Dashboard refresh

I have many many pictures to add to this as soon as I get the time.  The dash is done, and I’ll post up the pics to show all that I went through.  It was NOT fun!  lol

But I did it based on what this person did:

http://www.jdmgallery.com/2011/09/3691/

 

Removed the dash cover to reveal my original dash.  Not in good condition at all.  I’m going to try to fix it before resorting to a full cover.

First thing I did was cut off the edges of the cracks and the old worn foam inside, just enough to make an area so that the new foam takes hold.

I probably put too much on and realize it now.  I took a razor the the large amounts of excess foam.

After I got the big stuff off, I was able to lightly sand it down till I got to this (dark parts are the original foam).

The holes will be ok, the epoxy will use that to grab on to.

 

See these pictures - don’t rely on this to do yours, you’ll need to bring it down at least another mm or so.  I realized that after I applied the epoxy and sanded down.

This was better….

Had to trim off more of the original dash plastic on both sides of the cracks because they were raised up and if left like that, the finished dash would be wavy.

Almost ready for the epoxy..it’s not perfect but it looks 1000000x better then it did.

Bumper repair stuff time!

Took it down almost to the foam again and reapply!

 

 

 

I finally removed the dash top from the frame and noticed that only one crack made it all the way through the foam underneath.  My “Great Stuff” fix came through the bottom and acted like a nail head underneath.  WIN!!   I may add some more great stuff underneath for good measure.

So I was just about done sanding finally.

Not quite done, but getting there….

What a pain.

 

 

And then…. another pain surfaced.

As I was sanding down this section I heard a clicking sound as I went over the valley between the gauges.  I realized what was happening.

That area was weak from being dried out and had actually lifted away from the original foam.  I pressed on it a little, it was ok, I pressed on it a bit harder and it broke through. Damn, here I go again.

I pressed on it so that all the weak spots cracked off and then decided I’d better check the other areas a little more.

 

 

Then there were two.  :sadface:

Now I’m tired, I hope I didn’t put this shit on too sloppily because of it.  I think I did.  Oh well, we’ll see how it goes.

 

Better that it’s fixed now, instead of after I paint it.

Here’s another coat.  Remember, if you’re doing this – be very neat about the application of the epoxy.  If you’re sloppy with it, it takes that much more sanding to get it level, and that weakens the original dash that much more also.

This coat was a little neater then the last….

Here it is after I cleaned it with mineral spirits (after the complete sanding while it was on the frame still).

And here I removed it from the frame in order to start the spraying.

 

 

Here is the first spray with the texture stuff

 

 

 

 

Here it is after about 3 coats of texture spray.

 

 

 

 

Looks pretty good, although the texture spray sometimes “spit” at the dash and I ended up with some blobs here and there.  Nothing I can’t live with!

 

 

This is after sanding it all down with 1000 grit.  Basically just to knock off the rough areas.

 

 

Liking it!

 

 

Need to do a little more sanding here….

 

 

I didn’t do the paint yet.  I wanted to make sure it sits for a day before I do paint, so probably tonight it will be done!  HOORAY BIATCH!

 

Paint

I think I f’d up.

It’s too shiny and blotchy.  It seems that the paint got absorbed into the texture unevenly.  I know I can spray it more now and it will be more even, but I don’t want it to be all shiny like it is.  I don’t like it.

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

I have to figure something out.

 

 

 

Ok, so last night I spent a good amount of time last night re-sanding everything back down to get the shine off in order to coat it with the trim spray.   Here’s one coat of the of the trim spray…   there is a big blotch where I fixed one of the cracks and a couple more that are still noticeable (that’s to be expected though with one coat), it’s also a bit of a bump, not too bad, doesn’t matter – it’s staying like that!

I put on a second coat last night and the blotch got covered up pretty well, I was going for a third coat when my new can of trim paint decided to get stuck in the spray position!  Needless to say, the entire can sprayed itself out, luckily I had a bucket of soapy water next to me and I was able to dunk it in there and let it go empty.  :(    I got a little high off of that…..

I didn’t get pictures of the second coat yet but I checked it this morning and it looking real good.  I will be getting one more can of the trim stuff and putting a third coat on tonight hopefully.  I will take some more pics when it’s done.

 

There are some waves in it but I never expected it to look brand new…

Fixing my mistake and using trim paint instead of plastix paint

So last time with this.

I found more cracks that needed to be repaired.  The cracks existed because of my epoxing of some areas and then trying to level everything out.  In the “leveling out” process (sanding), I found out that I was wearing away the parts of the original dashboard to the point where they weakened and when they shifted, they cracked.   I ended up having to remove the weakened areas and applying more epoxy, then spreading it over already epoxied areas and sanding down lightly, very carefully.

Another crack that occurred last minute, was a tiny split on the top because I didn’t have it on the frame while I was moving it around and doing some other repairs.  The stress on the dashboard is enormous due to the fact that it’s only foam with a little shell over the top.  Try to keep it on the frame as much as possible.  If I would ever do it again (which I won’t), I would leave it on the frame throughout all repairs.

The result after all of that work is that now it’s much stronger.  Here’s my work after I fixed it and decided to use rubberized undercoating after the texture coat instead of just trim paint.  To the touch it feels like leather, really weird – maybe it’s just me though.

 

After the fixes and a light layer of rubberized undercoating.

The blotches return.

What is happening:  It’s kind of difficult to get the texture perfectly even.  It’s not as noticeable after applying it, but after knocking off the high points, if you’re not super careful and knock off some parts more then others, you’ll have problems like this.  Once you put any paint on it with any kind of shine, the shine settles in certain areas and stays there – which creates the blotchy look.

I think another mistake (of mine) was using Plastix from the beginning.  Since the texture paint is rubberized, the Plastix paint had a different effect on it.  It looks much better with the rubberized undercoating.

Here’s one full application of the undercoating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After one coat of rubberized undercoat.

 

 

 

It’s a lot less blotchy now.  It’s not perfect (as I would wish it to be), but it’s a hell of a lot better now.  I’m done with it.  I called it!!

I finally moved it closer to the car!!! Yeay!

 

I’ll get some more pictures once I get it in the car.

 

Ok I lied…

I thought I was done, but couldn’t live with the uneven shine on parts of the dash.  I very lightly scuffed it and gave it one more layer of rubberized coating and a layer of trim paint.

 

Dash is back in the car, finally!

Last night we put the dash back in…. it was a late night.

Still needs the metal trim near the windshield and a few more bolts in but it survived the bolting into the dash frame, fumbling around in the car with it, attaching hoses, and hands all over it.   Seems to be sturdy enough now.  The finish is much nicer in my opinion also, it has a nice sheen but is not shiny.     More pics later, here’s some teasers.