This was an interesting installation. The ACCU-FORM dash cap arrived from RMMW [Rocky Mountain Motorworks] with a tube of silicon sealant and instructions. It was well packed for shipment (something I've always liked about RMMW) and arrived in perfect shape.
The dash cap apppears to be a vacuum-formed product. It has a texture and appearance very much in line with the original. The tactile impression it creates is different, however, for the thin shell is quite hard and unresilient to the touch.
Several folks wrote to me emphasizing the importance of pre-fitting and trimming. Right again! Let's deal with trimming first. My Super Beetle had air conditioning. In fact, everything's still in place except for the compressor. There's an extra pair of vents in my dash as a result; one under the glove box, another in a corresponding position on the left side. The dash cap has hints of markings corresponding to the position of these two vents, intended to guide you in the trimming process. My first thought was, "No way, that's way too big an area they've got outlined!" So I tried to sneak up on it, with cautious but progressive trimming, checking, trimming, checking. In the end I had taken out almost exactly what had been indicated; had to, to accomodate not just the vents but the bezels and so forth. I did a little trimming as well along the bottom edge where it seemed a little extra material might give me problems when it came time to push the top edge in. This brings us to one of the main themes of the event: the Top Edge.
The top front edge of the cap needs to end up underneath the metal edge the original dash fits under just below the windshield. I found that either end could be started under the metal edge, but that getting the full length of the dash cap under was tricky.
I finally employed a non-serrarated non-sharp table knife (from my tool box, not the kitchen drawer!). This worked well as a "coaxer" to help shoe-horn the edge under the metal, by inserting it and running it along the length while applying forward force progressively along the same length of the cap, following a short way behind the knife's progress.
Ok, the two circular vents which direct air / heat at the side windows: the cover makes no attempt to mimic their original appearance. Instead, the original little louvres are kept in place and their functionality is maintained. The cover merely fits over the flanges with a decent, finished appearance, but it'd be a dead giveaway to a Super Beetle owner that the dash cap is in use.
Getting both ends of the sucker to push down flat over the vents was a little like watching the Three Stooges doing a wallpaper job. You push down one end, get it just right, and SPROING! The other end would come up. (Remember, this is still in the pre-fitting stage - we haven't opened the sealer yet!)
Ok, I arrived at the point where I had a degreee of confidence that the thing fit as well as I was going to get it to fit. (hah!) The next step in the instructions directed me to take a utility knife to the existing dash and carve away the up-curled edges of the cracked areas to lower their elevation to that of the surrounding landscape. Look, even though my dash was plenty cracked up, it felt weird to take a box knife to it. But carve away I did. This was really the moment of 'Total Commit.' By the way, watch out: that ancient skin of the dash comes up in sharp little pieces! 8^(
So, my ruined dash was really ruined now. Nothing for it but to open the sealant. The instructions warn to put a pencil-sized bead one-half inch from the edges all the way around the inside of the cap - and nowhere else. They warn in a little insert that came with the instructions that putting additional sealant anywhere else can cause the cap to distort when it expands in direct sunlight. I think by this they mean, "Don't try to stick it down by smearing gobs of the stuff in the middle as well." But I don't know. We'll see what happens on the first good, hot day.
Once the sealant was on, I repositioned the cap. The front edge went under the metal edge as previously rehearsed, and the two ends could be pushed down over the vents, and the bottom edge could be pushed up into contact with the dash, and the cutout around the speedometer could be smooshed down.
Now I just had to hold it still for a while. The tube said the stuff would be dry to the touch in an hour and fully cured in 24 hours. The stuff is like what they make frameless aquariums out of. Some of the pre-job advice I received was about bracing the cap during the drying. One fellow said his poor car looked like Frankenstein's Monster, withbits of tape & sticks from all directions by the time he was done. And he was right! Mine ended up looking like a real hodge-podge of 1 x 2's, tomato stakes, cardboard, masking tape, and rags. I wedged in stuff against seats, door frames, the steering wheel, everything I could think of to bear against. I'm sure somebody could invent a perfect jig to apply force to all the areas needed at once, but it'd cost the $440 RMMW wants for a NOS original dash!
This morning I worked up the courage to go and remove the bandages. Hmmmmm... Looks ok! One teenie little bit of that damned front edge had sneaked out from under the metal edge - but only just - maybe the thickness of a piece of printer paper edge-on. Everything else looked tight and ship-shape. Call it decent. From the driver's or passenger seats it looks fine. The few spots where I know something's not perfect aren't likely to be noticed by anybody except you who've read this. It really seems to be a reasonable improvement in appearance.
And that's all it claims to be - an improvement in appearance. I'd say, yup - I'd recommend it as a good product for someone willing to tackle it. Makes me admire the guys who do their own headliner! I'd imagine that could get pretty hairy if it got out of control!
Couple of last quick notes - I didn't get any pictures of the process! I was about three-fourths of the way through, fully charged, coffee cold and into it, when I remembered!
My main advice would be to trim slowly and progressively, as much to get a feel for the way the material cuts as for exact fit. A slice in that stuff can get away from you quickly, and if you try to do too much on your first cut it could lead to a mistake. Propping and wedging the thing in will all depend upon your own invention: you need to be poking at it from all directions at once. The prefitting and the wedging are what you'll remember after the job.
Thanks for reading.
SPROINGGG!! (just kidding) 8^)