A dash cover restoration

[CRM]

I have 2 dash covers which my daughter and I are going to restore. Our original dash cover is so cracked that we'll strip it down to bare metal. The second cover we purchased at a "You pull it" yard for $25. This first thread will be on the second cover. It has fewer and smaller cracks. I have taken a razor knife and opened the cracks up and removed the old foam underneath. I also cut out the speaker area because it was in really bad shape. I used a piece of roofing shingle to patch that hole. It looks like it doesn't fit but it's actually flush with the bottom of the cover. I actually used weatherstripping adhesive to glue it down, and the rough surface gave the foam a lot to grab onto.

 

[CRM]

This picture is of the foamed cover. We tried non expanding foam but ended up removing it because we couldn't sand it well. We used expanding foam as you can see here. In the background is a piece of the vinyl we'll be using.

 

[CRM]

Here is the knife we will use to cut the foam close to the cover. It's called a duct board knife. It's sharpened and very thin which allows it to cut thru the foam pretty easily.

 

[CRM]

When applying the foam we did not use the tube for the spray foam. We could control the amount of foam better like this, especially into smaller cracks.

 

[CRM]

Here is a picture of the speaker hole after using the knife and sanding block. It had some fairly large holes in the foam so we filled them in when we did the cracks.

 

[74 Shortbed]

What brand of foam did you use??..

 

[CRM]

I used Great Stuff foam, but I found that using it without the extension tube and applying it slowly is the key. By applying it slowly the foam does not have as many big air bubble holes after trimming, and trimming is much easier. Cracks smaller than 1/4" have to be opened up or the foam might not get to the bottom, and could tend to push up the old vinyl at the edges of the cracks. Cutting the cracks open in a v shape will help too. Only fill the cracks to just above the vinyl will make the trimming easier also. I would not recommend super expanding foam as it will push the vinyl up also.

 

[74 Shortbed]

Good info, never thought about not using the tube, sounds like it makes the job easier..

 

[Camar068]

Thanks, I'm half tempted to remove the cheap cover on mine to see whats left. Tired of hearing the dash squeak when you touch it.

 

[74 Shortbed]

I've got 3 of them all bad, trying to decide which would be easier, repair with foam or just take it down to metal and start over..

 

[CRM]

I'm hoping to have this one done by Saturday evening and the other one (from bare metal) by the following Saturday. We'll see.

 

[74 Shortbed]

Cool, looking forward to seeing it..

 

[Jim Hensley]

Yea I have a really bad one in my truck so I need to do something, it looks like the turkey from National lampoon's christmas vacation..lol

 

[CRM]

I cut down and sanded the foam.

 

[CRM]

After work I decided to put the bondo on. I've never used it before so I read the directions carefully. They said that once the hardener is mixed in I have 3-5 minutes at 75*. I thought....no problem. What I didn't think about was the temperature outside where I was working: 106*.The bondo hardened in about 1 minute, and I couldn't get it all applied. I should have read up on bondo before attempting. I did manage to get the whole thing done with more bondo. It was ready to sand in 2 minutes.