How To Refurbish Your Dashpad

[Grit dog]

OFB guy, that looks awesome! Nice work!
And great writeup. Thank you.

 

[Niori]

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering if anyone might be able to direct me to where I might be able to find a replacement 4x10 speaker for my center dash

 

[OldFatBald]

Boy, that looks great. I realized that all these processes won't work at all on my dash because it's not vinyl like ya'll's. It's a metal form and a foam pad and vinyl glued together and then the foam and vinyl together is glued to the metal form. It may be then put into some kind of heated press to cure the glue because it's the vinyl pad and foam that holds the shape of all the parts of the dash. I kept looking at what a good job you OldFatBald have done and then it dawned on me "wait a minute, my dash is metal not vinyl. I would have to either cover the cracks and splits up with a cover or strip it and try something else entirely different. Oh well.

Is the 74 dash really that different than the one that I did? Your description sure sounds like the typical Square Body dash.

 

[OldFatBald]

Quick update on the dash, painted the insert then gave it a matte clear.

Hopefully it will go in this weekend.

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[Camar068]

The flexible epoxy is good stuff but a little more difficult to work with as it has a pretty long setting time. It also stays somewhat viscous and moves around. I tried to level the surface as much as possible, but due to the shape of the dash I had to do it in two application.

The flexible epoxy is definitely more difficult to sand. I used a combination of a sanding block and my DA

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TotalBoat is the stuff I've been using on mine.....although it's been on the back burner for a while.

Great job, I'd expect the totalboat to hold up. I took a flat dried chunk of it and heated it with a heat gun. On a 4" piece, you could fold the ends together without cracking then flex it back flat. Then after it dried, was hard as a rock.

 

[CRM]

I've tried to redo my dash pad with not much luck so I covered it with a dash cover.I pulled it recently to rebuild the instrument gauge panel and have thought about trying again. After reading thru this post I think I'll give it another try.

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[Paladin]

I as well am going to attempt a dashpad repair such as these. I forgot to take a picture of it when I removed it the other day but it is really FUBARED!!! But I will tomorrow, here's a pic to show it's out, been doing a bunch of interior upgrades and no way am I going to drop 400+ on a new dashpad. That's just way to much beer money to spend if I can do a good enough job that I can live with it. And also have a dash cover if I can't.

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[OldFatBald]

Use the foam and total boat epoxy. Just like bodywork it is all in the prep.

Use a spray on Guide Coat (SEM) and sanding blocks.

If I can do it, anyone can.

 

[devin bianco]

I've tried to redo my dash pad with not much luck so I covered it with a dash cover.I pulled it recently to rebuild the instrument gauge panel and have thought about trying again. After reading thru this post I think I'll give it another try.

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where did you get your dash pad from

 

[WamboJambo]

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering if anyone might be able to direct me to where I might be able to find a replacement 4x10 speaker for my center dash

I bought the RetroSound R410UK off of Amazon and it fit fine. I remember researching it when I first put my stereo/speakers in and I think it has to be a certain shallow depth to actually fit, many newer ones had bigger coils or magnets and wouldn't fit. Just something to think about

 

[CRM]

where did you get your dash pad from

The dash pad is original to the truck. If you're talking about the cover, I seem to recall getting it from LMC. @$45,00

 

[Paladin]

Here's some pics of my piece of crap dashpad I'm going to attempt to repair! Been working on upgrading the dash cluster and also next will be installing new dash speakers! It's a never ending story with these old trucks isn't it?

 

[Paladin]

Dammit, forgot to add the pics. LOL

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[TPISly-C10]

found an old 90's plastic cover so i just unskin my old dash to make a better job on it and glue it tigh over night and final black plastic paint and send it!

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[TPISly-C10]

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