Similar to flagcraig, I also bought the ABS core dash pad from Year One using a 30% off coupon. I agonized over the decision for a number of months. I read horror stories about the metal core reproductions having fitment issues and about Just Dashes being too puffy and incorrect graining. The shipping on the ABS Year One pad was not terrible and I decided I would try it and just eat the shipping cost and send it back if it was really sub-par. Also, I did not want to give up my original pad as a core. My pad is a non a/c pad.
Out of the box, the dash seemed nice and the fitment looked decent. During actual installation, I ran into many of the same types of issues you hear about on the metal core pad.
1. I had to shave the base of the speaker grate so it would sit flush with the top of the pad.
2. I had to cut the vinyl back and remove padding in a few of the areas where the pad matched up against trim.
3. I had to use a heat gun to reshape the lower dash moldings to line up with the pad contour.
4. I had to remove padding in way of the light bar area.
Overall, I was able to get the pad to fit nicely. It took me about 8 hours to get it to where I was happy though,...
There are two areas I cannot fix.
1. There is a very slight indentation around the left side of the dash where they imprinted the relief for the Barracuda emblem. It is slight, and you do need to be looking for it, but I know it is there and my eye draws to it. I tried working it out with a heat gun, but I could not get it any better.
2. Where the side of the dash meets the metal side of the dash frame on the passenger side, the area covered by the door, there is a slight gap.
All in all, it is good pad in my eyes, but not better than that. However, most people who have seen it comment on how beautiful it is. My car will be garaged and mostly driven early morning and evening. We will see how it holds up against warping. My plan is to use it as is for the time being and then likely have my original restored by Just Dashes if I have movement issues, but I want to see the work they do first hand prior to going with them.
Best of luck with the decision!
