Write-Up: A-Pillar Re-Upholstery & Guage Pods

I was pretty happy with his work. its been a year and that car sits in the sun alot and they still look just as good as when they were done. Here's his information. It's Brent's Upholstery. He is in Sterling, Illinois 61081 and his number is 815-625-3169. One of these days I need to go back there and see what he can do about a crack in my dash from one of those push clips.

J. Chris Davis wrote:

I was pretty happy with his work. its been a year and that car sits in the sun alot and they still look just as good as when they were done. Here's his information. It's Brent's Upholstery. He is in Sterling, Illinois 61081 and his number is 815-625-3169. One of these days I need to go back there and see what he can do about a crack in my dash from one of those push clips.

Thanks again for that info. I finally have my pillar about ready and I'm gonna be calling them up in the next week or two to send my pillars to get reupholstered like yours.

No problem. Hope it all goes well for you.

Finally got the pillars back for good! With waiting for the plastic guy and then the upholstery guy, it took a solid year and a half. Don't be in a hurry if you're doin it my way. lol

I ended up paying Brent's upholstery $125 said and done. Nice work though. The material is a little nicer than the original stuff or it's just because it's new/fresh - i dunno. There's definitely a lot more padding in there though which is nice.

Now I have to work my spare ashtray/cd holder to put more switches in it and do a lot of electrical moving around so I can get all the gauges where I want them. I'll probably post those kinda of pictures in my turtle thread. I'm going to try to get that done before I go see PRJ on the 3rd if I can.

Wow, those look great. I have a spare ashtray cover/outlet assembly and a few cd/cassette holders. Yours if you want them. I figure yours are all cut up so why not start fresh? The ashtray thing is blue.

They look great. Glad you finally got them back.

Some pics for good measure. I'm actually going to end up putting the aeroforce gauges in the pillar
and moving those autometer ones to the ashtray area since that information is much more critical to have in front of my face all the time, even though aesthetically it looks kinda better this way.

Looks good.

looks great

Hey Matthew, I recently had the dash apart and although I remember pulling on the A-Pillar to release the plastic snap screws, and then lifting the two tabs out of the dash, I cant for the life of me get the two tabs back in the two slots. you have a suggestion in the write-up that I cant quite picture, can you elaborate? Personally I am thinking of cutting off the two tabs and just relying on the snap screws to hold it in place.

I tried pulling out mine but I couldn't....have to lift something? or pull harder?I was afraid to apply too much force so I never tried again haha......

BMD wrote:

Hey Matthew, I recently had the dash apart and although I remember pulling on the A-Pillar to release the plastic snap screws, and then lifting the two tabs out of the dash, I cant for the life of me get the two tabs back in the two slots. you have a suggestion in the write-up that I cant quite picture, can you elaborate? Personally I am thinking of cutting off the two tabs and just relying on the snap screws to hold it in place.

Just want to re-ask this question.

personally i never took my christmas trees out on purpose but i did have some that pulled out. you can twist some in ( depending on the head style) or like on my rear pillars where the mount broke i used locktite knead to mix putty and permently attached it

Its not the Christmas tree clips I am talking about. I mean the two legs that are actually apart of the a pillar design. They are supposed to slip into the two slots that are cut into the dash board. I just cant get those two legs back in.

BMD wrote:

Its not the Christmas tree clips I am talking about. I mean the two legs that are actually apart of the a pillar design. They are supposed to slip into the two slots that are cut into the dash board. I just cant get those two legs back in.

Firstly, make sure you have both anchors secured in the pillar trim (not the actual metal pillar) so when you're positioned you just push them both in and done. Also, have the velvety/rubber trim around the pillar area pulled out of the way to make it easier. So with the pillar in your hands, guide it forward (towards the front of the car) at an angle clockwise a couple hours from where it actually rests so that the top is kinda over to the right and the bottom is close to where it needs to end up. So when you get it into position you have it in your hands like this    /    Then when the feet are lined up longitudinally with their slots in the dash, sorta twist it back counterclockwise like this    l    and sneak those feet into place as you find your holes for the anchors.

turtleman wrote:

Some pics for good measure. I'm actually going to end up putting the aeroforce gauges in the pillar
and moving those autometer ones to the ashtray area since that information is much more critical to have in front of my face all the time, even though aesthetically it looks kinda better this way.

Man this has to be an awesome visual at night

turtleman wrote:

BMD wrote:

Its not the Christmas tree clips I am talking about. I mean the two legs that are actually apart of the a pillar design. They are supposed to slip into the two slots that are cut into the dash board. I just cant get those two legs back in.

Firstly, make sure you have both anchors secured in the pillar trim (not the actual metal pillar) so when you're positioned you just push them both in and done. Also, have the velvety/rubber trim around the pillar area pulled out of the way to make it easier. So with the pillar in your hands, guide it forward (towards the front of the car) at an angle clockwise a couple hours from where it actually rests so that the top is kinda over to the right and the bottom is close to where it needs to end up. So when you get it into position you have it in your hands like this    /    Then when the feet are lined up longitudinally with their slots in the dash, sorta twist it back counterclockwise like this    l    and sneak those feet into place as you find your holes for the anchors.

Thansk Codith, I will give another try, but it seems easier said than done. I honestly feel like just cutting off the two legs on the pillar trim. Do you think the christmas tree clips will be enough to hold it in place?

Has anyone looked into Just Dashes vacuum forming matching-color vinyl around the a-pillar covers?

Turtle's Riv just looks loaded for bear!