I know a sunscreen for the windshield will help but what else do I need to do to keep this dash from cracking?

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There is a product called 303 Aerospace Protectant. Since to come recommended by a few folk. I use it and like how it does not shine the dash like Armorall does. And I just dont care for Armorall anyway although I think it gets a bad rap.

This stuff is not cheap. But I think its the best product possible.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

Time alone changes the plastic in some ways. Some people use treatments available in many places. I forget the names but others will chime in .Some of those treatments have less than a stellar reputation. There are a couple though that people think highly of.

Best the car not be left outside with all the windows rolled up on a sunny summer day. Even with a windshield protector although that helps a lot.

I expect as the plastic ages it becomes ever more touchy about the thermal expansion and contraction it continiously undergoes. I think the long term condition is reffered to as becoming brittle. Plastic perhaps initially outgasses heavily during the first few years. Then the outgassing declines a lot but always will remain a little.

Since even the interior of a sealed car can easily exceed 120 degress as far north as I am is not good. I would not like to see what is possible in more southern climates. Plus the length of all these factors is shortened as the number of hot seasons exposures are compressed by the additional length of the hotter summers south of me.

That is why if you want a good dash used replacement the further north it is sourced the better the chance of getting a good one and it lasting longer.

One solution I thought of awhile back was to make some kind of a ventilated suroof insert. It could be kept in the trunk and used to secure the car when you left it out on a hot sunny day. It should be easy to construct and make secure with a little imagination. This would keep that overall interior temperature down somewhat. That would possibly be also benificial to the seats as well.

Primarily for our dash pads the uv component of the sun may be the worse issue by far.

I've got one from a jy car and I found another one. I didn't pull it since I already have one. But if the car is still there I may nab it

Good ones are really going to become more scarce sooner or later. I really doubt we will ever see a reproduction made. Just not enough potential volume.

Fine by me cause I'll never change another one out. I got the beast from a 1986 420 SEL and put it in my 84 300SD. The passenger side air bag has become a two day issue. I'm so sore from the odd positions and twisting my back and neck I've considered installing a vibrating driver's seat for therapy.

Since my brother and I worked together disassembling the 420 and he worked the passenger side while I worked the driver side I am stumbling in the dark with the difference in the ventilation behind the air bag.

I'm not sure I would have ventured the project just for the appearance anyway. A couple of the vacuum pods are kaput and I suspect the change in vacuum might be making the old girl shift harder. Everybody needs to change out a dash to get a good look at their vacuum system. I'm sure I could find and fix any of the pods with such newfound experience.

This reminds me I need to photograph the location of each of these pods for posterity and members here who might struggle with this issue.

Recond that will make me a full fledged contributor to this forum?

Anyone that removes and replaces a dash has my respect!

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Chief

1991 350SD

I have not finished yet. Though I'm feeling good about the project I still have no estimate on the finish date.

It is a labor of love. I bought the seats (front and rear), door panels, dash, rear windshield, console, post covers (where the seat belts' spring is), ignition W/ tumblers, dash cluster, driver's door, both door locks, trunk lock and assembly, both seat switches, climate control module with all the switches and the wood plate its mounted in along with...I just molested the car, basically, for $300. Oh yeah, I got the tank and antenna tower out of the trunk.

All I need for the interior wood to be perfect is the wood panel for the driver's door.

Anyone? Anyone?

Have you considered a dash mat of a color to match the carpet? Blue IS going to crack from the UV. Mine was badly cracked and I covered it with such a dash mat that was at least more acceptable than a dash with all the cracks.

The job looks and feels more formidable than it really is. It took me about 3 hours to pull a good dash from a wreck at a Pick N Pull, and most of that was because I had to do it around a steering wheel I couldn't remove. It took less than 45 minutes to install in the car. You learn quite a bit when you pull two dash boards. Replacement then becomes more tedious than complicated. It's pretty hard to connect anything incorrectly simply because all the connections are different. It's just because there are so many that it's tedious.

they are not that bad, ive done mine twice to get all the AC bits

PS I gave up on blue dashes. I found a perfect black one and it was easier to change the rest of the interior to black than find a blue dash

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

Clemson88, are you incorporating the original glove box in place of the airbag? I also have a perfect blue airbag 420SEL dash. I was was wondering if just cutting out the bottom glove box metal cross member from the old dash and attaching it to the airbag dash would work for the glove box.


And if anybody is interested, I am willing to let go the w126 dash and in addition I have a w123 cracked free blue ACCIII style dash with minor flaws.



.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

My 350SD has a perfect blue dash. I wish the engine was perfect!

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Chief

1991 350SD

My glove box's wood panel is delaminating so I went the other way.

I considered cutting the old dash to give a housing for the bottom of the glove box and that might have been the simple solution. If I had it to do over that is the way I would go. Right now I have the defrost vent system for the passenger window installed along with the passenger's side dash vent. Those dispense air from the front of the dash on the passenger's side.

I also have the air bag and its carrier installed and the 'trays,' just below the bag. I can not find a plastic section of vent to transport air to the vent on the passenger's side of the dash into the door. If there is such a creature I must have left it at the strip site.

Do you have a disassembled 420?

Needless to say perhaps. If you do not remove a battery terminal when dealing with an airbag dash it may be the last thing you ever do.

I have turned a couple of black dashes into nearly perfect blue dashes with Sim's "Shadow Blue".

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"