73 charger dash pad,interior questions

[texas charger 73]

first off my dash pad is original and has 3 huge cracks. how do you remove it? how hard is it to remove? where is the best place to get a replacement thats inexpensive and easy to install?



second will all door panles fit all model chargers? will se panels fit non se cars? i am converting my 2d base hardtop to black interior and i found a good priced set,but out of an SE and wasnt sure if it will fit?

[VegasCharger]

Hello Shaun, on the door panels here's what you need to know.

Front lowers will work on all 71-74 chargers. Even if they are standard crank windows and you need power window panels, there is a cut out scribed on the backside for the pw switch.

Front uppers are year specific. 71-72 are the same and 73-74 are the same. Cannot cross over these groups. The 71-72 panels rakes up higher going towards the lock button.

Rear uppers get tricky between models. 71-72 base coupe and 71 SE are the same. 72 SE by itself. 73-74 base coupe are the same unless you get the lowest of low base economy Charger that had fixed rear quarter glass then those panels would be different due to NO window crank holes in them. In which I believe that those without window crank holes were the same ones they used on 73-74 SEs due the the fixed opera rear quarter glass set-up.

Rear lowers are not my expertise but I'll give it a go. I believe all 71-74 Charger rear lower door panels were the the same with the exception of 1974s had a cutout for a retractable shoulder belt return mechanism.

So it depends on if that set you're looking at is from a 73 SE or a 74 SE for the lower rear cutout. As far as the rest of the panels they should all work if doing an SE to coupe conversion. Although you will have to cut out window crank holes for the rear uppers.

Dash pad is a PITA to remove without removing the entire dash. It can be done but you'll have to gut out a lot of underdash components to get access to the bolts. I believe that there are a total of 10 speed nuts holding that dash pad on. As far as inexspensive dash pads there really is none unless you put one of those dash pad caps on but I think they look cheesy. If you did go that route you'll save from having to remove the original pad. You'll just have to fill the cracks with some sort of filler so that when you put the cap on that it doesn't sink into the gaps giving away that the fact there cracks there to begin with.

Hope that helps.

[texas charger 73]

Is these any way to fix cracks in my original dash?  I thought the dash pad replaces my current dash pad from factory..I didn't know it was added on top

How about just painting my current interior with dupricolor paint.  Currently gold and I want black..

[ODZKing]

Dash covers are less but with that comes some compromises.  They never look original. If you look closely you can always tell.
Having said that it is an easy way to make your pad look OK with out pulling the dash.  And for much less.
Here is an article I found while I was decided what to do.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6870036_fix-cracked-dash-pad.html
There have also been numerous threads that guys have shown on doing the covers.. Just search here and at B Body's.com.
However if the dash frame is out, my suggestion is spend the extra $$ and get the real deal.  Just my

[Nacho-RT74]

Rear lowers are not my expertise but I'll give it a go. I believe all 71-74 Charger rear lower door panels were the the same with the exception of 1974s had a cutout for a retractable shoulder belt return mechanism.

correct, however 71/73 wil interchange but not the same... 73s got arm rest moled into the panel, earliers are soft pad, that makes 73 a 1 year piece. That doesn't mean won't interchange

[Nacho-RT74]

Rear uppers get tricky between models. 71-72 base coupe and 71 SE are the same. 72 SE by itself. 73-74 base coupe are the same unless you get the lowest of low base economy Charger that had fixed rear quarter glass then those panels would be different due to NO window crank holes in them. In which I believe that those without window crank holes were the same ones they used on 73-74 SEs due the the fixed opera rear quarter glass set-up.

the window crank is not a problem, can be opened and cardboard on back should be pre cut for that

Coupes and hardtops are same uppers. Fixed window is simple a piece of glass attached with a bracket on same hardtop glass position.

SE's not, due they are cut on top to accomodatte the inner louvers.

Then we have the brougham or standard ( woodgrained or not ) panels, which even physically could fit if coming from same model, would need to be installed as full set. A mix up of brougham and standards won't match. woodgrain and not will match on pattern. Just the woodgrain presence will tell you they are diff.

against what ppl thinks, BROUGHAM panels are not specifically for SEs...  Just commonly they got them. I have seen Hardtops with broughams ( my car got them from a 74 canadian donor ) and SEs with standards

the "easier way" if we can call it on that way, to get a brougham set from a hardtop is find a 73 SE without the louvers on quarter glass ( only 73 option )... yes they got the option to still be SE on a hardtop body... but not easy to find those. Hard to find a brougham upper panels to hardtops. I just got lucky.

[texas charger 73]

Well shoot. I found some 71 se  black panels I wanted to out in my 73. I guess I'll just have to paint my panels I already have in my car.

[Nacho-RT74]

yeap, shame. 71 SEs are nice looking panels. The doors on 71/72s are higher on rear ( around 1 and a half inch ), meeting with quarter jam.

[texas charger 73]

Yeah this set was $50.  I'm just not a fan of my interior.   Its an ugly gold. Full split bench.

[VegasCharger]

correct, however 71/73 wil interchange but not the same... 73s got arm rest moled into the panel, earliers are soft pad, that makes 73 a 1 year piece. That doesn't mean won't interchange

Crap I forgot about those molded in arm rests
Just another cost cutter for the MFG.

When I had my 73 SE it had a partial 72 SE interior in it. The lower back panels had them bolt on padded arm rest which I liked better. Also that is when I found out that the front uppers were different than 73-74. Who would've thunk it

Good score on those Brougham panels

texas charger if you go the direction of dying tan to black I would suggest using SEM (Landua Black) brand on the soft parts. And I would try to get original black kick panels due to the high volume of foot traffic.
Just my