69MyWay
Well-known member
Hey guys, some of you know I am little by little getting my 85 (looks like a 91-96 on the outside), back together.
The dash looked like poopie ka-ka (as I will be teaching my newborn to say someday). Years ago it cracked. I had it covered in black by a local upholstry shop.
It looked okay, but the defrost vent was never really right. The vinyl pulled and distored there in the sun. So, I had put a piece of metal and screws there. That was years ago.
While after I sold the car it sat outside in the sun alot. The sun faded that black, and the screws rusted. It was awful.
Here was the solution (at least for now---it is untested).
I stripped the cover off the dash. It had a dozen cracks in the stock pad. I took a grinder to it and knocked down the high spots around the cracks. I then fiberglassed the upper shell and let it wrap around. (bose equiped, so no speakers in the dash).
This gave me a solid base to work from. I ground the high spots off that. Here is the big trick. I took tin foil and pressed it into the defrost duct, then put four layers of fiberglass in there. I popped it out after it dried, ground it down, and created a bezel.
We glued and stretched fresh vinyl over the dash, and I insterted the bezel in the duct. It almost looks factory stock. Good enough for this car, and using left over materials...about $15 in total cost.
Pictures later.
The dash looked like poopie ka-ka (as I will be teaching my newborn to say someday). Years ago it cracked. I had it covered in black by a local upholstry shop.
It looked okay, but the defrost vent was never really right. The vinyl pulled and distored there in the sun. So, I had put a piece of metal and screws there. That was years ago.
While after I sold the car it sat outside in the sun alot. The sun faded that black, and the screws rusted. It was awful.
Here was the solution (at least for now---it is untested).
I stripped the cover off the dash. It had a dozen cracks in the stock pad. I took a grinder to it and knocked down the high spots around the cracks. I then fiberglassed the upper shell and let it wrap around. (bose equiped, so no speakers in the dash).
This gave me a solid base to work from. I ground the high spots off that. Here is the big trick. I took tin foil and pressed it into the defrost duct, then put four layers of fiberglass in there. I popped it out after it dried, ground it down, and created a bezel.
We glued and stretched fresh vinyl over the dash, and I insterted the bezel in the duct. It almost looks factory stock. Good enough for this car, and using left over materials...about $15 in total cost.
Pictures later.
Looking forward to checking it out.
