Cracked dash repair attempt

[JayDoc]

I got the idea from YouTube to try to repair my cracked 30 + year old dashboard in the 60. I'm not sure that this is the best strategy but it does look better than it did.

Here are the main problem spots and some of the tools used.

 

[JayDoc]

Basically you use your soldering iron to melt the 'welding' plastic into the cracks as below.
Then you sand it down and paint over it. Pretty simple concept.

 

[JayDoc]

This is where I got to this afternoon after several rounds of paint and sanding.
I'll do a few more coats tomorrow to see if I can smooth this out a bit.
So far, I'm pretty impressed with the spray paint. It's a pretty close color match to my dark gray dash.

I don't think this is the strategy for folks who want a like new dash but for less than $20, It's worth thinking about.

 

[iCruiser]

Great job bringing back your dash! This is a fairly easy process and looks much better than adding a cap to cover the dash.

Two additional steps that I would suggest if you want that new look. First, go over the sanded plastic repaired areas with a bondo type filler. Once applied and sanded, will leave a surface smooth. Then once dash is repaired and sanded smooth, add back the grain with the SEM texture paint. This stuff works great once you get the technique down for the effect you desire.

You can alter the pattern of the grain depending how far away you spray and with light sanding to flatten out the pattern. On pic of the finished dash, I later went back and lightly sanded the surface to make it less grainy and more like stock finish. Next add color. For brown trucks, SEM cordovan brown works great. Last step for a perfect finish, add a top clear coat to protect all your work.

Below is a pic of the first dash I finished. It had the typical delimitation / crack at right side of instrument cluster as well as other defects. The speaker grill section was trash so I plastic glued in wire mesh on the underside. Then filled in all the holes on top side grill section with plastic and repaired as described above. Very pleased with the results. The second dash I'm restoring will look much better just learning tips from the first.

To repair the dash, I used products from Polyvance which included plastic welding kit and bondo filler. All paint and spray finish products made by SEM. Polyvance has a nice how-to video you can Google that takes you through every step. One very important step not mentioned above but covered in video is using q dremel tool to sand out the defect and create a shallow v-shaped valley to fill in plastic poduct.

 

[John McVicker]

Good posts. Good job, both of you!

 

[Miloslavich]

Wow. Nice work!!

 

[dannyvp]

Ive been thinking about reapplying vinyl to mine, its in pretty bad shape. The area that bothers me with this is around the vents.

 

[Chris Cahill]

Good info, I never thought about it as an option. I put one of those caps on. It looks OK but the edges can interfere with removing the gauge cluster, glove box and other dash parts.

 

[JayDoc]

Ive been thinking about reapplying vinyl to mine, its in pretty bad shape. The area that bothers me with this is around the vents.

Yeah, I can imagine those curved surfaces would be more difficult to work with. It would still work though but more time consuming.

 

[JayDoc]

Great job bringing back your dash! This is a fairly easy process and looks much better than adding a cap to cover the dash.

Two additional steps that I would suggest if you want that new look. First, go over the sanded plastic repaired areas with a bondo type filler. Once applied and sanded, will leave a surface smooth. Then once dash is repaired and sanded smooth, add back the grain with the SEM texture paint. This stuff works great once you get the technique down for the effect you desire.

You can alter the pattern of the grain depending how far away you spray and with light sanding to flatten out the pattern. On pic of the finished dash, I later went back and lightly sanded the surface to make it less grainy and more like stock finish. Next add color. For brown trucks, SEM cordovan brown works great. Last step for a perfect finish, add a top clear coat to protect all your work.

Below is a pic of the first dash I finished. It had the typical delimitation / crack at right side of instrument cluster as well as other defects. The speaker grill section was trash so I plastic glued in wire mesh on the underside. Then filled in all the holes on top side grill section with plastic and repaired as described above. Very pleased with the results. The second dash I'm restoring will look much better just learning tips from the first.

To repair the dash, I used products from Polyvance which included plastic welding kit and bondo filler. All paint and spray finish products made by SEM. Polyvance has a nice how-to video you can Google that takes you through every step. One very important step not mentioned above but covered in video is using q dremel tool to sand out the defect and create a shallow v-shaped valley to fill in plastic poduct.
View attachment 2612620View attachment 2612621View attachment 2612627

Thanks for the input. Do you put on a clear coat or some UV protectant on your dash? Is it even worth it?
Thanks.

 

[WSOPgold2012]

Thanks for the input. Do you put on a clear coat or some UV protectant on your dash? Is it even worth it?
Thanks.

He mentions using a clear coat to "protect your work" ....

 

[JayDoc]

Finally reinstalled the dash after a delay while I had to replace the speedometer cable that I broke when taking the dash out in the first place.

A bit shiny but it looks good to me.

 

[Yiroo]

Ah yes soldering iron, plastic strips of protein powder container, plastic epoxy & mucho sanding...just joined here few mins ago & 5 pic max so i'll post pics tomor of epoxy coating over welded areas. Been blocking w 80 grit & losing texture by sanding welds. May skim coat entire piece w plastic epoxy to smooth/remove all texture. Saw this piece on ebay today for $510 obo lol...even has tiny cracks! Didnt think I was gonna go this far but have already: pulled bed, cut out all cancer in cab floor (1 quarter size hole at foot areas of driver & pass), few holes in bed, zero frame rust. Primed cab int floor/rear wall & herculined. Replaced windshield w thailand rubber seal (job not for beginners) only had 1/2" of lite rust on windshield frame. Might do youtube vid on that job idk. Entire truck getting gray herculiner. Had I known herculiner IS Durabak, I wouldve gone textured brick red. Anyhoo, i'm a yota/honda mobile mechanic. Ive been doing eng builds/jdm swaps for customers but now after stud welding/pulling dents, learning about primer/paint processes...me wants to shift my business to yota truck restores! Its been fun, will post dash when done, interior & finish pics. Praise God! Thank You Jesus! Ecc 2:24 A man can do nothing better than to eat & drink & find satisfaction in his work...

 

[Seth S]

Wow. that was my first thought. Looks great. I have to remove the poorly installed dash cover that someone prior to me decided to put on incorrectly. I have a feeling it will actually cause more damage coming off. But my thought was to try flocking the dash if mine is really ugly.

How-to flock a dash: We cut down glare by flocking our dash

One of the most distracting things you can experience during a race is the glare bouncing off your dash onto your windshield. Not only can it be annoying, it can be a safety concern as it can inter…

speed.academy

 

[JayDoc]

Wow. that was my first thought. Looks great. I have to remove the poorly installed dash cover that someone prior to me decided to put on incorrectly. I have a feeling it will actually cause more damage coming off. But my thought was to try flocking the dash if mine is really ugly.

How-to flock a dash: We cut down glare by flocking our dash

One of the most distracting things you can experience during a race is the glare bouncing off your dash onto your windshield. Not only can it be annoying, it can be a safety concern as it can inter…

speed.academy

I saw a video using flocking too. It may be better at covering imperfections, but it also looked like it was more work and more expensive. It did look good on the video though.