Hey All! Been a while since I was on here and thought I would provide some insight into the project of 'restoring' my 1958 Edsel Pacer padded dash. Like a lot of Edsels, the padded dashes end up dried, cracked, and pretty nasty after 62 years. Mine was no exception. A low mileage car, with a decent interior but a bad padded dash. After asking around to upholstery shops, none of which wanted to take on the project, and getting frustrated I decided I would just convert the dash by removing the remains of the padding, glue, sand it down, then paint it. Here's the kicker though, I have limited workspace as I live in a condo and store the Edsel in a parking garage. So, removing the whole padded dash was not going to fly. At all. So this project would have to be completed with the dash remaining in the car. First off, there are some limitations to this. You'll really have to reach hard to get the sanding done tor remove all the old glue / surface rust. Second, You'll be painting inside your car, so ventilation and masking are key. In my case, I was a little strapped for time as I was doing this in a garage that DOES NOT allow you to work on your cars. So, I was kinda just doing this as quickly and easily as possible. Do a bit better of a job masking and your job will be easier. Tools needed: Philips screwdriver Putty knife (for scraping) Box Cutter Sand paper (60 grit on up to the finest you wish to use - I went with 120) Mineral spirits (for cleanup of overspray) Goo-gone Rags Supplies needed: Primer Paint Finish Coat First, remove the sun visors. Sounds counter intuitive as they are up high, but since you're going to need to remove the windshield / dash surround trim, they need to come off, or at least I found it easier to remove the A-pillar trim with them off. Next, A-pillar trim, then all the dash surround trim. It's pretty easy - just a screw driver is needed. Next, remove the speaker grill. There are two nuts that hold it in place up under the dash. You can either A.) Contort yourself and try to get them off, or B.) Do what I did and just bend the grill a bunch until it snaps off. Don't worry, the new speaker grill will bolt in in separate holes from the padded dash grill. Now remove the chrome trim that runs from the center dash around the painted part. Each one is held in with two screws. Next comes the fun / nasty part. Remove the dash vinyl. Mine was brittle and came off easily. I ran my box-cutter around the chrome trim instead of removing it. It's quite easy to do, just don't get overly aggressive. Take your time and remove ALL of it. Once the vinyl is off, scrape scrape scrape the old padding and glue off. This is labor intensive. Once the padding is off (mine was a powdery mess that just came off in sheets) you get to clean the glue off. I got as much off as I could with my putty knife and goo gone. Now you get to sand, sand some more, and then do some more sanding sand. Sand every surface of the upper part of your dash. That glue is nasty stuff you DO NOT want to paint over. I took my time and got down to the bare metal. The tight spots around the side curves were difficult but multiple folds and using the edge of the sand paper worked. I also didn't have a lot of glue in there thankfully so I didn't have a lot of work there. Once you've sanded it down, mask off the trim and the windshield. Pay attention to the lines and make sure you do it right. I used the blue masking tape you can get at Lowes in the paint section. For the gauge cluster there is a curved colored piece near your speedometer. It was easy to slip the tape under and fold it over. Make certain you mask the gauge cluster well! I used Rustoleum primer and gave the dash a good three coats of primer letting it dry overnight each time. Once the primer is dry comes the fun. Paint the basecoat. Be careful not to get any on your gauges or any plastic parts as they can be brittle. I just painted the top half leaving the bottom half of the center console the original color. Paintscratch.com paint was just a HAIR off from the old paint either due to dirt/time/errors in mixing. Regardless take your time. I did three coats. Letting it dry over night each time. Then come through and do your finish coat. I used a clear coat from paint scratch again. Let it dry thoroughly and reassemble all the trim. It wasn't an overly difficult project and one that really made a difference in how the interior looks. Hope you enjoyed the write up. I've attached pics of the different stages so you can see how she turned out.
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