Refurbishing Dash

Damn, I need to get back to working on mine. I was raining for a week straight, so I started working on a spare dash I had.

Even found a stock color to match my 89.

Very nice work!
Just as a point of reference, do Canadian’s use short box rather than short bed?

What the hell, I might take it off and see how bad the original dash pad really is under there. Not much else to do at present.

This is mine covered in leather, my original dash pad was a bit ratty around the speakers and the top vents so we just removed it and made up a template cut out all the rough edges and had an upholsterer sew it all together and glue it down, came up really well and was cheaper than freighting a new dash pad to me Downunder

thecantaloupeman said:

So I have a terribly cracked dash and was planning on recovering it with vinyl. I basically filled the cracks with caulk to make it somewhat flat, and was going to glue black vinyl over top it. I thought about maybe putting foam underneath, but either way it will still probably be fairly uneven, and I will still always know how crappy it looks underneath. Is there a way to reuse the metal frame and refoam it and lay a custom leather over top?

I'd like that more than buying a new dash because I can choose the color and texture of the dash and could reupholster the seat to match. I could make it look more custom and cool than just a replacement stock dash. It would still probably be cheaper to do that than buy a new dash if thats possible. A new dash in tan costs around 500$ from USA1.

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Im getting mine done this week at a local upholstery shop. Was about to bite the bullet and buy a new one when I decided to give them a call and just see what they said. Glad I did. A new dash was gonna cost me $400.

This shop is gonna add foam and wrap my dash with some custom touches. They have done it before and have pictures, it turns out really nice.
They are also gonna wrap my door panels, my kick panel speaker pods, and the MDF board Im installing behind the seat to mount my amplifiers and inverter to. They are gonna do it all for $280 and its all gonna match and look just a little custom like what you were saying. Im going for the same thing lol.

thecantaloupeman said:

Is it possible to just peel all the old foam and vinyl off and start over from the bare metal frame though? Like is it possible to refoam everything and cover it with my own fabric?


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I've been thinking along the same lines. I got a extra dash from the boneyard that i've been playing with just in case I totally screw it up lol. I wanted to add gauges to the dash and blend them in. So far I have peeled the old vinyl off, it peels off pretty easy. Filled the voids with expanding foam but im not happy with how smooth it is, tried the epoxy thing but it soaks into the foam too much. Im thinking of removing down to bare metal and wrapping it with EVA foam. the foam on the dash appears to be a fairly consistent 1/4 inch so wrapping it should get me close, I guess we will see how it turns out.

C10MixMaster said:

I've been thinking along the same lines. I got a extra dash from the boneyard that i've been playing with just in case I totally screw it up lol.

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I wanted to add gauges to the dash and blend them in. So far I have peeled the old vinyl off, it peels off pretty easy. Filled the voids with expanding foam but im not happy with how smooth it is, tried the epoxy thing but it soaks into the foam too much. Im thinking of removing down to bare metal and wrapping it with EVA foam. the foam on the dash appears to be a fairly consistent 1/4 inch so wrapping it should get me close, I guess we will see how it turns out.

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That’s exactly what I’d like to do. Yeah let us know how it turns out. It seems like this is a better option than purchasing a new dash for 500$. You can also use better vinyl/leather and make it look really nice and custom if you go that route


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thecantaloupeman said:

So I have a terribly cracked dash and was planning on recovering it with vinyl. I basically filled the cracks with caulk to make it somewhat flat, and was going to glue black vinyl over top it. I thought about maybe putting foam underneath, but either way it will still probably be fairly uneven, and I will still always know how crappy it looks underneath. Is there a way to reuse the metal frame and refoam it and lay a custom leather over top?

I'd like that more than buying a new dash because I can choose the color and texture of the dash and could reupholster the seat to match. I could make it look more custom and cool than just a replacement stock dash. It would still probably be cheaper to do that than buy a new dash if thats possible. A new dash in tan costs around 500$ from USA1.

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What type of caulk did you use?

What I did for mine:

1- used a Dremel tool to smooth out the cracks, carving smoother u-shaped valleys with sloping sides, chip off any flaky vinyl

2- lay down lines of spray foam into your valleys (I used regular great stuff, if I do this again will use the higher density stuff) let cure completely. If you get any on you, comes off with nail polish remover

3- shave the high spots, a long blade utility knife will make faster work of it

4- More foam this time spread like icing a cake. Let cure again.

5- sanding it all level

6- Bondo a skim coat over any exposed foam

7- sand it all level again

8- paint with bed liner (what I did) or wrap in new vinyl or fabric

Granted it's more effort than gluing a dash cover on, but I'm happy with the results for not much cash.

Spray foam x3 - 20$
Spray bed liner x2 - 20$
Bondo- 13$

I had sandpaper, masking tape and tools (Dremel, sander)
It's not professional but it was my first effort too and looks pretty good.

thecantaloupeman said:

Is it possible to just peel all the old foam and vinyl off and start over from the bare metal frame though? Like is it possible to refoam everything and cover it with my own fabric?


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I like this idea.

you could, just like upholstering; using a thin but dense foam some clamps and enforcing your will upon it. plus Glue, Upholstery Shears and razor blades.
shows a diy level dude doing it

that looks great. that's just the cover? do you have to take the dash out to install?

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GTP51 said:

This is mine covered in leather, my original dash pad was a bit ratty around the speakers and the top vents so we just removed it and made up a template cut out all the rough edges and had an upholsterer sew it all together and glue it down, came up really well and was cheaper than freighting a new dash pad to me Downunder

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G'day Geoff, gotta do something with my dash pad and was wondering which upholsterer you used in Melb'. cheers Dave