dash questions, 1969 911S

[blucille]

I have some cracks in my dash, 1969 911S...I've heard '69 is an especially tough year, since the speaker opening is different than the 70-73 cars....but I can't confirm.

so, are other year dash tops correct for my '69??

-Lewis

[kenikh]

Dr. Johnson's book only makes a distinction between '67 and earlier, one off year for '68 and '69 - '73. Not to say he's right, but that's what I get from the book.

[A.T.]

Lewis

I just replaced the dash pad in my '69S. With certain things it's best not to go with after market parts. The money you save will be spent on the extra time it takes to fit those parts, so I've been told. I just assumed this would be the case with a dash pad so I ordered one from Porsche. It's in your face all the time. Why skrimp? I don't even know if there is an after market version out there. Well surprise, surprise. It didn't fit. What a pain in the butt. Of the four bolts on the back of the face of the pad only two lined up with the original holes. The other two weren't even close. I had to drill new holes. The speaker grill was no issue and was right in place I think. Most of the plastic pins along the front edge, near the windshield fit into their respective holes with some persuasion as well, except for the centre one. I could force it in but after a few seconds it would pop up again. I looked into ordering new female plastic plugs that the pins clip into. They were about $7 Can (or about $5 US I guess) each. That is such a rip off in my opinion. When I laughed at the price my local Porsche dealer parts guy got all snooty about it. Anyway the damn thing made no difference. In the end my body shop buddy helped me install the pad and he ended up glueing that pin in place. I pray it holds. Stinkin' over priced piece of plastic/foam junk!!!!

Good luck with yours. Let me know how it works out for you.

[BOYER73S]

Your friendly Porsche dealer should have advised you would need to drill new holes, thats a well known fact, but hey on the bright side at least you can still BUY a brand new dash for a 1969 car that comes from the manafacturer not many others I know of who can supply like that.

Buy the way did the speaker grill have the matching rectangular pattern for the holes or were they angled at the corners and whats the current price of the dash please as I would like to buy one for my LHD RS.

[A.T.]

Clyde

Not sure about the speaker holes. I'll check that. You can get the pads through Stoddard's for a little over $1000. Do they get them from Porsche? I got mine for around that.

The bolts weren't the only issue. My body shop, guy who does a lot of P cars was shaking his head. I think it was more about the price than that the fit sucked. The bad fit seems pretty common.

[Paul Schooley]

AT...sounds like Pfaff to me. I can buy original oil filters and air cleaners in the states for oh, let's say 1/3 of their price. As a business owner, however, I do admire their ability to command such huge markups. I wish I could get away with that in the pool industry...I'd be driving around in a Carrera GT.

[pwd72s]

www.justdashes.com The plastic plugs are up to you. I've posted about this before...

[Bobboloo]

I had the dash from my 71'S redone at Just Dashes and it's not really up to the quality for putting back in my S so I ordered the factory unit from Stoddards.

The Just Dashes vinyl grain doesn't really match and the creases don't have the detail either. The holes in the speaker grill are much smaller and closer spaced. Not worth the $700 in my opinion.

I've noticed that the speaker grill in the factory replacements don't match the original either. I'm hoping to find a nice used speaker grill for my 71'S resto.

Here's the Just Dashes unit. I put it in my 73'T .

The two closeups are the Just Dashes unit and a factory unit from 74' to 77' ?

You can see the difference in grain and how the creases on the Just Dashes unit are not defined.

[BOYER73S]

Bobby,

Thanks for the pics and info I am sorry Just Dashes don't quite make it as they seemed like a good alternative. Why can't they make the holes bigger to match the speaker holes as per original surely thats not hard for them to change. I guess the availabilty of the vinyl to match the grain is hard to find if not impossible but $700 plus another $500 freight for me means a new one is the go I think

[Bobboloo]

Why can't they make the holes bigger to match the speaker holes as per original surely thats not hard for them to change.

I don't know. My guess is they could but it's not worth the effort to them. the bulk of their business is American cars, Mustangs and such. The vinyl and the holes seem to match more what you might find on an American car.