I've located a nice dash cover for a 66 tbird, but there aren't too many upholstery shops willing to tackle the job of removing the old dash and installing the 'new' one. I've taken a gander and there's not much to undo from the firewall, but the instrument cluster looks a bit intimidating. Anyone have any experience with replacing a dash cover. If so, on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being hardest, where would you rank this job?

Take a look at this EBAY offering - step by step dismantling directions of the dash.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...trksid=p4506.c0.m245

I just removed a dash cover yesterday at a junkyard. They are tricky. You will have to remove two bolts on the outside of the car under the cover for the windshield wipers. There are two holes when you get the cover off, the holes are about four or five inches toward the center of the car from the wipers. There are also bolts on each side, near where your knees would be. Two more bolts are behind the controls for the heater and AC, you will have to remove all of that to see those bolts. There are wire bundles attached to the backside and lots of stuff to unhook and unplug. If you go slow you will succeed. Once you get the bolts out of the dashpad you can then probably pull it out enough to get behind, but you will probably tear all of the fragile ductwork behind. A real pain. That's how I did it, there may be an easier way.

well, i took one out of a parts car...what a nightmare...i got all the pad freed up along the bottom and sides - the top part was really 'stuck' to the metal dash part - i gently peeled it away from underneath...then i made a real big decision - i cut the front and top sides of the dash away from the rest of the dash pad - yes, this left a slight 'space' when reinstalled, but for my driver, you can barely see the seam and it saved me a ton of extra work - the speakergrille cover was a pain so i cut along the sides straight to the windshield leaving the centermost part of the old dash pad as a filler between the grille and the windshield....i would NEVER do it again, even if you gave me a new dash pad!....if you had to pay to have it done, i'm sure you would have to write a BIG check!...good luck...johnnyB

There seems to be a re-occuring theme here... Don't do it unless you know what you are doing. In fact, parts technicians have reiterated the same concerns. I heard that there is a shop in Los Angeles that can repair the cracks for a price well worth the labor involved in replacing the dash. Additionally, I attended a car show and saw a few '56 Birds with a carpeted dash cover. Heck, if they can use a dash cover on their vintage classics, so can I.... for now.

Thanks everyone for your insight and comments.