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Duct tape is exactly what I used, didn't cause any problems. That's a sweet project! Plus I'm sure you could sell some to people who just want an original-ish looking dash because uncracked ones are a premium.
1. Use Great Stuff to fill openings ( Multiple applications needed, tooling required )
2. Fill small voids with fiber reinforced body filler
3. Cover with vinyl or leather. It pays to do some research and get yourself proper auto trimmer supplies. Certainly the contact cement. Hint: weldbond
You will be doing a lot of sanding, please protect yourself accordingly. The best advice I can give: start your covering in the deepest bend you have to deal with. On the early dash pictured its the crotch on the right side of the instrument cluster. Trying to stretch your covering is just about impossible, pulling out a wrinkle from excess material is easy. I learned the hard way.
Any imperfection in the substraight will show through the covering! Take your time and make it right.
No, it is not fun. The finished product is satisfying however.
Dear Kniner: Nice job! really like the looks of y0our dash and the seats..Are those Porsche seats? they look more comfortable than mine do..maybe because they are cloth instead of leather..?..also like the GPS/multiple option display panel instead of the radio..what kind of info will it display?jus wondering...Thanks. Tiger
Thanks Tiger.
The seats are from Summit racing. Not an exact fit but no additional brackets or sliders needed. They sit up slightly higher than the recaros. The side bolsters offer a secure feel compared to stock.
The screen is a double din touch screen CD tuner.
I no longer own this one, only had it long enough to restore and LS swap.
Finally finished everything and got it all installed. Not perfect but a big step up from a cheesy plastic cover IMO. Very satisfied with the fiberglass. I think the next dash I do (which I already have started on) will be fiberglass + vinyl covering to get the best of both worlds. Joey, I'm going to use the same vinyl and contact cement you did.
The next step is to repair the right-hand side of this dash, the foam got a little beat up right before I painted it. That was actually the only area I didn't fiberglass, go figure. I'll probably use bondo and do the best I can, it looks bad in direct sunlight.
i think i asked this of you once but...
what would your cost/turnaround be to just do the repair on the dash (cut out cracks, foam fill, sand smooth...fiberglass if necessary) but no painting or whatever after?
ive done it before and could do it again but i still remember the feeling of being a broke college kid needing income.
I had over 12 hours of labor on the most recent one, before glassing. I'm confident I could do it faster now that I know what works and what doesn't. I would ask for $150 + shipping back for prepping it, $175 with center speaker deleted.
For laying fiberglass, the cost of materials + $20. Sanding... well, I hate sanding FG so dunno.
I'm going to be moving to Houston next month (graduating in May and have a job there now) so what time frame are you looking at? I actually have another dash I started restoring. If you sent a core, I could finish this one up sooner than later.
04-02-2015, 12:07 PM
