1970 Barracuda Reanimated.

[dodj]

Well that sux paying twice for one pad!
Great that you got a nice pad though.
Maybe, if you're lucky, another pad will show up at your door someday.....

[DeathProofCuda]

Sucks that that seems to be par for the course when trying to buy an E-body dash pad these days.  I appreciate you sharing the details of your experience.  Good luck with the rest of the build going forward.

[MoparCarGuy]

The Dash Pad Factory's BBB reviews are all one star. https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/el-paso/profile/auto-parts/the-dash-pad-factory-0895-99155104/customer-reviews

[Marty]

@dodj I could have bought a nice NOS pad after all that was said and done. If one does show up at the door, I'll have a screaming deal for someone on this forum.

@DeathProofCuda Thank you. This dash pad fiasco has been one big pain in the butt. I tried two other places ABC Moparts and Year One/Al Knoch and got nowhere. It's a tough part to find that's for sure. Just Dashes kind of rubbed me wrong after reading about the blister. I feel lucky that I eventually got one. The sting will go away soon.

@MoparCarGuy Unfortunately bad reviews don't seem to change their way of doing business.

The Law of Averages caught up to me. It eventually happens in this business/hobby. It's time to regroup.

I don't know what to tell anyone who's in the market of buying an E-Body dash pad.  I've got nothing... sorry.

Thank you for the comments.

[Marty]

All the parts are collected to assemble the dash.

To match the rest of the dash assembly, I painted the two lower dash trim pieces in SEM Landau black. First things first was prep. I use AJAX/water and a red Scotch-Brite pad and scrubbed all the release agents off the plastic. This will also scuff the plastic for paint. Appied two wet coats. By the way, all the dash parts should be sprayed from the same batch of paint to avoid a different color cast from part to part.

I bought a new Rallye heater trim bezel. It had a wrinkle finish which was different from the radio trim bezel I got with the Barracuda. Using VHT Wrinkle finish paint, I sprayed three very wet coats of paint onto the prepped plastic. I let the paint flash for at least 10 minutes or more in between coats. Changed the direction of the spray on each coat to get even coverage.

The five-minute flash did not work for me. Using the ten-minute minimum flash, the paint wrinkled in an hour. I'd let the part sit for at least 24 hours before handling it. I let the part sit overnight then I set it outside in the Oklahoma sun all the next day.

As far as applying heat, it works but it will give you a different effect. The wrinkled appearance is much smaller and tighter than the air drying method. It won't match. The color was a bit off from the new part, but I didn't want to load up the finish on the heater bezel with more paint. The difference isn't enough to make a difference to me.

The light bar was media blasted, and primed with acid etch primer, and two wet coats of SEM were applied.

I made a major improvement to this dash by installing the new Dakota Digital RTX series gauge kit. I didn't want to deal with with the old technology of the original gauges. Just install the unit knowing everything will function and finish up the dash assembly.

Now I've got some wiring to do.

[larry4406]

Regarding achieving a proper wrinkle finish, I saved this picture and quote from Jules the Wiperman years ago.

[usraptor]

I also bought a new heater control bezel after my attempts at redoing the white lettering on the original were a dismal failure.  Like, you the replacement piece had a different wrinkle finish than the original or radio bezel, much coarser.   However, I just opted to leave well enough alone since they were on different sides of the steering wheel.  Yours came out really nice.  Good work. 

[Marty]

Regarding achieving a proper wrinkle finish, I saved this picture and quote from Jules the Wiperman years ago.

That's the finish I got when I used the heat gun. I appreciate the post. I'll use it as a future reference. 

[Marty]

I also bought a new heater control bezel after my attempts at redoing the white lettering on the original were a dismal failure.  Like, you the replacement piece had a different wrinkle finish than the original or radio bezel, much coarser.   However, I just opted to leave well enough alone since they were on different sides of the steering wheel.  Yours came out really nice.  Good work. 

Sometimes we all need to know when to draw the line.

Anyway, I get the "leave well enough alone." That's exactly what I'm going to do with these parts. Leave well enough alone. Especially since they're already installed and match for the most part.

Regardless, thank you for the 

[DeathProofCuda]

@Marty

Assembled dash looks great! 

[Marty]

Thank you!

[Marty]

I don't have a current update on the Barracuda. Time has been tight. To keep the thread moving though, I thought I'd post some shots of some E-Bodys that we checked out in Missouri yesterday. A potential new owner wanted them checked over before he was going to purchase them.

The first one is one of three Shriner's 1971 Barracudas. You can read up on them here. https://barnfinds.com/1-of-3-1971-plymouth-barracuda-convertible-1/

The second owner changed the top to black shortly after he bought it. When he banged up the front fender he quit driving it. He owned it for over 40 years. Torn apart and forgotten till now.

The two red Fords in the back are rare 1970 Twister Torinos. Two of 90. There is a third one in another building. The one on the left is a 428 CJ.

[Marty]

The second Barracuda to be looked over was also a 1971. 318/automatic. Restored(ish.) Unfortunately, I didn't get a clear picture of the tag.

[Marty]

The last two.

1971 Challenger R/T. What was odd about this one was it was a 3-speed manual.

1970 'Cuda V-Code.

The Camaro is a 1968 RS/SS. 396/4spd.

The Mustang is a 1970 Sportsroof.

[dodj]

That's a cool bunch of cars you were looking over.