Leather

[blue sky]

Roger, Dashes are always tricky due to the multiple directions you have to pull the leather. Having done a number of them I can offer what has worked for me. It is best to use hides in the 1.5 oz. category. Give yourself enough skin in excess to what is required to cover the dash for means of pulling the leather. Any excess can be trimmed off during the process. Do not try to do the whole dash in one shot. It works best if areas are allowed to set up before going onto the next area. Apply contact cement to the backside of the entire skin and allow to dry. Start with an area in the center of the dash and put the contact cement on that area only and let dry. This will allow you to position the dash on the overall hide. After this sets up, work your way outward from the center to the ends by putting the contact center on the aluminum you wish to work with. The backside of the hide should still be tacky but is not just apply a very light coat of cement to soften is and let dry. Do the flat surfaces only and not the edges of the dash, glove box, etc. Leather is skin so you are going to want to stretch is some to give a smooth flat surface. Get all the flat surface or face of the dash done and let dry. You will want to start with the bottom edges of the dash that have the most curvature and stretch the skin while using something like an old ink roller to get a smooth clean surface free of any wrinkles. Move on to the long straight edges. After this sets you can then trim off the excess, glue the back of the dash, and fold over the skin. You can trim and fold over the top of the dash in the same manner. Cut the opennings in the glove box and steering column allowing you enough material to work with but not too much that will prevent you from stretching the skin and tearing it. The glove box opening is usually the hardest area because of multiple tight curves. This takes a lot of massaging to avoid any wrinkles. Use a heat gun if needed to soften leather in a spot. Do not over heat. Warm days is better to do all of this than cold. After everything is dry, cut the openings for the gauges and switches. Hope this will help you some. AJ