Dash Cap ’78 280Z - Poor Fit

[bmuu]

A while back I purchased a restored 1978 280Z. The car looks great, inside and out, except for a poorly installed full face dash cap. The cap fits well, except in the area around the trip odometer reset and dimmer control knobs, where it gaps by almost ¾ inch. In fact, it fits so poorly that you can’t even install the two knobs.

This has been bothering me ever since I received the car, so last week I thought I'd remove the existing cap, prep the dash properly and install a new one. I had no problem removing the old cap, as the double sided tape used to install it had long since lost its grip. The dash was in bad shape as I expected, but I really couldn’t find any reason why the old cap fit so poorly. In particular, I couldn’t find anything that would keep the cover from conforming to the area around the odometer and dimmer knobs.

I cleaned everything up and purchased a new cap from Accu-Form (the old one was manufactured by, Palco). When I received the new cap, it looked nearly identical to the old one and in fact the part numbers were even the same, 303D. When I went to install it, not too surprisingly, it fit, or didn’t fit, nearly identical to the original. Just like the original, it fit perfectly everywhere, except around the odometer and dimmer knobs. I’ve had the cap on and off a dozen, or more times and I can’t figure out what’s wrong. From what I can see, no amount of trimming or finessing is going to help. It’s almost like the cap isn’t formed correctly.

I did some research and it appears that some of the older Accu-Form molds may have come from Palco. I’m starting to wonder if there may be a problem with the 280Z mold that Palco and Accu-Form are using.

If there is anyone who has recently purchased / installed a full dash cap on a ’78 280Z, I’d be interested in how it fit, or what you had to do to make it fit. Also, I’d be curious who the manufacturer was and where you purchased it. I’d like to try a cap from a different manufacturer, as I suspect that Palco and Accu-Form used the same mold, but as far as I can tell, Accu-Form is the only company still producing full coverage dash caps for the 280Z.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

[Willoughby Z]

My thought is that it maybe possible that the problem is with the original dash, rather than the cap. Posters may provide some input that there have been fitment issues with full dash caps but I'm thinking that because the misalignment is around the knob area, which is very far to the left and lower end of the dash, that maybe there was body damage to the car in the door hinge/ frame area that was repaired and now, undetectable. If there was damage to the door frame and the dash assembly frame was pushed or bent towards the center of the car or upwards? Not knowing the geometry of the misalignment, this maybe way off the mark for figuring out a solution. It could as simple that a PO had the dash out of the car and did not get it reinstalled properly. Perhaps the very-uncomfortable-human-origami-lay-on-your-back-with-flashlight inspection of the dash frame and attachment points may reveal a clue.

Or everyone will jump in and tell us "Yes, the dash caps don't fit"

-kdm

[FastWoman]

If the lower half of your dash looks OK, I'd recommend a half-dash cap. The half cap looks quite good, and it will not give you quite as much grief if/when you need to R&R your speedo or tach.

[TomoHawk]

I had a similar problem with my dash cap. The opening for the shafts for the dimmer and odo reset were not in the right place, so I used the moto tool to change things. If there was a way to fit the dash cap to the dash so you can remove the speedometer and tachometer, I would actually glue it on and maybe even have it covered in vinyl so it doesn't look or sound so "plasticy."

[bmuu]

The car has no hidden damage and the dash is not distorted as far as I can tell. In fact, the dash is in good shape except for the top. I would use a half cap, but the PO used screws to hold the bottom of the old cap in place, so there are screw holds in the bottom portion of the dash that would show if I used a half cap. I think the shaft openings for the dimmer and odometer would like up if I could somehow get the cap to lay flush.

I've included a picture showing how the original cap was installed, which might give a better idea of my problem. As you can see, the PO just put the cap over the knobs which is make them useless and looks bad.

This particular cap and the one I replaced it with are referred to as deep caps. In other words, they cover more of the area that returns back towards the face of the gauges. I'm starting to wonder if I might be better off with a standard cap that has shallower returns. It really shouldn't matter, if the caps are made correctly, but there must be a reason they offer two styles. I think I'm going to give Accu-Form a call tomorrow and see what they have to say about this??

Edited May 30, 2011 by bmuu

[robftw]

Looks like he didnt push the bottom in all the way, you can probably fix it yourself.. pull the cap off, removed the glue and reapply properly.

Let it sit out in the sun for a few hours to get soft first though.

[grantf]

I am not sure I see the problem, can't see till you remove the knobs and push it in all the way.

[TomoHawk]

You put the knobs on after you glue the cap on.

[grantf]

If you read the OP you will see he knows this. Just be nice to see the cap on without the knobs so we can see how for off. I purchased a full dash cap from MSA and have yet to install mine, it would be nice to see his before I find out the same problem.

[grantf]

Ok just for fun I temporarily installed my dash cover, I used no glue just slipped it on and screwed down the defroster cover. I think I will leave it on for a while and let the sun and hot interior help it to conform to shape. glove box is a little sticky and I see some misalignment here were the two knobs are.

Is this close to what you are experiencing? I could slip the trip reset knob on but it is rubbing. I did notice there is some room to adjust the knobs and I think before I permently install the cover I may heat some areas up and conform them a little closer to were they need to rest. Overall not a bad fit but not perfect.

Edited May 30, 2011 by grantf

[grantf]

Oh almost forgot, My dash cap is labled PALCO 303. no D

[bmuu]

Ok just for fun I temporarily installed my dash cover, I used no glue just slipped it on and screwed down the defroster cover. I think I will leave it on for a while and let the sun and hot interior help it to conform to shape. glove box is a little sticky and I see some misalignment here were the two knobs are.

Is this close to what you are experiencing? I could slip the trip reset knob on but it is rubbing. I did notice there is some room to adjust the knobs and I think before I permently install the cover I may heat some areas up and conform them a little closer to were they need to rest. Overall not a bad fit but not perfect.

Yours fits way better than mine! When you ordered yours, did you have an option to specify a deep cap, vs a standard one? The fact that your part number doesn't have a "D" tells me it is probably a standard cap. This may be my problem. On mine, the gap between the edge of the cap and the dash, is about 3/4-inch at the bottom edge, just below the knobs.

When I get a chance tomorrow, I'm going to take a couple more pictures so you can see in detail what I'm trying to describe. I'm also going to call Accu-Form and see what they have to say. I was under the impression that both Palco and Accu-Form used the same original molds, but I may be misinformed. The part number, 303 is the same for both companies, which is kind of a strange coincidence. The "D" supposedly signifies the deep cap. I really hope I'm wrong, because in that case I'd return my Accu-form and purchase a Paco in a heartbeat! When I talk to Accu-form, I'm also going to ask for some clarification on the difference between the deep (303D) and standard caps.

Edited May 31, 2011 by bmuu