Dash Restoration

Mark

Mark

FIATFREAK
This is my recent project. Restoring a 1300 dash for my '74:
440C2CC1-4C97-4844-AD23-F1B47B3601FD-1862-0000052385871D99.jpg


I bought a dash from a later car that someone had butchered for a radio install and also mutilated the area around the center vents for some unknown reason. I made fiberglass molds from another dash and glassed in the damaged areas:
6668912C-AA35-469C-89E2-612D555A10F1-1862-00000523C83784D7.jpg

F6C39A41-C2A8-46D7-8FF1-3F277CC2859D-1862-00000523B45E08A7.jpg

2F368D11-4E7C-4F14-B451-A1F2D8D120B1-1862-00000523BEF186EB.jpg


I primed the dash with a flexible primer to fill in the leather grain:
F4622364-9619-4243-BF02-9CF32A80629E-1862-00000523C4AC51C1.jpg


I sanded the surface smooth and then applied SEM Texture:
15A7A2CD-9438-4FF0-B2DA-E68218B2B6B5-1862-000005241A4093D3.jpg

5150B124-2458-4587-8D75-C349DA28ABC7-1862-00000523D8E93BF8.jpg
 
Not quite finished. Next step is to wet sand the texture down for a more uniform surface followed by the vinyl paint. It's really difficult to get even application on all the intricate surfaces. This has been a several week project.
 
Looking Good!

Please keep us updated on your progress. It looks great so far!

I'm wondering, how did you get fiberglass to stick to the dash foam? I have to do something with the dash in my '74, so any details you can provide would be awesome.

Thanks and good luck.
 
Nice Work!

Mark,

Did you vacuum bag it ?

I see the high gloss :)

I'd say outstanding craftsmanship. You are making me feel guilty now about a radial fracture with five or six spokes about the size of a quarter I am TRYING to turn a blind eye too on my dash.

...of course it is a dash fitted to the model you have displayed in the background of your photo.

Did the polyester resin adhere well to the vinyl boundry on the existing dash ? Tapersand it in ?

Thanks for the pics and the tip on your choice of finishes.

lezesig
'72
 
Outstanding !

Did you have any cracks on the top ?

Finding another will be a problem so i need ideas to work with what i have.

Very nice work and yes please keep us posted.
 
This particular dash was pretty decent with no cracks, just several "issues" like screw holes plus the aforementioned butchered areas.

I used epoxy resin instead of polyester. I also used an epoxy based filler i concocted from microspheres to blend the areas together.


lezesig1 said:
Mark,

Did you vacuum bag it ?

I see the high gloss :)

I'd say outstanding craftsmanship. You are making me feel guilty now about a radial fracture with five or six spokes about the size of a quarter I am TRYING to turn a blind eye too on my dash.

...of course it is a dash fitted to the model you have displayed in the background of your photo.

Did the polyester resin adhere well to the vinyl boundry on the existing dash ? Tapersand it in ?

Thanks for the pics and the tip on your choice of finishes.

lezesig
'72
Click to expand...
kungfuty said:
Did you have any cracks on the top ?

Finding another will be a problem so i need ideas to work with what i have.

Very nice work and yes please keep us posted.
Click to expand...
 
Mark,

Looking very, very nice. Much better that my fill in the cracks, voids, and holes and spray with wrinkle look paint with the dash in place. Being the two-time winner of Papa Tony's "All Thumbs" award, I'd probably screw things up trying to pull the dash. I guess I can live with the wrinkle look paint for the time being.

Mike
 
So Mark... your complete address please...

So we can have you re-do ours for a 100 bucks apiece...

HA!

Great work, BTW!
 
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