Ok I don't have a Third Gen, I'm poor and had to buy a Fourth Gen. Anywho, same old cracked dash problem. Is it possible to fix a cracked dash or do you just have to buy a new one? Are they difficult to take out? I've done some minor repairs myself and my father has repaired busted grills so I'm thinking maybe we can fix this. I was thinking some kind of putty, fill the cracks, sand it down, and paint it. Just not sure what to use that will withstand the heat and getting jostled while driving. Any ideas? Thanks a bunch!!!

 

Yep....here ya go! I asked the guy about it, and he said three years later, it's still beautiful. I'd think with the materials he used, it would be! I'm going to try this with my own. If it works, I'll have a pad to sell!

Dash Pad Repair

 

That is perfect, thank you!

 

 

That is a great link to dash pad fix's.

BTW, if you have a 97, why are you on a 3rd gen forum, 4th gens got there own forums, just wondering?

 

Nice link

We get all sorts on this forum, even the occasional Mustang owner.

 

that is a Sierra Hotel dash repair . should be a sticky , i know i'm going to try it . thanks !!!

 

We do get all sorts on this forum, even people answering questions directed to someone else. Thanks for your answer, too bad I wasn't asking you.

Knight224, I am just wondering. That is all.
Feel free to PM if you want.

 

I haven't tried it myself yet, so if any of you tries it, let me know how well it works. I plan to try it, but I have some time. Car isn't even in the paint shop yet.

 

That is a fair question and I don't mind answering!!! My first love was the Third Gen. But had to be honest with myself, right now I just cannot afford to put a lot of work into an old car. So I opted for a Fourth Gen that in theory shouldn't need as much work. Although I still had to put a good $1.5K of age-related repairs into her, she is now my daily driver due to circumstances that have arised. If I had a Third Gen I think I'd be in trouble as I have to drive this car through the craziest ice and snow!!! But anyway, in many cases you guys are much more helpful on this forum than some of the Fourth Gen forums. You have more experience with restoration, seeing that your cars are in some cases ten years older than mine.

Thanks a bunch everyone!!! Some day I WILL have a Third Gen.

 

Someone is a little **** off today. It was a simple statment and it was not like he was not going to tell you. I said it cause like many other post people say that and then it turns into "Get off this board if you don't have a thirdgen" flaming and that gives us a bad name.

 

Does it really matter what you own?
A lot of guys come here to ask questions about TBI's and computers cause no one else on the internet knows how to troubleshoot, program, or swap them.
I thought forums were here to help people, so why not help.

 

RS Reaper, I thought you were being smart, just returning the favor.

Water under the bridge

 

dosnt rock auto sell dash pad covers for like 30 bucks???? anyone know how well they fit

 

They do sell dash pad covers, and I'm sure they're fine for dashes that are just starting to crack. Mine, however, is REALLY BAD and the 83 dashes are HARD to find. So rather than going for a cover or the wrong style dash, I'm using that link to fix it. I started the repair work today with sanding.

No dash pad cover is going to hide this...

 

Let us know if that works, man. I'm interested to hear the results. If it works pretty well for you, I'm going to do it myself.

 

im getting ready to try covering my slightly cracked dash with black headliner material.im also gonna buy one from a local philly guy.once my project is done, i'll decide which one i like better and put it in.

 

Just a note I dont think hand sanding will cut it down the way it needs to be done. Looks like to me you will need to use a DA or electric sander and take off all the vinyl that has pulled away from the foam. You will need to take the vinyl back about 1/4 to 1/2 inch on each side. If you dont it will crack in a few months from the change in temp. Take a close look at his picture.

Before


After

 

blg0720,

What are you going to use to fill in the cracks? The link says spray form (which I think is suppose to be foam), but where can I find that stuff?

The Dash in my 88 Roc looks like yours. I am willing to try this before I spend 2-300 bucks. I don't know how well it will hold up in the GA heat and humidity. I waste more than $15 a week anyway.

 

You should be able to get the foam from Home Depot or Lowes. I am thinking you will want the kind that expands the least. Sould be in a can I think one brand is called Stuff. They make a few different kinds.

 

Good luck and please let us know how everything turns out!!!

 

Dang if they sell them for that I got ripped. I got a cover at the end of the summer and it was around $120. The cover I got is nice slips right over the dash and you use the glue they send you to put around the edges. I have not put it on because I'd like to fix the dash a little and fill the crack in hope to keep the cover as flat as possible. Some may wonder why I got the cover if I planing to fix the dash. Reason is the Speaker are is way to cracked to fix and the cover has a hole design over the speakers that will hide this. Hope that helps a little. If I remember were I got mine I'm post it.
P.S. my cover covers the entire dash but I will say I don't think it will work on a 83. Also you can check out pictures on my Cardomain but I'm told that you need a nice computer screen to really see it.

 

I've just started sanding mine today with a hand sander, and you can tell if you look closely. I'm going to try to fix it, but if it doesn't work, nothing lost, right?

I'm going to try to work on it for a good part of this weekend, and I'll try to take my vinyl back. I worked on it only for about 20 minutes and it took a good bit back. At least now if you run your hand over it, it's smooth. As for the foam, I have to go to Lowe's anyway and get more sandpaper for my electric sander, so I'll let you guys know about the spray foam brand. I really just hope it works, b/c the 83 dashes are SO hard to come by! Stupid grooves...

 

Take a look at this link: http://gtam.silvahalo.com/dashrepair/

From the same guy, but it looks like he tested this one????

 

sweet this is awsome. Ihave two dash pads i am parting out my other camaro so that dash will be my guinea pig.Was going to fiberglass the dash but I would prefer this way.Will post pics this weekend.

 

it looks like the posted dash repair works great,but i dont know how the bedliner spray will look in a 3rd gen.how does it match up to the original vinyl as far as looks.has anyone tried leveling out the pad and recovering with vinyl dash material?im trying to go for as close to factory as possible,without shelling out the rediculous cash most people ask for.

 

Not sure yet...I went with Matte Black bedliner spray and Matte black vinyl paint. The bedliner is only used to give it the texture.

The way I see it...If it works, I've spent $15 and restored my original dash beautifully. If it doesn't, I haven't lost more than $15 and my dash was already crap anyway.

 

Don't bother with bedliner spray. Goto an industrial body shop supplier and buy a can of rubberized interior panel spray. It looks 100 times better.

 

i guess i could test the bedliner and vinyl paint on some junk lying around and see if the texture and color works.

 

Hope someone tries this. I'd love to see the pics of the result. Thinking of doing it, but I'd like to see someone else's result before I attempt it.

 

I got started on it dont be afraid to try if all else fails just put a cap on it. I should have it done in a week or so waiting on some warm weather to spray it.I post some pics when its done.

 

I cut the cracks out today and sprayed the foam. After about 2 hours I shaved the foam down. Tomorrow after work i will apply the bondo and sand it down. Tuesday I will spray the bed liner. If the sun is still out I will take pics and post. Pics by wednesday for sure.

 

I have started this too.. i originally had wrapped my dash in vinyl.. it look great.. but the cracks casued air bubbles after a few days so i ripped it off and am trying this.. I took probably 100 pics so far.. i used Great Foam to fill in the cracks.. cut the excess foam after drying, Filed and sanded smooth and am now adding bondo to the entire dash and may just paint it flat black or go for more of a customized look and actually do a base/clear on it. When its all said and done i'll make a thread and post the pics. Good luck to all who are doing this.

 

I did this over the weekend and I must say I'm pleased with the results. As far as I'm concerned the bedliner texture looks great. It's closer to the texture of the gauge trim now instead of the original pad, but the dash cover I had on before didn't have the stock texture either.
I don't how experienced everyone is with pulling out the pad but when I did I broke off some of the studs holding my speaker covers. So be careful and make sure you've lifted the pad up a little before you pull it out.

 

I'll probably do a VERY light coat of bedliner material, and then just paint it with the vinyl paint. That will be close to the original finish, and if I have to do it again, it's because I didn't protect it well enough.

 

Well I thought I was done but I went out and looked at it today and noticed a few rough spots. First timer with bondo. So I sand it down and refilled the spots. I will be spraying the liner again in a few minutes and pics will be up tonight or tomorrow after work.

 

what did he use to fill in the gaps? looks like some sort of glue. does anyone have the full name of the product? i cant really see it in the link.

 

From what I can tell in the link, it looks like Maxim Urethane Adhesive. Advance (at least mine) didn't have it. Didn't check Auto Zone, tho.

 

really looking into this, my dash looks like hell and money is tight.

thanks.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Evercoat-Maxim-M...25074008r28399

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/p..._mmc=undefined

 

Hmmm...$10 versus $25...lemme think about this one... LOL

Thanks, Kris! Now I can get going on my dash!! WOOHOO!

 

This is what I used but I recommend a different Bedliner spray. It looks good but feels a little rough.

 

Looks like different sized containers

 

I used the Great Stuff foam and Bondo as well. You have to be careful though because the original dash material and the foam/Bondo have different expansion rates in the heat. If you feather your Bondo out too close to the cracks your Bondo will crack when things heat up. I'm pretty sure that's why he switched to using the adhesive but I couldn't find any so I went with the foam.

 

Yeah...I think if you look at the second attempt, it looks like he's fixing the first attempt he made where it has cracked again...it looks like the same dash!

I'm going with the urethane adhesive method. It will give me something to do while the car is in the body shop.

 

I'm going with the first method posted.. anything can look better than my cracked dash.. Its just going to be temp anyway.. i have a little more bondo to add and finish sanding them i going to most likely put some bedline spray down.

 

i was going to fiberglass over mine but this looks a hell of a lot easier, anybody try the rubber paint, i would think that bed liner paint would kill your hands if you rub up on it

 

The bedliner paint is just to give it a little texture. I got matte paint and I think it's going to work pretty nicely. Plus, it gives me something to do while my car's in the body shop.

 

i understand that the bed liner paint is for texture, yet it is very rough, a little slip and your knuckles would be killing you.

however when i think of bed linner paint i am thinking that i would feel like rhino linning. is it? and secondly is he spraying vinyl paint over the truck bed linning? lastly does that take the roughness out of it?

i know that you need a textured look to make it look right but if it comes out as rough as rhino linning there has to be a better material to use. please correct me on this

 

I just started on mine a few minutes ago. I spent about 15-20 minutes sanding down all the vinyl. I must say I kind of like how smooth the dashpad is this way. lol. I am letting the "Great Stuff" sit at the moment, waiting for it to expand and harden. I really hope it works, because it just looks like one bif mess at the moment.