73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Interior & Equipment => Topic started by: 87GMC2WD on June 23, 2009, 04:28:14 pm
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hey everyone,
My dash is cracked. big suprise huh? well i was thinking about taking a die grinder and knocking down the areas that are kind of cracked and sticking up and putting some glass down along with some nice epoxy then painting it? just wondering if anyone has done this and has some advice? I do have a decent dash out of another truck that has minor cracks in it. this would just be a spare time mess around job for fun.
Thanks,
Kyle
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anyone?
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Seen it done a number of times. I think there is a post on it here.
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Are you talking about doing the whole dash or just the cracks?
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It's easy. Just get some sand paper and fiberglass resin. Just keep in mind if you paint it glossy it may blind you in the sunlight. Google fiberglass dash and you'll probably find several how to's
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definitly the whole thing. and good point about the gloss, that would suck. i have personally never seen it done or heard about someone doing it, of course im the only one i know whos into this kind of stuff at my age. but i guess google sounds good
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I'm in the process of doing the same thing to mine, except im going to try to cover it with vinyl. I started out thinking I could just v-cut the cracks and fill them up with Kitty Hair without having to fiberglass the whole dash. Well about two weeks after I got all the cracks filled, I noticed that the original vinyl on the dash had expanded due the heat and was buckling against the filler everywhere there had been a crack. So I stripped all of the original vinyl off with a pair of pliers leaving only the foam. Whenever I get time I'm going to somehow cover the whole dash with fleece, fiberglass it, sand it smooth and cover it with vinyl. Good luck with yours, I'd like to see some pics of when your done. Sorry about the long post.
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http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forums/general-discussion/classics/249299-dash.html
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Blue Gas has the right idea. Strip off the vinyl, or even keep it on there if you like. But wrapping it with another material to soak in the resin is the key item. Fleece would stretch over the shape of the dash well and can soak in a lot of resin to make it strong. You wouldn't want to just soak resin into the foam as it would probably eat the foam. The painted dash Vile linked to looks completely awesome. High maintenance (think of a black paint job), but awesome. Looks really smooth too and not full of waves or dips. Wonder how much body work was done to it to smooth it.
A person could strip the vinyl and re-vinyl it too if they don't want the hard surface of resined fleece. You can get very stretchy automotive vinyls that stretch nicely when heated with a heat gun. The dash shape isn't overly complicated to stretch some vinyl on, especially the flatter 81-up dash pads.
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The stuff snowmobile seats are covered with should work great for covering dashes. It has uv protection and holds up to extreme temps.
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I'm also going to fiber glass the dash, I'm going to shave all of the holes except for the vin tag
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r316/flamingc10/IMAG1705.jpg)
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r316/flamingc10/IMAG1706.jpg)
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so blue gas, what are you using for fleece, can you go to a arts and craft store and pick a roll up? then how willl you hold it tight when you go to put the glass down?
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I am going to get the fleece at a local upholstery shop, it is the same type that is used to make fiberglass sub enclosures. As far as keeping the fleece pulled tight when I go to put the resin on, I plan on using either duck tape or some good adhesive to secure it to the metal frame. It still likes a ways to go before it's ready for the fleece, and I still like a ways to go before Im ready for the fiberglass itch.
(http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww156/warriorcreekhotrods/Picture004.jpg)
(http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww156/warriorcreekhotrods/Picture005.jpg)
(http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww156/warriorcreekhotrods/Picture006.jpg)
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You could hold the fleece tight in a variety of ways. You could use large, strong fold-back binder clips held to a metal edge on the underside, or wrapping it up underneath and using like you said a strong glue to hold it in place. Just don't get the resin on any glued portion since most glues let go when resin touches them (except hot glue but that usually doesn't hold so tight). Polar fleece is good for stretching and soaking up resin. Whatever means you use, it just has to hold tight until the resin dries. YOu can then do some edges or non-soaked areas afterwards.
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Here is one members:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=8888.15
Here is Travis' discussion:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=8989.15
Here is another one:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=10429.0
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I am going to get the fleece at a local upholstery shop, it is the same type that is used to make fiberglass sub enclosures. As far as keeping the fleece pulled tight when I go to put the resin on, I plan on using either duck tape or some good adhesive to secure it to the metal frame. It still likes a ways to go before it's ready for the fleece, and I still like a ways to go before Im ready for the fiberglass itch.
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If you don't plan to change the shape of the dash any then there is no need for the fleece. All that does is provide a skeleton to build on. You can just lay the fiberglass directly on the dash.
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im not planning on changing it at all. I was trying to think of some ways to do the speaker covers, but i havent even started yet so i still have a ways to go before that. thanks
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Just drill some holes in it after you are done, or find some old speaker covers or new ones and build them into the dash.
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I am going to get the fleece at a local upholstery shop, it is the same type that is used to make fiberglass sub enclosures. As far as keeping the fleece pulled tight when I go to put the resin on, I plan on using either duck tape or some good adhesive to secure it to the metal frame. It still likes a ways to go before it's ready for the fleece, and I still like a ways to go before Im ready for the fiberglass itch.
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If you don't plan to change the shape of the dash any then there is no need for the fleece. All that does is provide a skeleton to build on. You can just lay the fiberglass directly on the dash.
Directly on what though? The vinyl? Could do, but it may not stick that well to it. Might not be much of an issue though. The foam will disintegrate from the resin and you could lay the mat right down onto the bare metal dash, but at least the fleece would smooth out some shape areas. The metal dash that Flambingbig10 posted has lots of holes to fill in before covering over with mat. I guess with enough layers, the mat could fill over the holes.
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You definately have to pull the vinyl off because it won't stick to that. I don't know what the dash looks like without the vinyl on it so there may be some holes to fill. In the previous pictures it looked the holes had been filled in with sheet metal. I just wanted to point out that if you have a solid structure to work with and don't need to add shape then there is no reason for fleece.
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(http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww156/warriorcreekhotrods/Picture006.jpg)
I was referencing this pic
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This all seems pretty crazy to me. Did you give consideration to just buying a new dash, or one of those coverlay dash covers? I hear you can't tell the difference between them, and a new dash.
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just something to do in the spare time, if you can ever find any
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Saw this in the thread that Vile posted. *Drool*
(http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/micreso/100_0451.jpg)
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Seems like a much better design, too.
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I love the look of that glassed dash board. seems like it would be hard to get that finish though with my capabilities though