but instead there is just a plastic panel. You could actually place a LCD monitor there for DVD player. The panel is below:
passenger’s Side Panel
The next set of two screws that needed to come up were located above the radio. These were a bit awkward to remove. But they weren’t philips screws..that pieced together with what we found after taking the dash pad out led to a conclusion of…well I’ll hold off mentioning that until I give you the other piece.
Arrows show the position of the two screws
After removing these two “non-philips” screws (flat) the dash pad would lean forward and you’d think it would pop right off …but nope!!! The next photos show why.
Dash Pad leaning forward.
Additional Trim piece that needed to be removed.
One screw and off it came.
Caption is wrong here the side screw was removed but there was still one below.
Bottom screw had to just be loosened and the pieces sliped off
One this pieces of trim was removed you can see the screw/bolt that need to be removed.
Not a great pic..but you get the idea.
One on each side and the dash pad was ready to go. Check out the videos. If the videos don’t work..let me know.
I enlisted the help of my son Ryan. He was over for dinner and he lent me hand, so I could film as well.
This first video shows us discovering the front brace hidden under the trim piece.
Here is the backside of dash pad.
The paper tag on the bottom of the dash pad.
Reading that you can see the date of 1972 on the tag. Since the Mustang is a 1970, the date doesn’t make sense. Adding that the screws near the radio that don’t match (straight vs. philip for the rest) I wondering if the dash wasn’t replaced. The original owners didn’t mention it, but there was no real reason too. This could mean that the dash was replaced with what appears to be NOS (new old stock) (from 1972)..that’s a possibility. I’ll do some more research just to find out.
The last few pics are of the other markings.
The two eights – one upper in maker and the one in the glue.
Parts code perhaps 3 24 (d) 2
Sorry..that one’s upside down. 🙂
The original Ford speaker.
Speaker with part number.
So what’s next? I’ll check out the wiring and pull the gages if I need to for repair (although all the gages are working fine). Oh..yeah..do a bulb replacement.
Many of our cars have worn out emblems that were once painted…Ok..I’m a lucky average guy…the Mustang’s emblems are all chrome and my Corvettes are mostly plastic.
But what about some those that need painting. Look for a flow pencil.
Flow Pencil for paint your emblems.
These are pretty reasonable and make painting small areas a bit easier.
Ok now I’m excited. The dash pad replacement arrived and it looks great.
Here are some pics:
Dashboard Pic1 1970 Mustang no A/C
Dashboard Pic2 Perfect placement of the defrost vents
Backside of the new dash Pic 3 1970 Mustang
Speaker Mount Pic4 1970 Mustang
I ordered this part from Dallas Mustang, but I thinking I should have ordered directly from DashesDirect.com I’ll check the web site and see if it was cheaper there. When you have an average guy’s budget every penny counts. PLEASE HOLD…..(MUSIC…MUSIC…MUSIC)..thanks for holding…ok DashesDirect.com doesn’t sell directly (get it????….do ya????) so you have to order through a 3rd party. So this worked out ok. Got 10% off on sale at Dallas Mustang and free shipping.
This is really nicely done. The key is getting parts that are created with the original tooling. That means the makee owns or has access to the original (recreated) molds (in this case) that Ford used.
The key to a good fitting part!!!
I can’t wait to get started….errk….but I have to wait until next week. I have things already scheduled for this weekend. You don’t want to rush projects and I lean toward wanting to start things right way. This will take some time to complete, especially with photographing (still and video) and all the cleaning, bulb replacement and any electrical work it might need.
If I can squeeze some time off the first of next week. I’ll start it. Stay tuned and you’ll see every bit of the good stuff and what ever I screw up…oh..don’t worry..there is always something.
My biggest fear is getting the old one off and find ‘rust’…yeah…that can happen here in AZ.
Thanks for reading. Don’t for get I’m looking for your project pics for the Project Car of the Week/Month. $100.00 gift card at stake.
I’ve been think about doing this but the rules seem a bit tough to come up with. But I’ll give this a try.
I’m looking for some project car posts from the readers. Your projects. Anything from a huge wreck of car project to something smaller (bigger then an oil change). It has to be your car and you are doing “some” of the work on it. That the only hard and fast rule.
I’ll need a couple photos and some brief details. You can post them up here or find me on Facebook and post the them up or email them to me (timsweet@cox.net). I’ll post them here and then on my website (www.tucsoncarevents.com) for everyone to look at.
If I get enough entries I’m pick a car of the week the week and then out of the we’ll vote on the car of the month (if I don’t get votes posted up I’ll have one of my regular readers pick it. The winner the car of the month gets a $100.00 online gift card as an auto parts dealer (Summit Racing or even on tailored to your car). Simple as that.
So let’s get started. Remember anything from a total wreck to just a transmission swap, body work, paint, interior upgrade, hood swap. That all works. Sorry Pdawg giving Burt a bath and vac isn’t going to cut it (but he could use one!!!…just kidding). It doesn’t have to be done and I don’t need a before and after, just what you are working on.
I’ll this run until I get at least for to choose from, then we’ll vote.
Note: If you noticed my site is not commercial, there are no ads, no click through links, no pop ups. It’s just me type to hear myself type and a few of you reading it. I like it that way.
3/15/1960 Mercury Comet is brought to dealership windows.
3/17/1949 Porsche appears as the Geneva Auto Show and Gottlibe Daimler born in Germany in 1834.
3/18 a couple of notable birthdays. Andy Grenatelli was born in Dallas (1923) and a little bit before that Ruddy Diesel was born in France in 1858. Ok..Rudolf ….only close friends were allowed to call him Ruddy. Guess what Ruddy is famous for?
