Anyone esle try this?

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4mulaSvaliant

4mulaSvaliant

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Im sure I am not the first to have tried this, but after several attempts at trying to salvage my dash pad, I am on my last ditch attempt. I first filled all the cracks with JB Weld, and the sanded theat back down to being flush. Problem there is, that it will still separate and I figured it may happen. Well only one hot night in the garage proved that to be true. So as I said I am on my last idea before I have to break down and get a new one.
Yesterday, in my garage pushing 95 degrees, I decided to apply fiber glass over the pad. This is mainly in an attempt to have one soid surface all the way across, this way it wont crack. Well I let it set up and rough sanded it last night and it actually came out pretty well. I have more sanding and shaping to do But I think it'll work for my daily driver.

Anyhow, has anyone else done this and if so what were your results?
 
So now that you have a solid surface are you going to paint it? It sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I bought a core from my local yard for $5 and was thinking about putting a cap on it or some vinyl that I bought for my door panels. I think if I go with the vinyl I'll have to fill in the cracks like you did with your fiberglass.
 
Yeah i was going to cover mine with some vinyl, but it became too time consuming and I dont have the best sewwing skills. But to answer your question , yes I plan on painting it, and since its fiberglass it should stick just fine. I hope lol
 
Hey sounds like a plan,I have heard of people using the two part bumper epoxy to fix dashes before.But not JB yet..Might just work ok
 
There`s an upholstery shop in Hampton called Howells and they cover those pads in a very elastic vinyl and glue it in place. Looks near original! I think they use bondo for repair first.
 
Hey thx LG, if this doesnt work I guess that will be my next step. As for pics, sorry guys I forgot I dont have my camera right now. However, I did leave the dash pad in the car today with a coat of paint on it.The temperature here was around 90-95 today and Im sure it was much hotter in the car. I checked to see how it was holding up. I had only put one layer of matting on it so far and because of it, the pad is still "soft" about like it was originally. I think Ill be putting another layer of matt on it just because of the imperfections in the first coat.
As I said it was hot here yesterday too and the resin set off very quickly, so I didnt have much work time with it. Ill be sure to mix it a little less "hot" and try to get through the whole pad with just one mix this time.
As for pictures, I will get some up soon but unfortunately it will be of a finished product because I want to finish this soon and have to borrow a camera. Unfortunately I wasnt able to work on it tonight either so, we'll have to wait til' tomorrow for more info. Ill get some pics up tomorrow night aswell.
Later guys
 
This also works well.....works well because the dash is made of basiclly foam.

A friend of mine had a badly cracked dash and tried a product called "Great Stuff" (sold in hardware stores.) It's basiclly used for cracks around pipes for insulations. It's a liquid spray foam that fills any hole or crack. It expands and hardens quickly while bonding (I mean really bonds hard). Any "high" surface left from the expanding foam can be cut off with a sharp razer blade then lighty sanded.

Just an idea!

Dow_Great_Stuff_Insulating_Foam_Sealant_Gaps_Cracks-resized200.jpg


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use the plastic bumper repair epoxy,available at autobody and paint supply stores,very flexible and wont seperate in the sun,I'm in florida and we got plenty of that!!!!if you buy one of the caps they sell,use 3m window weld to hold the cap in place,the stuff they give you aint to good it's just silicone.good luck to you guys.
 
I went out and spent 140.00 on a new camera for this reason! LMAO


OK so here is where it stands as of now. I fell asleep at freakin 7:30 last night on the couch, so I have not gotten any further than the last update.
Here it is with just one layer of matt and some primer and paint. I knew I was going to sand it off but I wanted to see whether the color was going to look ok. Ill be putting a second coat of glass on it in the next few days.

(provided the old man syndrom doesnt hit me again at 7:30):toothy10:

You can see where the cracks were but, I think with a second coat it will be firm enough to put body filler in any places that still look bad. Not only that, but it may not need any since Ill be able to sand the next layer.

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I don`t know what you started with but that`s looking really good, just small imperfections to get filled. Lot`s of good ideas on this thread.
 
I used stuff like Jimmyboy suggests. It'll be easier on the braincase if I should need the dash to stop it from flopping around.
 
Ok so I have been busy with life! Anyhow I got back to it today and have put a 2nd coat of glass on it. Here are the pictures after I sanded the paint back off so the new layer would stick. You can see why I wasnt so excited about how it looked after the first coat. There are many divits and whatnot. But as I said it should be stable enough after this coat to go ahead and bondo any small imperfections that are left. I think this will turn out well when finished.

dash 001.jpg


dash 002.jpg
 
HMMMMM, Send dash and life savings off to J.D. (Im sure they do great work)to get recovered just so it can harden up and recrack over the years IF it survives the trip back to me. OR!!! goto parts store, wally world or anywhere else that sells fiberglass and bondo, redo dash my self in a weekend, repaint it any color I want, and not worry about any cracks or holes again...HMMMMMM :cheers::thumblef:
 
Looks really good...now you got me thinking. There is also a bondo with fiberglass hairs in it. This works well because the hairs reinforce it. It is called kitty hair i think. They also have one with more hair that is tiger hair. I used to fo the Fiberglass custom enclosures for people until i got tired of all the bs and work that went into each one....(nightmare amount of work)
Evercoat makes great products and seemed to work the best.

just my .02 for the next person thinking of doing this

Justin
 
Good Thinking on the tiger hair stuff. I have used it before, and if you can get it to stick to the old vinyl, I dont see why it wouldnt work. I think if I did it again Id try that!
Well I went out to the garage this morning before leaving for work and the pad looks good. Its solid enough to put bondo on, so after the yard sale tommorow Ill try to get back to this thing. Ill keep yall' posted with more pics.
 
Well here it is. I got back to this project this morning and it pretty well took all day to get it done. The humidity here didnt help drying times on the body filler or the paint coats. Nor did it help the sanding of the body filler. I went through sooooo much sand paper today because it was clogging up.
So I started by doing a bit more sanding on the 2nd coat of fiber glass then I went on to applying the body filler. As I said it was a pain to sand it because of the humidity, but I got through it and of course needed a second coat of filler.
So after I managed to flatten everything out and get all the edges looking good, I sprayed some filler primer and let it dry for a good while. Because I had so many issues with the moisture, I decided to wet sand the sanding primer. It worked out very well. I used 400grit to wet sand the primer. After that I applyed some decent sealer primer, not for any other reason than its what I had lying around. I once again wet sanded the primier but this time I was forced to do so because of my own stupidity. I thought the primerwas dry and touched it and left some prints in it. This time I used 800 grit. Then AT LAST, I was able to spray the final color. I will spray it some more tommorow but I ran outta' paint. Either way I am pretty happy with the outcome.

Pro's:
1. I did it myself, which I pride myself on doing as much as I possibly can on my own!
2. Cheaper than the alternatives.
3. Very durable.
4. Can paint it ANY color you want with normal paints, dont have to use vinyl dyes
5. You control the outcome, rather than being stuck with what ever you purchased because thats all thats out there.


Con's:
1. Time it takes to complete it (however I am a perfectionist)
2. No vinyl patern (if you need or like that)
3. A little harder than the original (not a big deal to me)
4. I would imagine that the starting condition would have plenty to do with the outcome. I had a pretty heavily cracked piece, but 99.95% of the vinyl was there, so I didnt have to glass directly over the foam other than a few small spots.
Over all I am thrilled with it for my daily driver type build.

Good luck to all that try it.:cheers:

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Just a thought, I have a friend that works with leather. He sold me some black stock to re-do an arm rest. If you can get access to some soak it and stretch it over the repaired piece and tie it tight under the dash. work out all the wrinkles, let it dry and it should turn out perfect...well that what he tells me!

Just saw your pictures, looks great, You did a beautiful job!
 
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