Ok guys - I haven't been loafing off too much. I mentioned that I would try to get the dash in on the weekend and I didn't post yesterday. Well, that is because I ran into a couple more things with the dash and I took a jaunt up to CJ's place. Awesome guy and an awesome 855!!!

SO notice this cracked up defrost vent panel. You know... if I have the sucker out and I've done all this work, I just can't put it back in there and stare at those cracks.

So I took another day to do something about it. I sent the wife on a mission (...to find a new wife. Just kidding). I needed 6 feet of good quality black felt. I made a quick attempt of covering that plastic part and it looked really good.

OOoopsss... but then I thought about it. Will the air really vent through that felt effectively??? If I put in on high, will the felt puff upward or come completely out??? So I sprayed some 3M heavy duty glue under it. Dummy me... I just pushed it right down and the glue seeped through and left a splotch about as appealing as a Monica Lewinski evening dress . There has to be a better way than this. So... out it came (... uhhh... no pun intended).

So first mask off the areas you don't want the 3M heavy duty spray glue.

Then I tuck the felt into the seem of the vent assembly and the dash. Nice and tight. I basically used my handy dandy flexible PPO insurance card but a Costco card may work similar results.

Now I shoot a bit of that glue on there and let it setup about 2 minutes. Nice and tacky... just like Monica (man I kill myself!!!! ).

Then I just lay up the felt and tuck it into the top seems. Felt goes down and stays down. Just trim out the edges.

I then took a very sharp Xacto knife (cause felt doesn't like to cut in straight lines) and I cut along the seam of the vent holes. Using my insurance card, I tucked the edges down into the vent between the little vent tabs. Holds great.... I hope!!! Here is a pick of the finished product. Those small slotches actually disappeared over night

A couple of keen reminders:

Do not use a valid insurance card. I now have to request a replacement one!

Do not hold a very sharp Xacto knife in your mouth... not even for a moment.

Do not huff the glue fumes until AFTER your project is complete!

OK, so I let all that glue setup and cure over night. I came home early today and I wrestled the dash back into the car. Not fun, but looks great. Again, everything was cleaned with Simple Green and a toothbrush before reinstalling. I shot that felt with some ScotchGuard hopefully to kill all them Gamma rays from the sun that might fade that felt. Here it is. I still gotta wire up everything, but this was enough for one night!!!

Ciao - Scott C.