Dash cover

[sdebaker]

I installed a full, molded, black, plastic dash cover on my Spider. What a pain.

This came from one of our major suppliers, but they are all probably selling the same one.

Fit was much poorer than I expected. Took a lot of work to make it fit around the vents. I called the manufacturer about this. Mfg. told me to leave vents in place and attach cap over them. Certainly, that's the only way it was going to work. Now, the vents don't move. Good that I positioned them properly before gluing.

Needed to take a good amount off the lower-left corner of the wooden instrument panel to fit the curve of the dash cover.

The headlight switch barely fits. The dash cover does not follow the shape of the dash well, so there is a big gap between the dash cover and the face of the dash in that area. I had to leave the metal plate off because there's not enough thread to screw on the retainer, even puckering the dash-cover plastic a lot.

I wanted to do the top piece only, but everyone was out of stock or didn't carry when I needed it.

[So Cal Mark]

I have the top piece available and I'll agree they are a real pain to make fit properly. We just replace the dashes now, it's less time consuming

[bradartigue]

I have a contact who recovers them in vinyl or leather and does excellent work. Not cheap, but far better than FIAT's OEM efforts.

[spidernut]

Brad...who do you use and what does he/she charge?