heres a little preview of my latest project. i had the 4th gen dash in for about a year and a half and i got tired of the fitment problems in the corners and i wanted to put in a touch screen lcd so i can hook up my laptop to it on long car rides and use the 10 gig of songs i have instead of shuffling through cds. right now its in its final stages before going back into the car. here are some pics with the first coat of primer on it.

 

At first, I thought the bucket holding the dash up was where you were going to mount your touch screen or a big freakin' tach lol. Looks good though. What do you plan to do to address the fitment issues in the corners?

 

awesome, great way to get rid of the plastic too. No seams either and options are endless with the fiberglass.

 

soulbounder: in the corners of the dash there were notches cut out origionally because the a pillar trim covered that but in the 3rd gen swap the apillars dont so i basically extended the fiberglass in the corners so the notch is gone. oo and the bucket is attached to the dash thats where my center channel is, like in the link below

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/car-...ght=bucket+sub

just messin

 

That looks nasty!! Can't wait to see that installed...

 

what kinda fiberglass did you use on it? ok basicly what all did you do to it to get it all finished up? i have them same dash sittin it has some cracks in it so i was just going to buy another one but maybe i will go this way

 

heres some pics after the final coat....

obeymybird: its a pretty long process to get it where you see it now. First ya gotta strip off all the plastic vinyl stuff and foam off the dash then ya gotta sand all the adhesive off. after that i drilled a ****load of holes in the plastic dash so that when you lay down the first coat of fleece the resin has something to grip on to. then you stretch the fleece over it, resin it, lay down fiberglass, resin. did about 7 layers of fiberglass. i first used short haired fiberglass to fill any holes that were more then 1/8 of an inch. i then sanded and used regular body filler. then i sat there for like a friggin week straight dry and wet sanding to getting all the highs and lows out. then i went and primed it and used glazing putty for all the pin holes and then finally after that i primed it again to make sure all the holes were filled then i threw down the final coat. whew that took a while to type. over all it took me about two weeks from start to finish

 

looks like a lot of work and looks like you did a great job..... "but" I would reccomend you repaint it to a matte or satin finish atthe most. The gloss finish will only reflect the sunlight into your eyes as you drive. just my opinion

 

tuske427: hey i was actually originally planning on a semigloss coat, but a lot of ppl told me that the finish on a gloss coat is much more durable then a flat or semigloss finish. can anyone shed some light on this?

 

how much would you charge to make me one? but with out the touch screen part, just lookin for the stock ls1 firebird dash in fiberglass.

 

ZROLimitracing, all 4th gen firebird dashes were the same.

 

i am interested on how it would look like on the final installation. even though i am a camaro fan but the 4th gen dash on a firebirds look pretty slick. put some pics on how it looks like completed!

 

i know they are all the same...

 

zrolimitracing: i dunno if im up for making another one right now, maybe later on down the road. cost in products alone was about 250 bucks. before i start producing them id have to perfect the way i fiberglass them first. when i ripped off the outer skin there were areas like around the vents that took off an inch or so of foam so id probably have to get a little better with close cell foam first. im kinda a perfectionist so i couldnt sell a product that i wasnt 100% satisfied with

morbital: haha im a camaro guy too i just like the firebird dash 100 times better then the camaro ones

 

I haven't heard of that. What I am aware of, however, is that there is a difference in the paint if you polish it versus sanding it and leaving it that way. The guy who painted my Belvedere (owns a body shop and has been doing this work for decafdes) told me that it is not a good idea to sand a part to achieve a dull finish. apparantly the sanding leaves the paint with open pores (for lack of a better technical description) and when you polish it, it closes them up. So, if you were to go after the flat finish, don't just sand your gloss paint- use a flat paint, whether a dull clear coat, or dull top color coat.

 

You or anyone else would have a good market if you just made the top dash part and sold it. The top dash goes for over $100 and usually cracks soon anyway.

 

well now the top dash pad would be a reasonable peice for someone like me to fabricate. two things come to my head when i thing about producing them, how many ppl have a 4th gen dash in a 3rd gen, and how would i create a textured finish on the peice after fiberglassing it. i know theres a crinkle paint and textured paints but like i said im a perfectionist and i would only sell something that matched exactly and made it look like a stock peice. is there anything im missing to create that textured appearance

 

actually, i'd be more interested in a non-textured top dash. I don't think the top part is that textured anyway.

 

that looks 100% professional and awesome... good work!

 

That looks awesome, can't wait to see it installed!!

 

That looks awesome.. Do you have it installed yet??

 

WOW. Cant wait to see some pictures of it installed. LMAO. I can only think of the way its going to change that interior COMPLETELY.

 

Do you sell these If so please contact me.

 

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