Hey guys,
I've been searching for a dash panel for a Camaro in the Central Fl. area for some time, but haven't been able to find much. I've stumbled across ONE thirdgen in a wrecking yard, so I pulled the dash, as mine is falling apart in chunks. The one I scored has seen better days, but I still think it is salvageable. My question is, is there a way to fix the areas prone to cracking, and the places that are already cracked? I'm no plastic expert, but I am pretty proficient with fiber glassing. Here is the worst of the dash that I pulled.

 

Crazy glue.Mine has a crack on the corner where the center console attaches (right above the radio).Kinda the opposite from you pic.I crazy glued it about 15 years ago & the crack has not gotten any longer.....knock on wood.

 

I've been reading about repairing plastics like that but haven't had the time to try very much. The first thing I would do is drill a hole at the end of the crack to keep it from spreading. (That's actually a similar fiberglass repair method too.) Then from things I've read in the GM manual (and other sources) you need to identify the type of plastic and then perform the repair appropriate to that type. Some you can melt or use what's called a plastic welder.

What you have looks pretty thin so if there is enough room behind it you might want to consider a backing piece (or a series of cross pieces) behind it. That said, if you can hold it in place while you repair the back side (or enough to tack it in place) it's more likely to be able to repair it so it doesn't show as much.
On thicker material they also have small metal pieces or staples to help reinforce the repair. They can be found in places like Eastwood etc., or you can try your own. Even Harbor Freight has plastic welders although I haven't used one yet. You can use crazy glue or JB Weld as well which would be less complicated.

Hope that helps.

 

I was actually thinking about a epoxying a brace behind the crack and holding it in place with clamps. I bought a sheet of 1/8" ABS on ebay and was going to try and mold it to the shape that I need and glue it in place. I saw on another forum, some guys were melting the pieces back together with plastic weld, but I don't think I could make that look even half way decent. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

I used weld-on 773 to fix a cracked grille. Then some black auto parts store epoxy as a filler where needed.

 

Is the dash made of ABS?

 

You're welcome! I wouldn't even try to weld from the front. Just keep the seam tight and tack it from behind and do whatever else from the back side. Once you start messing with the front you would probably need to recreate the surface texture and possibly have to paint the whole thing to match. If you still have the old dash I might consider using pieces from that for the backing pieces.

You can find different charts on how to tell by googling "how to identify plastics" or something similar. There are markings on the plastic as well that should indicate the type.
Here are a couple of things I found with a quick search, I think it's ABS but I'd hate to tell you and then find out it's something different.
http://www.boedeker.com/burntest.htm
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hand...es-of-Plastic/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...AjTsIkTq0M#t=0

 

some of the plastic has markings on it. I know the plastic under the center console lid is ABS. Mine has an ABS stamp molded into it. I would guess the dash plastic is the same material but I can't be sure.