Has anyone ditched conventional dash pad........

[badmix]

Aside from the DIY metal dash. Has anyone done like in the pic below.

 

[ryoken]

I did it in my 87, not a first gen...

 

[badmix]

Yea ive got an '84 K5..My dash pad is all cracked, the DIY is too much work for me and like the all metal look.

 

[ryoken]

well, it's a relatively big ordeal due to all the holes in the metal from the factory for the dash foam to "bite" to...

mines pretty heavily modded with the lexan window and the round rod at the back edges...

just the metal, is a bit flimsy.. the round rod really stiffened it up.. but the major hurdle are the holes... some guys'll hack a quickie with a fiberglass layer, or even alum tape on the backsides...

but to do it reasonably right, it's a fairly involved project on the sec gens...



couple pics...

 

[45acpJr]

I'm in the middle of the diy dash install now, honestly it's really not that bad. Mine is taking a little longer due to constant mind changing but all in all it's not that much work IMO

 

[ryoken]

I'd bet the farm it's a lot less time involved than my all metal one above..

 

[dremu]

I've been toying with the idea of removing the foam crap and just doing a coupla layers of fiberglass across the metal.

With a few hundred hours of sanding, it oughta be paintable and come out halfway decent. I donno that my welding skills are such that the all-metal would come out as smooth.

-- A

 

[ryoken]

glass over metal would be vastly easier.... but I really wanted the round rod to keep sh*t from falling into the abyss, etc... plus I'm a masochist apparently...

 

[dremu]

glass over metal would be vastly easier.... but I really wanted the round rod to keep sh*t from falling into the abyss, etc... plus I'm a masochist apparently...

Oh, well, yours will be show-quality. I just want not-sh!t-quality

-- A

 

[ryoken]

glass over metal would be pretty simple.. I'd prolly do 1 layer of 8 oz cloth, followed up by some mat... rough that out with some 80 grit, maybe a skim of mud, or a heavy primer douche, paint...

one thing to be aware of tho is that glass sticking to metal is always an issue.. thus why fiberglass patching rot holes doesn't usually hold up well.. but the fact it would be a full encapsulation, it would prolly hold up pretty well...

 

[big dan]

well, it's a relatively big ordeal due to all the holes in the metal from the factory for the dash foam to "bite" to...

mines pretty heavily modded with the lexan window and the round rod at the back edges...

just the metal, is a bit flimsy.. the round rod really stiffened it up.. but the major hurdle are the holes... some guys'll hack a quickie with a fiberglass layer, or even alum tape on the backsides...

but to do it reasonably right, it's a fairly involved project on the sec gens...



couple pics...

I always love seeing your work. Wish I had the patience and talent to do some of the things you do.

 

[ryoken]

thanks... I'm anxious to get on my next project..

 

[Blue85]

Here's a guy who didn't even pull off the foam, but fully restored the dash using fiberglass and some spray texture stuff: http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268551&page=20

 

[muddermilitia]

Here's a guy who didn't even pull off the foam, but fully restored the dash using fiberglass and some spray texture stuff: http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268551&page=20

Wow, that turned out really good!

 

[ryoken]

Here's a guy who didn't even pull off the foam, but fully restored the dash using fiberglass and some spray texture stuff: http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268551&page=20

just be aware that vinyl isn't exactly the best substrate for fiberglass to be on top of... I'd be a bit leary of what sunny heat cycles will do to it.. that said, looks great freshly done...