OK, I have a crap dash... the middle of it it cracked and warped... not worth even trying to fix.


yesterday a friend gave me a cracked dash to help me out. The middle of it is perfect, but the speaker boxes are crap




my original dash has great speaker boxes, for some strange reason...


I decided to cut the speaker boxes out of the dash that came in the car, and transplanting them to a dash that was given to me yesterday. After that, I'll use this tutorital to refurbish the rest of the issues...
http://gtam.silvahalo.com/dashrepair/

 

I started by finding the seam of the metal that surrounds the box... there's two bridges that run across the box, both of those have to be cut




I then measured an area on the other side to cut out with a cut off blade


then ran a knife to cut the foam before I tried pulling them apart, didn't do this the first time, and I cracked the first grill slightly... not too bad, live and learn



the boxes all cut out...




Next step. cutting out the opening on the new dash, and placing these boxes in there while I'm waiting on the adhesive to be delivered.
http://www.evercoat.com/productDetail.aspx?pID=179

 

Here's the pics of the transplanted parts, along with another little part I cut out of the old one




Not much else to do until I get the adhesive...

 

good job so far

 

looking good man
i did not like the end result with mine but glad i did it because its sealed now and I'm going to rap it in vinyl going to start on that Monday

 

ok, sanded it down the edges with 60 grit paper and a hand sander, cleaned it, applied adhesion promoter, and put on the adhesive

I filled the gaps, let it settle for a minute, spread it a little with a putty knife, which forced it into the gaps a little, and then went and put another bead of adhesive on top.



now I wait for it to dry hard, then sand again before I spray it with the bedliner

so far I'm happy. It only took half a tube of adhesive to do all of this. If I had known that's all it took, I wouldn't have bought 3 tubes... oh well

 

before I forget to put this...this adhesive expands a little as it dries... i guess I shouldnt have put that extra coat. I've got a LOT to sand off now


oh well, better to have too much than too little

 

OK, if anybody does this... do yourself a favor and DON'T try to graft a part of one dash to another. It just makes this whole project 10X more difficult, and 10X more likely to fail. The parts where I jsut fixed cracks look really nice, but the grafted parts are hit and miss because of the tendency for the the new parts to lift once the adhesive under them starts to expand.

This project is going to look nice and it's still worth it, but I wouldn't suggest anybody do it to the degree that I did

I've spent most of the night sanding off extra adhesive, that turns hard as a rock when it's dry

 

Looks good and glad you have the guts to attempt to fix it, mine looks about the same, but I dont have a spare dash to play with.

 

ok, I got the entire thing sanded down, and came up with a couple more low spots (and one more crack that developed from handling it so much) so I had to apply another tratment of the adhesive.
Here's the deal, if you try this, don't feel like you have to apply it directly from the caulking gun. This last time (and it worked so much better) was to put a dab in a small plastic containter, mix it with a spreader, and apply small amounts at a time, working it as you go. You can get it more or less smooth in this stage, and reduce the amount of sanding (and handling) later

 

i think it's awesome that you're doing this project in your living room on the carpet. I hope you rent.

 

well you notice I had a drop cloth down for the messy stuff. The dust from the cutting comes up with a vacuum, no worries

 

after everything is sanded down, you can still see the lines of the cracks.

I'm going to shoot the seams with a coat of bedliner, use it like a sandable primer, sand it down smooth and then cover the entire board with a smooth coat of the stuff

 

looking good man i just got all the stuff for raping mine in vinyl.
i have to bring in some help with it the wife is going to sew a mesh on the vinyl for the speakers and the defrost vents

 

lol i'm getting the dueling dash restoration thread confused, i just posted on the wrong one

I've got the refinished dash pad installed.... It's not perfect, but it got a WOW out of my wife.

It's MUCH better, and I learned a lot a long the way. If I had to do it all over again, I could do a better job

pictures tomorrow. we're havinga NTTGA meet, so I should get lots of good pics

 

lol

 

interesting read. I would like to see how it looks. are you sure bedliner is going to come out with an ok texture?

 

the texture is excellent.... my wife got in the car and thought I had sprayed the entire dash, because the pad looked so much like it

 

pics of the end results !!!!! plz

 

I'll have them posted tonight. Thanks for the interest

 

here it is... not perfect, but considering where I came from, what I did, and the fact that I'd nver done this before, it's pretty good


the thing I learned the most was how to spread the glue with a spreader instead of out of the gun.. mix up small amounts at a time, and work it in and work it smooth, then sand it down with60 grit sandpaper and a small electric hand sander

 

looks great! Good job!

 

what kind glue did you use where from and the dash can it be revinal covered ? I tryed a vinal repair kit on mine it looks ok but could be better

 

i used evercoat maxim medium urethane adhesive. it's normally pretty expensive, but I bought three tubes from this person, which ended up being two and a half tubes too much. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

update on this thread.... despite my best efforts, and even buying a carpet cover to protect it, the dash repait was a washout... I wouldn't recommend anybody else try it.

It cracked several more places, and the old crack kept livting, even after patching them. I had to sand it so much that parts of it were paper thin.

oh well, I don't mind an experiment, even if it costs me a little money, which for supplies, this one did.. big time.

Just to compare, this morning I scored a nice dash pad on ebay.... $86. Now if it can get to me without shipping damage. I'll be holding my breath






so in retrospect.. if you are thinking of doing this.. DON'T

 

That totally sucks, but thanks for letting us know.

 

O
M
G

the dash pad arrived today. the seller trusted a packing company to get it ready to ship, and they stuck it in a loose box with no padding!!! needless to say, one corner arrived smashed... ARRGHHHH

Im not sure if I'm going to send it back or keep it.. it cost me $45 in shipping for that PATHETIC attempt, and if I cant get that back, and it cost me almost that much to return it.. its just not worth it

Im hoping for at least a partial refund. If the seller gets a insurance claim and he gets money, then why should I have to PAY to send it back to him? If he gets an insurance claim, then he would have the money AND a pad, even one with a busted corner... that doesnt seem right..


if I keep the pad, I may end up using what I learned earlier in this thread to try to fix the corner.. It's not on a big flat area thats likely to crack again, and if I am careful with the sanding I think I can retain the thickness and strength of the pad.

I was looking forward to finally having a nice dash pad... this sucks!

 

pics of the damage

 

not to worry you...but you should know that the shipping company can deny the claim due to poor packaging, everything shipped needs to be able to handle a 5 foot fall as a general rule. if it was in a box with no padding really they dont have to pay for it.

who shipped it?

 

oh man, that sucks...

Good luck

 

the packers were a place called pony express, the shippers were fed ex

youre exactly right, the packers were the ones who screwed up, and Im not sure how strongly the seller is going to fight to get them to pay up. Hes already got his money, so why should he care?

Im not even sure if fliing a paypal claim will do anything.... Im pretty sure he will give me back my $85 I paid for the pad, but I might have to pay $40 of that to get it back to him!


I hate this...

 

i believe you can file the claim for the shipping cost back but i may be wrong i havent read up on that in awhile lol heres some info..

Follow these three easy steps to file your claim.

Step 1:
Choose one of the following options:

* Complete and submit a claim form online at fedex.com/us/claimsonline.
* Call 1.800.GoFedEx 1.800.463.3339 to obtain a control number for your claim, then complete a printed copy of the claim form.


Concealed loss and damaged packages must be reported within 15 calendar days from the delivery date. Call 1.800.GoFedEx 1.800.463.3339 and request a damaged call tag. Claims can be filed up to nine months from the delivery date.

Most cases will typically be resolved in five to seven business days after we receive your claim form and additional claim documentation, unless additional research time is needed.

 

you were right in the first place... there is no way fed ex is going to pay a dime, it was packed too poorly.

literally... no padding at all inside the box, and it was shifting around 3 inches on every side

 

yeah you are probably right....just trying to give you some options, ive seen them pay out on stuff that they never should have lots of times.

you may try the company that packed it as well, you dont have to leave it up to the seller and it never hurts to try

it amazes me every day how many people ship stuff like that and expect it to survive... travel on a truck is no easy ride no matter how careful you are, all it takes is a good pot hole to destroy something.

 

Why would the insurance pay the seller? That would be like paying them twice.

Usually the shipping company comes out and makes a determination, and then you could go after the packing company or seller if that doesn't work out. I don't see any reason why the seller wouldn't help you get your money back from the place that packed it though.

If the dash is paid for then either you would keep it or the person/company responsible would get it but I'm thinking that they would pay for shipping.

 

good luck man that stinks hope you get at least some of your money back I learn some thing from this if your buying a a dash pad go pick it up and if it too far pass it up

 

yeah, I specifically asked the seller how he was going to ship it, and he said "professionally packed, lots of bubble wrap, and then in a box" sounded good to me. I know if it was me I could have packed it fine.

 

That sucks man, altough my old dash had a similar crack in the corner and I was able to repair it with one of those leather vinyl reapair kits that you can get from autozone. I super glued the cracked parts back as best I could then used the repair kit on top of that it didnt look that bad after it was done

 

Will a 3rd generation firebird dash pad fit on a 3rd generation camaro dash.

 

I'm glad to say that both of my thirdgens currently have near perfect dash pads... *fingers crossed*

 

nope, they are built differently

 

You just cursed yourself!

I learned to stop saying that anything of mine is good, or else breaks in the next week.

 

I thought about that right after posting it.... hehe

Well, at least the Camaro is in the garage for the winter; The 'bird on the other hand has to suffer being practically frozen to the ground outside.... It came down to which car was T-Top and which was hardtop. T-Tops = garaged

 

here's my attempt at fixing the damage... it looks better in person than in the pics

except for the corner, it looks like a brand new dash pad... now if it will just stay that way

 

That is nice! Congratulations! Wish mine looked that good.

 

Alright thank you what about door panels from a firebird. Will they go into a camaro?

 

Bummer about the corner, but all in all you have a great looking dash there. I doubt there are many out there that look that good. Can you imagine the cost of a new one... if you could find a new one.

Good luck!

 

put it in today... it's not mint, but it's by far the best one I've ever had, so i'm happy

 

I would suggest you spend $40 and get a cloth dash cover to prevent cracking.

My NOS dashpad from ebay was $200.

 

already have one, and it's already in place