Spent the day with one of my 71 240z mistresses! Finally made the move to pull the dash with intentions of either sending it out to be reskined  or do the repairs myself. Managed to get all the gauges out of the dash with no issues except one! Unable to pull the mileage reset cable down through the dash skeleton. Was able to remove the reset cable from the back of the speedo by removing the set screw but am unable to pull it down through dash sheet metal hole. The feral is just a smidge to large to go down and through. 

Would appreciate any advice on how to pull that cable through. I can only see cutting it but really don't want to do that. I would add additional photos but the having fits trying to upload additional pics.

Thank you all in advance for your advice,

Newtonhubcap

 

You can see the cable dangling on the left in the picture.

Boy! Am I a "Gomer"! I just found out the plastic knob just pulls off. Just be sure to pull straight...

Sorry for posting before exhausting all my options first.

newtonhubcap

 

Love an easy fix...

be sure to get a close up pic of the kanji (sp?) would be cool to translate it

Hey all! Well I have been puttzing around with the dash. Using a heat gun I was able to remove all of the original dash cover flawlessly, grind out and fill worth great stuff, reinforce the back of the foam pad with fiberglass. Since then I have been smoothing the dash out with the flexible bumper repair kits. Looking at it now I am starting to consider covering the entire dash worth the flexible repair kits and then repaint it worth sems texture paint and seal it in a clear Matt finish. Just curious if any one has attempted anything in this direction?

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Classic Zcar Club mobile

I spent a lot of time reading other contributors' write-ups before tackling my cracked S30 dash two years ago.  I don't recall anyone who had tried applying the flexible bumper repair compound over the entire surface of the dash.  I can see some possible attraction, since it would theoretically put a flexible cover layer over the vinyl-to-filler seams that everyone worries about splitting apart after the dash has been put back in the car and exposed to the elements.  However, it seems like the equivalent of applying body filler over an entire hood panel just to deal with a few localized dents -- you'll be setting yourself up for a massive sanding and contouring challenge.

That said, I do recall one or two people who covered their entire S30 dash with fibreglass for exactly the same reason (and ended up facing exactly the same challenge afterwards).

Good points Namerow. I have been acquiring various items of different radius for tackling the sanding. What I find somewhat frustrating is the short-set time of the flex filer. This sort-set time only allows small batches to be mixed at a time, hence the slow methodical progress. Will try to post some pics, soon.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Classic Zcar Club mobile

39 minutes ago, newtonhubcap said:

Good points Namerow. I have been acquiring various items of different radius for tackling the sanding. What I find somewhat frustrating is the short-set time of the flex filer. This sort-set time only allows small batches to be mixed at a time, hence the slow methodical progress. Will try to post some pics, soon.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Classic Zcar Club mobile
 

I found Eastwood's 'DuraBlock' sanding blocks to be just about ideal for the contouring of my S30 dash.  The big, teardrop-shaped block got the most use.  Perfect for the big-radius valleys between the gauge pod humps.  IIRC, I had to use a small length of heater hose as a block for certain areas (inside lips of the small gauge pods, maybe).

I had the same problem with the bumper repair compound (I used 'Bumper-Bite').  I recall having only about 45 seconds available per mix before it began to set and could no longer be shaped or smoothed.  Even cutting the ratio of hardener-to-base down to 1:10 had no effect -- the stuff just seemed to be ultra-sensitive to the hardener catalyst.  I only used it to finish off my localized repaired areas.  I can't imagine trying to use it to cover the entire dash surface!