Hideous Dashboard Restoration Attempt.
 

While the car is in the paint shop, I decided to take a stab at recovering my dashboard. The previous owner had installed one of those awful plastic covers, and I wasn't sure what to expect when I removed it. Unfortunately he glued it down with liquid nails, and already tough job even worse. So, here is my attempt to restore this dashboard. It may not work, but I'm going to give it a shot.

First I have to work on removing the glue and just get down to bare vinyl.

Then, I have to work on structural integrity by epoxying the dash back together.

Then I've got to fill the giant foam holes (suggestions wanted!) with something, fix the mounting tabs, smooth the dash out with filler, and finally re-cover with leather or 4 way vinyl.

Wish me luck. And all tips welcome.

Gross pictures below.

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Hi Michael.
I don't know a nice way to say this, but I think you should consider finding a replacement dash. What you have left is close to beyond repair. Anything can be fixed given enough time and money, but you might be way ahead going another route.
Good luck,
Dave

All I can say is Lakewell.

Order a Lakewell ASAP and hopefully you'll have it before you have to put the car back together.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going in. After an hour with a heat gun, the glue is 99% gone.

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I found a good set of YouTube videos that gives me a bit of hope. Next step, epoxy for structural integrity.

https://youtu.be/1QcxmFGZoJQ


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Nice improvement. Just maybe...
Good luck,
Dave

WOW, that is a shame. Good luck with the restoration. Just a thought but you may want to put the dash back in the car before you start making any rigid structural repairs. I would hate to see you do all this work and then it won't lay flat

Good call!


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High density minimal expanding foam for sealing cracks in homes works well for the foam replacement. Sand and then smooth with rubber bumper filler.
Worked on mine.

The distress look is all the rage in furniture, but I don't think it's quite there for dashboards, just yet.

The bottom of this page http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/820521-torsional-rigidity-measurement-warning-pseudoscience-involved-12.html has some pics of how I did it. I think I forgot to take pics of the final padding and Alcantara installation.

After these pics I layed 2 layers of fiberglass mat and skimmed with bodyfiller to make the dash surface flat as bodywork. Then 1/8" open-celled automotive upholstery foam, then the alcantara.

Wow this is amazing, with all the great products out there he used Liquid Nails.
My 73 came with a cover and I've been afraid to see what lies beneath... After seeing this I think I'll wait a little longer to find out lol.
Good luck with the restore and thanks for posting.

slowroller as emptyo unfortunately found out a little late, a heat gun will relax the liquid nails enough to remove the overlay with out damage to the dash board. This method is used to loose glues of all types including epoxies in furniture restoration. Heat the cover and slowly lift with your hand, but do not pull. Let the heat relax the glue. Your are only applying enough tension so the cover lifts as the glue relaxes at it's own rate.

Patina!

Yea, that would have been the smart play. Live and learn!


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emptyo- I know there are several recommendations on what to use to fill and repair the gauges and cracks and will probably work. I would suggest however, after you reinstall the dash. It doesn't have to be perfectly installed but close enough to get the shape needed. I would suggest repairing with a thickened epoxy such as West System six/10 which is pre-thickened or System 3's T-88. You will need to thicken the T-88. You can run a belt sander across a piece oak for a minute or so to create all the sanding dust you will need to thicken. Thicken to about the consistency of peanut butter. The thickened epoxies will do two things, glue the pieces together and also build up the surface. Both epoxies can easily be sanded to shape and another layer added over top to build thickness if needed. The other benefit is they will not attack the foam as could happen with some other products that may contain acetone or similar.

I've never heard of thickening epoxy that way. That is some ninja sh#t @drcoastline! Thanks.


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No problem. Google it. Thickened epoxy is used on cold molded and foam core boat building. I recommended oak because it is easy to get an old chunk but you could use just about anything. There are commercial additives as well but for the little bit you are doing they will be expensive. All the thickening will do in your application is give the epoxy some body so it won't sag until it sets up. You can do with out but then you will need to apply multiple layers. Thickening will save you time.

Yes I used West 205 on mine to fill in the cracks and holes, and applied just enough to get it up to the surface height again. I would think that the sawdust would be OK to thicken but I used milled fiber (flox) and cabosil to thicken mine as I had the materials on hand.
After letting that harden for about 2 days, sanded so that it had the right shape with the dash and then bondo to fill in the small voids left.
Oh and anyplace the dash was cracked through to the back I also ass some of that splooge mixture on the back side by the cracks.

I think this dash can be repaired.

Terry

I think so too! And if not...I'll get another one. :)

:eek:

Terry, now that is a trick that I bet some folks would pay good money to see video of!

:D

The SIX/10 is pre-thickened so no additives are needed. On a dash I would steer away from both the milled fibers and the cabosil as they are both designed to add strength to the epoxy. Pure epoxy is plenty strong for this application and far stronger than the material it is bonding. The dash will fail loooong before the epoxy. In this application the only purpose of a filler is to ad body to the epoxy to fill faster. In addition both the fibers and cabosil will cure very hard and will be difficult to sand due to the hardness. This could become an issue as the dash will be much softer and will sand much easier. The harder epoxy will stand proud and create a noticeable ridge. I suggested oak only because it is a low oil wood and can be had free. The only expenditure is a few minutes on a sander to create the dust. A better application might be balsa dust much softer also low oils. As I said just about anything can be used to create the body to keep the epoxy from slumping. As crazy as it sounds things such as paper out of your shredder or dryer lint. Both would suspend the epoxy until cured and would be easily sanded.

dash repair
 

I first removed all cracked pieces and beveled the edges. Then I used flexible bumper repair to cove the bad areas. After that I had an upholstery shop cover with vinyl. It turned out very nice.

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I picked up the Six/10, but I've been at a conference all week! Stay tuned...


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Good skills!!!

Ok, time for an update. Was at a conference all week. I've just dremeled out any major cracks in an effort to let the epoxy sit flush with the dash. The first priority is to get structural integrity before I work on building up the phone again and sanding into the final shape before the leather or vinyl is applied. Again, I have no idea if this will work but I'm going to give it a shot.

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I'm going to be doing an instagram live video of the epoxy if you want to check it out: http://instagram.com/_rennch_


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Well, it ain't pretty, but it feels pretty effective. I had a real challenge with the corner piece that had broken off trying to keep it lined up, but I held it in place while I put on thin layers of Epoxy and hit it with the heat gun, so would cure the epoxy quite quickly.

Instead of feeling "floppy" in my hands, it feels really solid now. I will give it a day to cure, then will start working on the expanding foam.


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Looks good empty, I think you did a great job. Now that it is all glued back together and sound switch over to body filler. As explained above the epoxy is going to be harder than the surrounding dash. You will run the risk of sanding the dashboard before the epoxy. The body filler is designed to be sanded and will sand before the dash. Use the filler to get your shape. Of course scuff your epoxy so the filler will stick and take it slightly below the dash surface so you can build up the filler to the finished surface.

Looking good.

Wow! Have not read through posts M... Just looked at pics. That's a fine project to dive into. Looking forward to see where you take this. There is dash media that will work for that. Been a long time since I used so forgot brand.

After the initial sanding, I am pretty pleased with the outcome. It's starting to look like a dashboard again!

Today I'm going to use the expanding foam to fix the large gaps. Then I will use some body filler to smooth out any uneven spots and give it another sanding.

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Have you considered RTV, :eek:
you can get a real smooth finish by using an ice cube.
I have fixed cracked dashes this way many times.

What is rtv? And what's the ice cube method?


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More epoxy buildup, and foam applied.

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I bought a Lakewell. Best on the market doesn't mean as good as factory. I'm still considering repairing my stock '69 dash. Not pleased enough to make using it a slam dunk.


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So you are telling me I'm not completely insane? :-)


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Far from it. Cnielsen and I were just discussing this topic the other day. He dumped his Lakewell for the route you're going.


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Silicone bathtub caulking is RTV:eek:

You fill the void with RTV as smooth as you can with your finger, then take an ice cube wider than the void in the dash filled with RTV and drag the ice cube over the whole thing.
It creates an amazing finish with a little practice.SmileWavy

RTV = Room Temperature Vulcanizing rubber.

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Now you tell me. [emoji12]


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