Fiberglass the dash

[87GMC2WD]

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

[87GMC2WD]

anyone?

[Captkaos]

Seen it done a number of times.  I think there is a post on it here.

[GoatBeard]

Are you talking about doing the whole dash or just the cracks?

[VileZambonie]

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

[87GMC2WD]

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

[Blue Gas]

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.

[VileZambonie]

http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forums/general-discussion/classics/249299-dash.html

[SUX2BU99]

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.

[82k5diesel]

The stuff snowmobile seats are covered with should work great for covering dashes. It has uv protection and holds up to extreme temps.

[Flamingbig10]

I'm also going to fiber glass the dash, I'm going to shave all of the holes except for the vin tag

[87GMC2WD]

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?

[Blue Gas]

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.

[SUX2BU99]

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.

[Captkaos]

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