My dash repair build (56k beware)HaHa

[trustyrusty]

Well I finally got tired of looking at my "swiss cheese" looking dash, and decided to put a new spin on an old eyesore. I wanted to make a dash like the one Kert sells but with an integrated console. But funds are in short supply and I really need a new welder too.
First off let me say sorry for not taking any before pics.
I started out removing what was left of the speaker areas (all 3 of them) and removing all the banana peels where it was cracked. I then filled the voids with some expanding foam. When that dried I cut the foam to a little below the surrounding surface to accommodate some woven glass cloth. Then I coated the whole thing with resin and added the cloth to the foamed areas and built those areas up with a little extra resin. While all that was setting along with the extra pint still in the bucket ( I always mix too damn much) I set off to replace the rear window sash, guide channels and outside weather strip, Oh yeah and fix(straighten) the latch handle rod. I'm sooooo glad that is over, will not speak further on the subject so don't ask.
Back to the dash(3hrs later) I broke out the DA and went to town smoothing things out. Found a few high spots in the dash itself and just burnt through them. I will hit it with a second coat of resin tomorrow just to fill some of the low spots and to stiffen the whole thing up some more before moving onto bondo. Here are the pic's just after sanding the first coat of resin.
UNDERSIDE

TOP

 

[stockk5]

you put your pics next to each other.. wanna fix em to put em under them under each other? looks great. i took my dash off today and wish i coulda figured out a way to fix it! Maybe ill try it w/ my spare dash. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[tRustyK5]

They ran vertical for me, but I threw in some spaces between em to make sure. better now?

Rene

 

[trustyrusty]

They ran vertical for me, Rene

Same here, but from now on I will do a return between them.

 

[stockk5]

much better!

 

[76zimmer]

Uh, nice work bench for the tools

I gotta see how this turns out , do you plan on skimming the whole outer skin with fiberglass then bondo?

 

[trustyrusty]

do you plan on skimming the whole outer skin with fiberglass then bondo?

You hit the nail on he head. Going to encase the whole thing in glass in order to stiffen it and to "hopefully" prevent more cracking. Then smooth it all out with bondo & spot filler to make it ready for primer and paint.I will be going with the same "oxblood" color but in a metallic.
I am up in the air if I am going to use the side speaker areas again.(would mean drilling nice little holes that are symmetrical) Or possibly building up the area with some forms to mount them in kinda a crossfire pattern (ie: up against pillars facing each other)

 

[mrwilliamsburg33]

Very Nice... I've been thinking about doing this... thanks for the ideas... and pictures. Keep the pictures coming

 

[trustyrusty]

will do
Headed out now to do a little more sanding and another(more uniform) coat of resin.
More pics this evening.

 

[398HBX]

Can't wait to see the final product!

 

[trustyrusty]

Few more pic's.
Didn't get much done yesterday as I had to stop early for a morphine break. I so wish I could make it through a full day without the stuff, but it looks like that may never be the case.
Anyhoo, I found a couple of spots where I didn't do a good prep job on that failed to bond properly and had to fix that issue before moving on.(peeled off loose resin, cleaned w/lacquer thinner and reapplied more resin).
After that had set up enough I re-coated the entire thing with a second coat. While waiting for that to set up I did some wire organization and dressing in the engine bay. Removed multiple 1/4" wire looms and combined into larger (3/8 & 1/2) looms.
Back to the dash which had now sat 2hrs. medium sanded the 2nd coat(not smooth but brought it to where it looked like an orange peel) Broke out the can of BondoGlass and hit a couple areas that were low and reformed the edge in front of the center speaker area.
That is all I could handle for the day. Went in, took my pills and "crashed" in my recliner.

 

[dremu]

This is why my projects never get this kind of treatment ... it's "lather. rinse. repeat." like 5000 times. Sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill ... god, I just don't have the patience for it. I to those who do.

-- A

 

[djtejas]

Looks cool...

I repaired my dash pad using the epoxy urethane bumper repair adhesive and fiberglass cloth to cover the cracks and speaker holes.
Then I used bedliner to cover everything. Lightly sanded it, but not completely smooth so that it gave the similar grain finish like original.
And painted it with vinyl paint.
It turned out pretty good for a first time...I could do better if I did it again. I may touch it up a bit where I didn't quite sand it well enough in spots.

I wish I had taken pics during the process, but pics of before and after are in my profile.

 

[Miller75]

Here's a tip mix fiberglass resin with bondo to a milkshake consistency then add the hardener either hardener will work...This creates a material that is easy to sand and holds it shape...Done this many times for finish work on speaker boxes and interior body panels...

 

[trustyrusty]

Here's a tip mix fiberglass resin with bondo to a milkshake consistency then add the hardener either hardener will work...This creates a material that is easy to sand and holds it shape...Done this many times for finish work on speaker boxes and interior body panels...

Thanks for the tip will give it a try, but not on this project as I am pretty much down to the final stages. pic's a little later this am. 4:15am is a little early for getting pic's up, if ya know what I mean.

 

[ryoken]

Here's a tip mix fiberglass resin with bondo to a milkshake consistency then add the hardener either hardener will work...This creates a material that is easy to sand and holds it shape...Done this many times for finish work on speaker boxes and interior body panels...

or you could use a proper thickening agent... cabosil is cheap...

 

[Craig Artzner]

this is a neat idea. subscribed.

 

[EIB8400]

 

[KansasTwister]

Why cover the speaker holes? I think when i build mine, I want to have removable speaker covers like the 88-98s had, rather than having to take the dash off for the speaker work, of course i dont use a center speaker (but thought it might work for a external cb speaker)

 

[DrkZide]

Why cover the speaker holes? I think when i build mine, I want to have removable speaker covers like the 88-98s had, rather than having to take the dash off for the speaker work, of course i dont use a center speaker (but thought it might work for a external cb speaker)

I was thinking of doing the same thing. Except I was thinking of looking into how much space is wasted under the dash, maybe make another glove box above the original. And fix my original since the second I hit a good bump it flings wide open.