Just Dashes, who has used them and how is their work?

[ajmcforester]

OK, I've been looking for some time now for who does the best dash restoration. However I hear little about the more expensive company, Just Dashes, besides they do them. This might not be bad since most people wright about how bad their dash fit from other companies or how cheap they got it done for.

The thing I liked is they replace the foam, while others companies seem to fill in the cracks and re-vinyl over the top. One of the big reasons foam-vinyl dashes crack is the foam gets old and shrinks.

My concern is how accurate to original are their dashes? It would be nice to hear from someone from the Z community who has had them do their dash give us an honest review of the quality of work? What was done well and what is not perfect match to original that kind of stuff.

I don't expect a perfect match but I want to get an idea if I would be satisfied with their work or if I should try to find a NOS replacement.

[pwd]

As I understand, Just Dashes did the restoration work on Nissan's 1998 240Z restoration program. Of course at that time they were probably the only game in town.

Be careful when their ad says they "replace the foam", since that probably only applies to specific cars they do. In fact, I spoke with the guy at Just Dashes not long ago and he said they didn't have the mold to make the foam dash for the 240Z. Actually, it wouldn't be hard to make one... but that will be the subject of a future thread.

Having inspected my recently removed, but much cracked dash, I can see that only the surface foam (except for the cracks) is deteriorated from heat. That's why they shave it back and layer it with closed cell "Landau" foam. Closed cell foam will actually provide a much more stable base for the "hair cell" PVC skin than the original open cell foam.

I'll be experimenting on re-skinning a "donor" dash with a highly stretchable (50% in both directions) vinyl known as "Allsport" by Morbern. I purchased some for another project and test fit it on the 240Z dash with promising results. It will be applied with heat, stretching, and glue just like they do with the hot PVC sheet, but I shouldn't need a vacuum press if enough "hands" available. It won't be "original", but should look the same. In fact, the "Allsport" grain pattern is closer to the finer original texture than the PVC sample I received from Dashboard Restorations. However, "Allsport" will be more flexible than the original PVC, and much more so than the thicker PVC used by the current dash restorers out there today.

Edited June 5, 2010 by pwd

[psdenno]

I've used Just Dashes for my Studebaker Avanti and they do fine, but pricey, work - including color and texture matching as needed.

Reading the post above makes me wonder how that "skin" that's applied like a huge decal to buses, trucks, and some cars with colorful ads would work. It's supposed to be durable and fits to curves nicely. You could have some interesting patterns on a dash. By the way, I would never do it and plan to go with a full dash cover from MSA when I get to that point in the interior refurb.

Dennis

[soundmasterg]

If anyone is interested in an original non-cracked dash from a '72, I do have one in very good, uncracked shape with gauges and glove box that I will be selling at the Canby (Oregon) show later this month. Since it won't fit in my car, I'll just have pictures with me, and could email pictures to any interested people also. If anyone is interested, send me a PM.

Greg