Dash Pad and wheel. repair part 1 of .....

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66Dvert

Working on my custom car parts again!
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Welp I'm working on a couple of projects for the Wife's dart since the machines or molds to do My parts are not done yet. so I decided to clean up the junkyard find I made in Taylor Michigan and go from there
I started off with a badly cracked pad and a really bad wheel. darn thing was worse than my original one. But since I'm waiting on money and have plenty of time , I went to work.


I trimmed the raised portions of the crack and then held the edges down while I super glued it to hold . after that I used the glue as a filler to raise the cracks to the right level. you don't have to get it perfect if your going to make it a better padded dash but the smoother you get it the better it looks if your just covering the pad in vinyl. there were quite a few cracks in the pad to work through.


the pad!
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this was one of the worst offenders. it took a LOT of work to get that baby down smooth.
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this one is still going to ned a coat or 2 to smooth out.
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these filled and sanded out nice. I took some gkue and mixed in the sanding residue to make it the same color AND then realized I'm not repairing it and then putting it on I fixing the cracks so I can RECOVER it in black vinyl. wasted and hour doing that. DUH!
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couple of hairline cracks that were raised up and looking nasty.
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this crack looked deep and took a lot to fill and smooth but came out good!
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next the sanding and double checking for smoothness so that I can make sure the vinyl goes on Smooth!
 
yeah dang I'd rather have a lot more money than time right about now! but since I don't I decided to fix this busted up steering wheel just to keep me busy.
first 4 are the wheel in it's ugly glory. it broken on the rim ,cracked there too!

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I bead blasted it to get the grung off and to make a good surface for the epoxy to stick. I also angle drilled some small holes into the cracks and broken pieces to better anchor the epoxy. still have to V grove the smaller cracks too!
and here it is with the first coat of PC-7 going on to start the process of repair. there is still a lot of fill work for the cracks but it's stuck together good now.

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A couple more coats or the epoxy in needed places and then the shaping and sanding fun starts!

it's still got a long way to go to look like a steering wheel but it's almost in one piece now.
 
Dang it's been a long time since I updated this thread. but both parts came out nicer than I would have thought

here's some pic's of the pieces


the steering wheel came out GREAT (but it does not match the convertible top color%$#$%$#)
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Same goes for the dash pad didn't color match good and will have to be SEM painted to match the convertible top
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now to find some good dash pad ends that I can make in the right color!


the matching color is really a GM color that I'll have to re-shoot the Steering wheel/column,dash pad,dash top and door tops to match the cars top color

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I didn't see this in 2013, so I would'a thought you just whipped it up! Looks wicked. Nice work and it shows what one can do to save what you have without spending a ton on new parts.
 
I didn't see this in 2013, so I would'a thought you just whipped it up! Looks wicked. Nice work and it shows what one can do to save what you have without spending a ton on new parts.

Thanks
I have wayyyyyy too many irons in the fire to spend money on new when I can spend time on old and make it look good. (plus the money goes for new idea/parts makers supplies):D since my wife tells me I have a LOT more time than money. so I like to spend on supplies for new parts I make instead of parts someone else makes.

I will have to repaint the brown parts on the car to match the buckskin top that is going on the car. So some of the time was wasted but I did learn a lot on my first 2 or 3 tries on the dash pad. and the wheel came out even better than I thought.\

Wait till you see the door panels I'm making since I don't need handles to roll the windows down. they'll be molded with integrated armrest in them to blend into the door/seat arrangement. so far the fronts are formed in sprayfoam and being sanded down to shape and final "look" that "hopefully" can wrap around the door handle and look recessed and good at the same time. so far it's been
1. Spray on
2. sand off to shape
3. look
4. dang it's ugly
and try again
ahhh well nothing nice comes easy to me.
 
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