Dash Pad Repair

[supercal29]

I am interested in sprucing up a dash pad I pulled out of a 76 FJ40. It has the usual cracking and is faded. Has anyone used any of the dash repair kits on the market? These come with filler, paints, and patches to etch a grain pattern on the dash that hopefully matches the original. I have seen kits at Autozone and online from Eastwood. If anyone has used one I would be interested in knowing how it has worked out.

Thanks,


Steve
Hoosier Cruisers
67 FJ40
76 FJ40

 

[DallasFJ40]

I am interested in sprucing up a dash pad I pulled out of a 76 FJ40. It has the usual cracking and is faded. Has anyone used any of the dash repair kits on the market? These come with filler, paints, and patches to etch a grain pattern on the dash that hopefully matches the original. I have seen kits at Autozone and online from Eastwood. If anyone has used one I would be interested in knowing how it has worked out.

Thanks,


Steve
Hoosier Cruisers
67 FJ40
76 FJ40

Fixed it for you! You might get more responses if people can read your post.

 

[supercal29]

Fixed it for you! You might get more responses if people can read your post.

Thanks!! Guess I should check over my work before posting. I did not even realize the post could not be read.

 

[Ziffdaddy]

my PO put a SOR dash cover on and it looks perfect. this is the only pic I've got at the moment. Let me know if you want more shots later on.

 

[Ziffdaddy]

Oh BTW, I've used those fillers and patch kits before and they SUCK! At least for me they did....looks very ghetto.

 

[supercal29]

I was hoping to save some money

Oh BTW, I've used those fillers and patch kits before and they SUCK! At least for me they did....looks very ghetto.

........and find out that the kits worked! The SOR pad looks like new for sure, but they cost a bit. Anyone have any luck with the kits or has your experience been the same as Ziffdaddy's?

Thank you!

 

[camcruiser13]

i hit mine with rhino liner

 

[fj55mike]

I've been meaning to talk about what I've done for a while now, so here it is:

I started out by removing the old dashpad and using masking tape to mask off the area that the original pad covered. Using a couple of layers of fiberglass cloth, I made a base for the dashpad:

next, using the light density foam from the flower arranging department, I carved out the shape of the dashpad. Sorry I don't have pictures of the next processes, the camera crapped out. Be sure to make the foam a little bit undersize. Then, cover the foam with another layer of fiberglass cloth, thus creating a replica dash with a foam core.

Next, I took it to a company called Al Knoch Interiors here in El Paso. For $125, they vacuformed a black vinyl material over the fiberglass and foam replica, and it looks perfect.

Sorry it's a little dirty, it's April in the desert and nothing is clean right now.

This was a very labor intensive process, but it cost very little. If you've got some fiberglass skills, it's not too bad and it looks a lot better than the two part epoxy repair kits.

Al Knoch also said that for about $600-$700 they could make a pattern and start producing dashes, I've been tempted to invest in this and sell them on the board at cost, but that's a lot of work.

--Mike

 

[Trollhole]

That is cool.

 

[supercal29]

Man that is sweet!!

Mike - that is some seriously nice work on the dash. Very clever!! Makes me think that I just need to find someplace that can vacuum form vinyl on my existing pad after I fill the cracks.

Cool.

 

[camcruiser13]

that looks good fj55mike!!!!