refurbish dashpad
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Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 42
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From: lancaster ca
Car: 84 z28 ttop
Engine: 305
Transmission: 700r4 duh
Axle/Gears: 3.23
refurbish dashpad
ok I know theres a ton of threads on this. But heres my situation. I pulled the dashpad out of my 84 z28 and was looking for a way to recover it. It had so many cracks and crap that sanding it down was out of the question. So I started to tear off the cover material. I was planning on just adding some filler and gluing new material on myself but a lot of the foam came with it, Im assuming this is just polyurethane foam padding that has been compressed and deteriorated by years of heating and cooling. Now about half of the foam is left attached to the metal base. Does anyone know what kind of foam this is for sure and what material they use to cover it? I have some heavy duty 3m upholstery adhesive (yellow kind). Im considering buying that spray on foam insulation crap from a hardware store. Using that to reform a base and fix any missing chunks, then sanding it to shape and using the glue to cover it in pleather... Im going to align and test fit holes for the speakers and ac vents before I glue the pleather on. I also have another dash that is not in too horrible of shape as a guideline for my sanding. I just would really like to figure this out so I can do it for my other car as well, anyone have any new thoughts or suggestions?
Supreme Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,356
Likes: 15
From: northern VA
Car: 88 Sport Coupe Camaro
Engine: V6 2.8
Transmission: Borg-Warner T-5
Axle/Gears: RPO/GU6: 3.42
Re: refurbish dashpad
By the time you invest $400 worth of your time on the project, you will have a "restored" dash pad that is half as nice as the new OER pad.
That said, there is no reason why you cant glue some sort of improvised padding to the old shell, and cover it with heavy-duty naugahyde of some sort. The judgment will be in the execution and longevity.
If I were going to use that duct-sealer spray foam on the project, I would want to cover it fully with a layer of bondo or something similar before trying to glue a covering to it. I think the spray-foam is way to porous to expect anything you glue to it to stay glued for very long.
That said, there is no reason why you cant glue some sort of improvised padding to the old shell, and cover it with heavy-duty naugahyde of some sort. The judgment will be in the execution and longevity.
If I were going to use that duct-sealer spray foam on the project, I would want to cover it fully with a layer of bondo or something similar before trying to glue a covering to it. I think the spray-foam is way to porous to expect anything you glue to it to stay glued for very long.
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 835
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From: Pgh PA
Car: 89 5.7 IROC/95 LT1 Corvette
Engine: All 5.7's
Transmission: 700R4 (Roessler)/ZF6
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt Zexel 3.23's. CTW 17" wheel
Re: refurbish dashpad
One member here covered his in leather and it looked great.
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 6,636
Likes: 402
From: Oyth
Car: 89RS vert
Engine: Erod
Transmission: 4L65e
Axle/Gears: BW, 3.27
Re: refurbish dashpad
Not the one you mentioned & a year after the OP asked, but....
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...-dash-pad.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...-dash-pad.html
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