These are some photos of my repair of the badly damaged 3 piece dash in my 1600 project. I wasn't willing to spend $1500 on a new old stock dash, so dropped less than $200 to fix the old. Plus, I just wanted to see if it was possible.
Items needed:
1 x horrible Dash
Breather filter, mask rated for toxic fumes
2 x Cans Padded Dash filler
Glazing putty – your preference
Assortment of putty knives and body filler spreaders
Metal mixing tray
Assorted grits of sand paper 300-800
Texturizing spray. (I would not go this route again, but rather spray the dash matte black and then flock it.)
The dash in the sunlight really shows the extent of the damage. Thing about southwest cars is the body tends to hold up well, but everything else goes to pot -- rubber parts, seats, gaskets, dashes, etc.
Large pieces needed to be removed to get down to a stable foam base.
The dash was very badly damaged. I picked off the overlay material and worked down until I found stable foam underneath.
More deconstruction
The nitty gritty -- used Padded dash filler. This stuff does exactly what it is designed for. It is quite expensive though. A small can is $24 and I needed two. Additionally, you must wear a carbon filtered respirator / air filter. The fumes are very toxic. I used putty knifes and body filler tools to apply the product.
After filling and worked with fine grit sand paper, can’t remember the exact grit, but don't get too aggressive, or you'll undo all your work.
Here is the instrument cover reworked with the padded dash filler, glazed and sanded.
Applied glazing putty to provide a nice, smooth surface.
I also used a texturizer spray from SEM called Clear Texture Coating. It is probably the worst product in the world - the nozzle clogs constantly, and it sprays fine mist and large globs at the same time. So I knocked it down with a few brisk swipe of fine grit sand paper and then finished the dash in an interior matte paint that sprayed a little too glossy for my taste, but...
The end product. I gave it a good test squeeze and couple of good pokes to see if the stuff would crack and it holds up really well with a good deal of pliability. The padded dash filler really is an impressive product. I may use it to repair my sun baked Nardi Steering wheel. I may still flock the dash board, if it’s cost effective.
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