It's been a while since I posted an update. I spent most of March learning how to make vinyl behave. It kicked my ass at first, but I'm catching on.
I had taped up the vinyl on the dashboard because it was in good shape and I wanted to leave it in place. Well, the painter manged to drag something across it and put a big scuff mark right in the middle.
I ripped it off and started removing the old glue. Some paint came off with the vinyl, so I had to sand and fill until I got it smooth. Any imperfection will show right through the vinyl (ask me how I know
) Because of a series of "learning experiences it took four tries to get the vinyl on the top of the dash right.
I couldn't find vinyl to match the grain of the original stuff, so I had to replace ALL of the vinyl. This added two weeks to the project.
It took a lot of tries to get the padding under the front strip right so it would "dive" under the hood properly. I still have to do some work in the door jamb before I can tighten up the ends. It looks better in person than it does in these photos.
When I took the black vinyl off of the hood over the gauges I discovered the original vinyl -
RED! So the car was originally blue with a red interior
. I'm glad someone changed it to black and tan before I got. I may never have bought it in its original state.
I wrestled the new black vinyl onto the hood as best I could, but still ended up with a bubble that I
could not get out. The original vinyl was paper thin, which is how they did such a beautiful job of installing it. It was almost like it as painted on.
I injected some super glue into the bubble and that made it behave. Ever try to buy a syringe? No drug store would sell me one. I had to beg my vet.
In retrospect, I should have tried to dye the damaged vinyl to see if I could bail it out, but I thought replacing it would be a LOT easier than it was. Also wish I had put a thin piece of padding on the dash instead of trying to create a smooth surface to glue the vinyl to.