DIY early dashboard restoration megathread
Edit 1/18/2015: for anyone following the steps I used: be warned that I haven't really tested it in the direct sunlight for long periods of time (edit 8/25/25, the dash is holding up still), so don't put too much faith in this procedure until the tests are in. The center speaker delete method I used turned out to be no good - see page 2. Do NOT use truck bed liner!! In fact, I wouldn't recommend using anything except foam and paint/texturizer. I know the steps I used say to use undercoating, but there's a chance this can cause bubbling in high temps.
Edit 3/6/2015: I'm changing the OP so it's oriented more toward prepping the dash moreso than toward complete start-to-finish resto. Edit 8/25/2015: The fiberglass dash has held up for the entire TX summer, being parked outside with interior temps routinely hitting 120+ F. One of the most aggravating things about the 924/944.1 interior has to be the dash, uncracked examples are pretty rare. I have a dash cap on mine and it warped after a week in the Texas sun, plus having a plastic overlay (or even worse, a carpet) on the dash just makes the whole interior look cheap. I had an extra dash sitting around and attempted to refurbish it - no stitching or gluing involved, and well under $50. This post is going to seem a bit long-winded, because there are a lot of details and small nuggets of useful info that determine the quality of the finished product. So sorry in advance for the textual assault and seemingly endless steps. This is how I did my dash, there are probably many other ways, I'm sure many are superior. Please leave comments for improvements to this! I've never done anything even close to this before, so this is basically me fumbling through a dash restore. This approach is a compromise - it's not going to look as good as a new dash, but also isn't expensive, and can look really nice if you are willing to put in the man-hours to refine it. I have about 16 hours invested personally. The final product heavily depends on the work invested. Garbage in, garbage out. I also want to make a note about deleting the center speaker. I did it on mine and it easily doubled the amount of work. It's still not perfect, a keen eye will spot small flaws when studied up close. I'm sure many of you could do it better and without as much time investment, but be aware that it can be really aggravating to get it all level and seamless. Some integrated gauges would be an awesome addition, if I repeat this job I'm going to go that route. Edit: don't delete the center speaker using foam, see pg 2. Materials
Material Properties
Basic Steps
These are the steps broken down, and with pictures. If any of these pics ever go offline, PM me and I'll relink. The dash I started with... cracked as usual. Remove all vents and plastic trim pieces. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...a0a719754.jpeg I HIGHLY recommend peeling off the vinyl before proceeding. I did this job twice on the same dash. Run #1 was with the vinyl on, and it was way better after I took it off. As such, a lot of the graphics in this post are from the run where the vinyl is still on.
That's all I have so far! Ask any detailed questions if you have any, and of course share any tips to refine this messy and repetitive process. I would say that if I knew all of this beforehand, I could have done it in half the time. And certainly a lot less if I didn't delete the center speaker. Here's an album with all the pictures I used in high res. (pictures from later in the process not in there.) _________________________________________ Just so you can see what it looks like using undercoating/texturizer/paint, here are the steps I took out from the original post: Apply rubberized coating Dust it off and give it a good coating. Not too thick, but not a light coat either. You don't want it to bead up and drip. This picture is the best one I have for this step, it's a little more refined than it normally would be at this step because it was taken later on: https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...3a8e28fb8.jpeg When it dries, you will be able to see the seams and many imperfections. These will be fixed by applying very thin coats of foam and refining them to be smooth. Repeat until desired level of finish is obtained This is 95%+ of the time you'll be investing - waiting for stuff to dry, and reapplying. Apply thin layers of foam (tooling it as per above) directly onto the undercoating. This seems weird, and the truth is that I discovered it by mistake. I mentioned previously that the vinyl makes it hard to get a seamless finish, but the undercoating 'consolidates' the surface in a way. When this is lightly sanded, the seams disappear. Additionally, the foam bonds very well to the undercoating, and the sanding allows to make the transition very smooth: https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...6348aebd7.jpeg Here are some pictures from my project. I probably did 10 cycles, it was annoying but I'm glad I put in the effort. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...320307ef3.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...b785def7b.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...119cfd535.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...fbbae8719.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...8f3512fbe.jpeg |
This is awesome! Thanks for the write up.
I've been wanting to make a fiberglass or CF race dash for my car that has the form of the original dash. I think this process to fill the cracks, holes, and vents, plus some bondo and a glossy coat of paint would be perfect to pull a mold off of. I have to say I hate working with expanding foam though. Nasty stuff. I have heard the green foam that is used to pot fake plants can be shaped easily and maybe could be used to fill larger holes. I'm not sure if it's density would be a good choice for spiffing up an old dash like you did but for my purpose it may work well to fill holes and create a "console" extension down to the tunnel for switches. |
I saw your post on Facebook.
I planned on doing this over the summer regardless using the dash out of my parts car, but your writeup helps A LOT. BTW, you have one of the nicest early cars I've seen IMO. |
Originally Posted by RoyaleWithCheese
(Post 11915746)
This is awesome! Thanks for the write up.
I've been wanting to make a fiberglass or CF race dash for my car that has the form of the original dash. I think this process to fill the cracks, holes, and vents, plus some bondo and a glossy coat of paint would be perfect to pull a mold off of. I have to say I hate working with expanding foam though. Nasty stuff. I have heard the green foam that is used to pot fake plants can be shaped easily and maybe could be used to fill larger holes. I'm not sure if it's density would be a good choice for spiffing up an old dash like you did but for my purpose it may work well to fill holes and create a "console" extension down to the tunnel for switches.
Originally Posted by Parawhore
(Post 11916043)
I saw your post on Facebook.
I planned on doing this over the summer regardless using the dash out of my parts car, but your writeup helps A LOT. BTW, you have one of the nicest early cars I've seen IMO. |
|
I'm curious as to how well the center speaker hole fill-in holds up. That's a big area, and with thermal expansion/contraction etc of the two materials, only time will tell!
|
Great work Mike!
Thanks for the walkthrough. |
Wow, fabulous work M....
|
Originally Posted by Spidey944
(Post 11917631)
I'm curious as to how well the center speaker hole fill-in holds up. That's a big area, and with thermal expansion/contraction etc of the two materials, only time will tell!
Originally Posted by joeystanker
(Post 11918718)
Great work Mike!
Thanks for the walkthrough. |
The car is going great Mike.
I refurbed the back hatch area. I light sanded out the surface rust in the spare tire area, primed, and repainted. I even cleaned up the spare and painted it in the color scheme of the Fuchs. I also cleaned up the wiring back there (Bundled it into conduit from Frys) and installed those tail light sockets you gave me (Thank You). I also replaced the sound deadening with new stuff. This inspired me to get in front and do the same. I'm pulling my dash to refurb it like you. I am prying up the old dash cap and finding a demolished dash. I am going to fix it. I'm cleaning up wiring along the way. Re-ran the power to the Car stereo and now it doesn't cut out. I have been deleting the old car alarm as I find it. I'll get the rest of the interior out re-sound deaden the whole thing. Thanks for the news on the clock and thanks for looking, I'll get one. Cheers, Joey |
Great job! Looks awesome
|
That is a very impressive job! The before to the current pics show a huge undertaking with stellar results. I am in the process of doing an 85.5 dash. I grabbed a kit from Classic 9 but didn't read the direction correctly pertaining to the defrost vents. Now I will get another donor dash to complete the project. (I cut way too much material off and do not want to try to recreate defrost vents from scratch) The instructions say to use fiberglass body filler (Or flexible body filler) on the cracks but I like the foam approach better - I have already noticed a crack in my repairs. I have ground out the crack with a die grinder and thoroughly cleaned the area, but still doesn't seem nearly flexible enough. I am going to test out a SEM flexible filler (like bumper repair) if I can find it locally. Hope to post pics of my project soon. Thanks for sharing some great pics and ideas - cheers!
|
Originally Posted by Scottmyl
(Post 11926712)
That is a very impressive job! The before to the current pics show a huge undertaking with stellar results. I am in the process of doing an 85.5 dash. I grabbed a kit from Classic 9 but didn't read the direction correctly pertaining to the defrost vents. Now I will get another donor dash to complete the project. (I cut way too much material off and do not want to try to recreate defrost vents from scratch) The instructions say to use fiberglass body filler (Or flexible body filler) on the cracks but I like the foam approach better - I have already noticed a crack in my repairs. I have ground out the crack with a die grinder and thoroughly cleaned the area, but still doesn't seem nearly flexible enough. I am going to test out a SEM flexible filler (like bumper repair) if I can find it locally. Hope to post pics of my project soon. Thanks for sharing some great pics and ideas - cheers!
I have a friend's late dash a couple hours away and the Great Stuff foam I used is a decent match for the late dash foam material below the vinyl. Especially when you tool it and manually deflate it with finger pressure (I have a blurb on that in the OP). https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...994bf6164c.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...b021182ed7.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...2f3513c3da.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...10830d9bb7.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...0f5beccc24.jpg |
We really need to finish my dash!
|
Originally Posted by admiralkhole
(Post 11933798)
We really need to finish my dash!
|
All times are GMT -3. The time now is 09:56 PM. |
© 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands