LanceVance Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 Fauxre, have you considered flocking your dash? I plan on doing exactly the same process you did on my dash, but flocking it black. Looks nice, zero glare, and you can redo it if you have to. How much material did you let wrap around to the underside? Any concerns with the fiberglass resin staying adhered to the original vinyl? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fauxre Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 Fauxre, have you considered flocking your dash? I plan on doing exactly the same process you did on my dash, but flocking it black. Looks nice, zero glare, and you can redo it if you have to. How much material did you let wrap around to the underside? Any concerns with the fiberglass resin staying adhered to the original vinyl? LanceVance, I'm not familiar with "flocking"... other than my Xmas trees. I'd be very interested to learn about it. Where can I get it? Cost? Do you have any pics of the finish? I like the no glare aspect, since my project is a roadster. I've been considering a 'wrinkle finish' paint as an alternative, but would prefer something that looks more like a factory dash finish. As far as wrapping the cloth, I stopped at the edges of the black vinyl in most areas. If I were to do this again, I think I would cut the cloth to wrap around as much of the dash foam as possible. I haven't run into any specific problems with the way I did it, but the dash is far from done. As for the adherence of the resin to the vinyl, it's my understanding that the resin will not adhere to the vinyl very well. However, it seems to me that since I used a single sheet of cloth that is molded around the old foam in multiple places, and is embedded in all the nooks and crannies, separation is unlikely... but only time will tell. After I glassed, I found this video. It promotes drilling a lot of holes in the foam for the fiberglass filler (used on in the video) to settle into and give the new surface a better grip. It probably makes sense to do the same with fiberglass cloth and resin. Maybe next time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQDM0aq882c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceVance Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 Flocking is essentially a spray on suede like material. Its used in a lot of applications, most associated with crafts (and Christmas trees) but it is also used by a lot of rally cars for giving their dashboards a uniform and durable coating while reducing glare most importantly of all. its use in rally cars has made it pretty popular with the Subaru crowd, and if you do some searching on Subie forums I'm sure you can get more information than I can offer. I pulled this picture off of NASIOC; The owner referenceed DonJer.com as where he bought the tools and materials. I believe the total for everything was around $90.00 with even cheaper options than that. I will be ordering from them in a month or two once I find the time to take my dash out and fiberglass it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fauxre Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Flocking is essentially a spray on suede like material. Its used in a lot of applications, most associated with crafts (and Christmas trees) but it is also used by a lot of rally cars for giving their dashboards a uniform and durable coating while reducing glare most importantly of all. its use in rally cars has made it pretty popular with the Subaru crowd, and if you do some searching on Subie forums I'm sure you can get more information than I can offer. The owner referenceed DonJer.com as where he bought the tools and materials. I believe the total for everything was around $90.00 with even cheaper options than that. I will be ordering from them in a month or two once I find the time to take my dash out and fiberglass it. Hey LanceVance, Thanks for the info. Interesting concept. I'd like to see a finished dash in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceVance Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Hey LanceVance, Thanks for the info. Interesting concept. I'd like to see a finished dash in person. Not sure where you might see a dash, but its a regular thing in jewelry boxes, and little trinket boxes and the like. Chances are you have something in your house with flocking already. Some nicer poker sets have flocking instead of felt too... even t-shirts. Check the little cubbys and gloveboxes in nicer cars, they have it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fauxre Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Fauxre, have you considered flocking your dash? I plan on doing exactly the same process you did on my dash, but flocking it black. Looks nice, zero glare, and you can redo it if you have to. How much material did you let wrap around to the underside? Any concerns with the fiberglass resin staying adhered to the original vinyl? Here's how it looks so far, in primer. Not perfect, but almost good enough to paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceVance Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Looking pretty good... have any pictures of the dash before you covered it? I've started working on mine and the cracks are clean through the dash. Its going to take alot of work to get this thing back into shape... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fauxre Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Looking pretty good... have any pictures of the dash before you covered it? I've started working on mine and the cracks are clean through the dash. Its going to take alot of work to get this thing back into shape... Here's my version of time lapse photography. The pics between the foaming of the cracks, and the laying down of the fiberglass cloth, depict the use of the bumper repair material from my attempt at the "cheap alternative". If you're gonna cover with fiberglass, just sand the foam flat. I used the fiberglass cloth in hopes that I'd get a seamless finish. But I found it didn't stretch enough around the gauge housings, and I ended up with several weblike voids that had to be cut out later. Next time I'll try fiberglass matting, to get into the tight spots, instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceVance Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Fauxer, any updates? I'm starting on my dash and would like to see where yours stands at this point... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fauxre Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Reinstalled the gauges and dash wiring... ...and mounted back in car. Leaving everything in primer until the car can be driven and all the flaws can be corrected. Repairing and customizing the center console next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUNNY Z Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Oh, what the hell. I've been posting this up in my build thread (LSx), but I thought I'd go ahead and share it. I've been doing the "budget" dash repair. I plan on using a product called "plasti-dip) to topcoat the dash, and then possibly paint it, depending on the final color. Started work on the dash last night. It was ROUGH. Had at least 3 cracks the entire way through, all the way from the windshield to the gauge cups. Here it is after filling the cracks with Great Stuff foam, and trimming them, then prepping and smearing on some 2 part epoxy. Its a work in progress. 1st coat sanded After the 2nd coat of epoxy Second coat sanded Third coat Backside Finished the 3rd and final coat. It's sanded and ready for the plasti-dip. Stores were closed by the time I thought to go get some, so its gonna have to wait till tomorrow! The finish isn't smooth enough to paint, but it is smooth enough that I think a High Build product (plasti-dip) will hide all the imperfections. At least enough for me to be happy with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 The work done looks quite nice I'm surprised nobody drill round holes at the end of cracks to stop the propagation. That would avoid the cracks to get bigger overtime. This is what they are doing in aeronautic world to stop cracks expansion. I guess the epoxy layers would hold the plastic in place but this extra operation would probably be beneficial and easy to perform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zip Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 the orange color is 'interesting'. but the workmanship and all on the repair looks very nice. good job and thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh280z Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 wow this is all very informative. Im using this to repair my dash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fauxre Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Sunny Z, I'm very interested to see how the Plasti-dip turns out. I like the idea of a rubberized finish, especially with my project being a roadster. Are you concerned at all that the thickness of the product will still allow room to reinstall the gauges? Mine were very tight even before adding any filler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUNNY Z Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Sunny Z, I'm very interested to see how the Plasti-dip turns out. I like the idea of a rubberized finish, especially with my project being a roadster. Are you concerned at all that the thickness of the product will still allow room to reinstall the gauges? Mine were very tight even before adding any filler. The thought did cross my mind. However, I figure I'll just trim the plasti-dip from the gauge cup area if need be when I install them. HOPEFULLY I won't snag an edge and start the peel. I'm hoping to spray it soon, but as damn cold as it is, and the way this stuff lays out, it needs to be warm. I'm actually gonna do it in my living room...... lol I'll lyk how that turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fauxre Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 The thought did cross my mind. However, I figure I'll just trim the plasti-dip from the gauge cup area if need be when I install them. HOPEFULLY I won't snag an edge and start the peel. I'm hoping to spray it soon, but as damn cold as it is, and the way this stuff lays out, it needs to be warm. I'm actually gonna do it in my living room...... lol I'll lyk how that turns out. In the living room? !!! I can tell how that would turn out at my house... ...DIVORCE!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceVance Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I can tell how that would turn out at my house... ...DIVORCE!! Reminds me of the time my wife came home to find me baking parts in the oven (I was taking the lenses off my tail light assemblys, worked really well actually...) she was NOT happy about the melting plastic smell our place had... Oh well! She got over it, I was baking primer the next week! ...while she was at work of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kce Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 i sure am going to give it a try, and for the guy who neglected to buy bumper repair and got two part epoxy instead, ever think thats why yours cracks This seems like a pretty decent method to repair the cracks in the dash if done right. Maybe the key is to use a material that can expand and contract with the dash? It would be interesting to see a long term durability comparison between using the foam and bumper compound method and the fiberglass method. I've tried using fiberglass (cloth and compound) to repair a broken console but as soon the plastic on the console flexed the fiberglass just pealed off. The plastic on the console was sanded to try provide more surface area for adhesion, but it was still a no-go. Has anyone considered using fiberglass filer? It's basically like Bondo except with fiberglass fibers mixed in with it. The big benefit over fiberglass cloth and resin is that it is sand-able. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ritrebor Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 When I did my dash like the OP, mine kept cracking before i was done. I did mine about 10 times over. I found that by taking out all but 3 or 4 screws to hold the dash to the metal frame it stopped the cracking. Seems that all the screws put a lot of pressure on an old brittle dash. Mine hasn't cracked since I did it. Going on about a year now. ritrebor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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