corax

Thanks. Now that I've gotten my feet wet with 'glass, I'm thinking my next project might be a center console like this one - just a bit different (lockable storage, full DIN mount for my 2M radio . . . gotta give a bit of thought to what I want)

michael1963

Yeah that is a pretty nice console. You an amateur radio operator (HAM)?

corax

Yep, I only have a 2M Yaesu FT2800 for now, but I just passed the General exam 2 days ago.
I'll most likely be working comms at the Olympus and Oregon Trail rallies in late April / May, and I might try to get involved with local EmComms in the not so distant future.

michael1963

Well then welcome to the wonderful world of Amature Radio. My callsign is VE3AKD (VE3 - Ontario Canada). I've been a HAM since 1994. I also only have a 2M ICOM IC-2GAT handheld. Traffic is very quite in my area unless your one of the 'good-old-boys', which I'm not.

It will be very handy to have out on the trails. Have fun.

Mike

RMA

nice man .. looks good thanks for the pics ..

on that shinny paint .. i painted part of my dash (around the cluster)a shinny grey and on sunny days its bad , the reflection or glare makes it hard for me to see sometimes . i need to paint it again also.

corax

Finished pics and I'm done messin' with it. I used some generic dark grey vinyl interior spray paint to knock the glare off. It's a near perfect color match and fits in well even though there's no texture to it.




just gotta touch up the corner of the vent openings where the paint got scraped off pushing the vents in

nv4runner

That looks outstanding! I particularly like the gauge pod.

michael1963

Keith, you did an excellent job on both the mod and the write-up. You should finish the rest of your dash with the vinyl interior spray paint. It would make the entire front end look like it was new. Just me 2cents worth.

Mike

Outsane

holly crap nice work!

Sleepr71

Nice job!A durable solution to a very common problem...EVERY 80's 'Yota I have seen has a cracked dashpad so this should help a lot of us. I was gonna recommend the Rustoleum vinyl/interior paint in "Charcoal Grey" as I just repainted some of my 85's interior(including the cheesy,aftermarket plastic dash cover) & the color is pretty close! Question...1)what did you use to fill in the cracks/splits in the dash before you started laying the fiberglass down and 2) what was the purpose of putting the "all-thread" around the recess in the dash(near the guage pod)?? I could also see designing a bigger & better center console w/ cupholders built in(should be less work & look better than metal for sure). Sleepr71.

corax

Thanks! I have a couple ideas for a center console too, just need to give it a bit more thought

1) I used some kind of rubbery glue and a clamp to fix the dash pad down to the metal underneath - when it cracks, the edges curl away and detach from the metal frame of the dash. After the glue dried I filled the crack with JB weld, but you could probably just stuff a little sliver of fiberglass cloth in there. Or, just leave it open, the fiberglass will span the crack easily enough. Definitely recommend gluing the dash back down though.

2) The all-thread was just to build up the lip of the pocket on top of the dash - made the edge higher so the pocket is deeper and things don't go sliding across the dash and onto the floor on hard turns

SK8NOREGON

Some good ideas, I was just kicking this idea around and then came across this thread.

JDOGG

That looks really good. have you thought about making a mold for it so you can make more and sell them?
I might have to try and do this.

corax

I don't really have the time or inclination to do that. I'd much rather see other people try to learn something new and tackle the project themselves instead of just buying a part

monkeyknifefite

Wow, the dash looks killer. Well done.

In lieu of gluing the cloth to the dash you can brush on a hot coat of resin then lay out the pre cut patterns directly on the dash and then wet it out. Keeps the cloth in place and allows you to fully saturate the glass on both sides. No wrinkling. Chopped strand mat is also a good alternative to cloth when working with complex curves, the dash isn't structural so you're not losing any strength and you get the benefit of being able to mold the mat around. You did an impressive job regardless.

I was tooling around with the idea of glassing in the bottom corners of my door panels cause they've been getting pretty beat up from me accidentally kicking them getting in and out of the truck. I think I'll give it a shot.

monkeyknifefite

And Stone Brewing is currently # 2 on my list of favorites. Both Arrgant and Ruination

Utah4Runner86

iTrader: (1)

Posting to subscribe. This is excellent.

MackMan83

Great looking dash gotta do this to my 83 sometime

Philbert

iTrader: (2)

How is it holding up? I'm asking because I did a dash restoration on my datsun a little over a year ago using bumper filler and spray foam (for the big cracks)....I textured it and painted it and it looked amazing....for two weeks, until the same cracks came back ;(

You can check out my write up here:
http://www.zdriver.com/forum/280zx-a...-photos-34182/

Also, I'm wondering if I do the fiberglass job, can I simply sand down my previously repaired dash, lay down the cloth and coat with resin? I would sand, prime and paint again of course, but I am most curious about applying everyhing WITHOUT stripping the orignal down to foam core again....and you didn't do that, so I wonder how it's holding up. I will have my window replaced soon, and was planning on doing with the dash in the car this time, since the window will be out.

Thanks

corax

It's holding up well. I can see one tiny hairline crack that started to form but it's never spread or gotten wider - most people wouldn't even see it unless I pointed it out.


I would guess that, just like paint, the quality of the finished product is dependent upon the initial prep work. That said, and admitting I'm no expert in the matter, I thought it was the fiberglass cloth that would provide the surface strength to prevent a crack from forming - multiple layers over the heavily cracked areas should prevent the subsurface from fracturing the fiberglass on top, correct?