My solution to warping dash.

[99sho-time]

If you can't beat em join em.

I basically took black weather striping trimed the bottom of it, aligned the top of it with the inner edge and tucked the rest of it inside the plastic.
I spent like like 5 mins on this and intend to do a better job the second time around.
I figured hey I'm sure many are as tired of looking at the inner dashboard guts as i am.

 

[Qshiplvr]

BRAVO!!!

Well done!

Did you do the same for the part that lifted facing the windshield too?

 

[99sho-time]

For the front i'm still working on I used guerilla glue with some success. I stuffed shoes in between dash and windshield and wedged it down to sorta clamp it. the guerilla glue seems to be holding tightly on the one side. for some reason i didn't get good contact on drivers side. gonna try and again on the 2nd pass.

 

[98SF19]

the part that lifted facing the windshield

I got into this recently, and also used Gorilla glue! It seemed that due to the front windshield restricting space, you have to just drip the glue down onto the surface where the lifted edge of dash makes contact when pushed down. I had 2 loose front rotors which provided plenty of mass to weigh down dash while glue cured, and also stuffed a bunch of newspapers in there like you did with the shoes.
LESSONS LEARNED:
I should have put a 2" strip of either wood or metal along the edge of dash since only the middle of the lifted edge is holding due to the rotors' empty space in the middle, whereas having a strip of something would have put even pressure - I shoulda predicted that one.

As for the steering wheel dash gap . . . nice! I have a small LCD voltage meter that would fit nicely in there, and I'd been wondering where to put it. Perhaps your idea could house other small gauges/meters.

 

[99sho-time]

I'm not sure if there actually is a gap. i closed most of the gap on mine and in the middle if im not mistaken there's a part where there is an actual tab that connects that upper layer to the dashboard. mine looks broken. these upper layers they stretch and move alot its catastrophic.

 

[E1]

This is a long standing feature on our cars.

A thread from a few years back -
http://shoforum.com/index.php?threads/dash-board.87613/

Talk of how to return the dash to its original position.

Here is the actual TSB in this -
http://v8sho.com/SHO/GlueForDashRepair.htm

 

[gamefanatic]

Yeah, this has occurred on every Gen3 I have seen. My last one I used 3M Automotive Spray Adhesive (#38808). Made it nice for getting in the far to reach area's. For hold-down method, a couple of history books... Like someone said in the mentioned threads, definately suggest doing this in the middle of the day when it's hot. This helps to make the material more flexible. Have to do it on my recently purchased Gen3 too...

Never saw that TSB before. Interesting choice on the Loctite. I wonder why they didn't suggest that model for the CAM fix?

 

[98SF19]

Any TSB for dash warping @ inside base of windshield? I know it's a lot less common up north, but for those of us w/o benefit of garage (and/or too lazy to put up reflective shield every time), I think the *right* way would be to remove windshield to allow better access in applying expoxy.

 

[stephen newberg]

IIRC there was a TSB on it. I sort of remember reading it a long time ago, but as I have never had a problem, it has drifted out of my memory and I looked about but did not see that I kept any record of it. For the first 7 years of its life, mine was outside, though that is outside in Nova Scotia where the sun angle is lower and the temps are also, compared to most of the US. Since then it has been under cover out here in British Columbia on Vancouver Island in an open shed, but pretty much zero sun most of the time. Still no indication of any warping.

pax, smn

 

[gamefanatic]

Any TSB for dash warping @ inside base of windshield? I know it's a lot less common up north, but for those of us w/o benefit of garage (and/or too lazy to put up reflective shield every time), I think the *right* way would be to remove windshield to allow better access in applying expoxy.

Well the Loctite they mentioned would work to get up in those tight areas. I can't comment on how well it would hold, but seems like it could do the job.

I would always recommend a sun shield. The "easiest" are the ones that collapse, unlike the fold out ones. The collapsible ones can be done in a second and tuck between the seats. The fordable ones, though they can cover the entire windshield are not very easily tucked away when not in use...

 

[98SF19]

I would always recommend a sun shield

If I ever get my hands on a time travel machine, I will definitely take that under advisement.
For now, the middle inch or 2 of the raised portion of dash seems to be holding on for dear life - makes the dash look like it's flexing.

 

[gamefanatic]

Alternatively I have found that dash mats not only protect the dash from heat, but significantly lower cabin temps and eases the job of the A/C. Though you need to get a quality mat, and need to ensure you have have it shoved properly up to the glass otherwise it can block the flow of the defrosters in the cooler days... To get mine to form properly I soaked it in water, laid books where necessary and faced the dash towards the sun to dry it out into shape.

 

[stephen newberg]

And speaking of the A/C, mine finally started getting flaky last year and this year seems outright dead. Oh well. Its 19 years old, so I guess I cannot complain a lot. Just got re-registered and insured for the summer car show season and then made an appointment with the local car air conditioning specialist shop. She goes in Monday and it will be interesting to see if its refrigerant or the clutch, which seem to be the only major causes of long term failure.

pax, smn

 

[gamefanatic]

I can assure your mechanic that the high side valve will stick open when testing, so ultimately it will become the freon...

Pay attention to the alternator / amps as this can also fake a bad A/C clutch. Everything worked fine in mine except the clutch. I figured this out "after" replacing the compressor when I still had the problem. Final test should have been to hook the clutch directly to a 12V source to validate I could make it engage manually... Also the low side sensor always goes bad and is cheap / no brainer to replace. You would see this if the low side bottoms out quickly or doesn't get down to proper PSI (varies depending on ambient temps) but around 22-24...

Though, I can say that my new one gets so cold I have issues in humid areas of freezing up...

 

[stephen newberg]

Thank you. I will pass that along.

pax, smn

 

[98SF19]

major causes of long term failure.

You're leaving out bad RCCs, which I was told by a shop was the cause of mine being out, though I think there's a chance it's a fried wire somewhere, since the cycling switch is only getting 5v from the RCC, not 12v like it's supposed to. I also have yet to ensure that RCC is putting out 12v on that wire (red/yellow to cycling switch?). It just sucks getting down in there trying for a useable line of sight with enough light and risking dropping screws down into the black hole.