So when I say "front dash" I do not mean the dash pad that's on top. Instead I mean the entire rest of the dash underneath the dash pad circled in red here:



I've found about 4 stress cracks with the worst being where the center console meets the dash. Was wondering if there were any ways to fix them so I don't have to buy a whole new piece.

 

Generally, attempts to 'fix' cracks in 35+ year old plastic rarely end well, but if you could post some close-ups of the specific damage areas, maybe someone could offer some advice.

 

Valid point. Here's the close ups:


This one is the biggest and most obvious, where the center console meets the dash.


A small crack by the upper middle vents on the passenger side.


A hairline crack on the upper right corner where the cigarette lighter is


Another slightly bigger hairline crack following down this groove

 

You can try and fix these but they will likely crack again. You can have an interior shop try and clean and wrap the dash in some kind of material to hide them. Personally I would get a dash out of another car and swap it out. From the pics you have it looks like the rest of the interior is nice so I assume it's worth while swapping. I swapped the dash in mine 20 years ago. I had a gray dash and wanted black. It's wasn't too bad. I think either way it's gonna need to come out to fix. IDK if I'd spend the time fixing it, once the plastic it brittle it's likely to happen in other places on the dash in the future.

 

Those are all common places to crack on these cars. Mine cracked in some of those spots and I repaired by removing dash and using plastic epoxy and screen mesh to glue a patch on the backside with cracks pinned tightly together. Has held up fine for 15 years or so already.

Good luck finding used 35 year old dash that isnt cracked or about to crack.

 

I "fixed" mine with metal straps and rivets. Its held up and the straps have kept it from getting worse, but it was already split in half when i bought the car. If i ever find a good dash with little/no cracks. I will beef it up with the same method. This is the one i made for the center vents. The short one behind it is for the side crack that runs up top towards the rear. Where there is another strap/rivet for that back inside corner

 

I have picked up an extra dash out of a 92' IROC some months back in case I would need it. Whether everything will fit nicely is a different story though... some retrofitting and modification should get everything to work if I do have to go this route.

Also didn't know that 3rd Gen dashes came in gray! I thought they were all black.

 

So some epoxy, screen mesh and ensuring the cracks are tightly together while the epoxy dries? Thanks for the help I will have to try that if/when I take the dash out! I do have an extra dash from a 92' IROC on standby if I can't get it to work.

 

Not a bad idea for rigidity. Plus theres probably a ton of places to mount something like that to it for the other cracked areas. Thanks for sharing this!

 

92 IROC?.... No such thing.

A 92 dash is quite a bit different from an 84.... 92 was the smoother more rounded version ...

Camaro dashes were all black ... Firebirds may have been gray ... Not my area of expertise....

 

90 and up camaros have the half moon gauges. Mechanically the same dash, cosmetically totally different. Some birds have grey dashboards, but only partially, i think.

 

Earlier firebirds had black, light gray, blue or tan. Later ones I think are all gray. The non black dashes had black vents and black gauge bezels. The main piece had the different colors. All the cars I saw w weird colors were really low option models and between 82-84. My car came w a terrible looking light gray interior that aged really bad. All that is long gone!

 

Ahhhh gotcha!

 

While it might not look exactly the same I figure its fine... just some retro fitment, a few different button/guage covers and it should be good to go if it came down to have to replacing it. Apparently the only major part preventing it from being done is a metal bracket on either side of the car that can be installed from the 90'-92' Camaros. I'll definitely be trying to fix mine first though.

 

Sem problem plastic epoxy works great to repair cracked dash boards. If cracked all of the way thru reinforce the back pieces with some self adhesive fiberglass mesh tape and then coat the mesh tape in the epoxy. Mask off the front side of the crack so the epoxy doesn't leak thru to the front. I don't grind the plastic area that needs to be repaired and if you do make sure it is at very slow speeds, so you don't melt the plastic. On the backside of the dash where the repair will be made you can rough up the area with some light hand sanding using 80 grit sandpaper. SEM makes a lot of products to repair plastics. A short video on their webpage offers basic tips on how to repair cracked dash boards.

https://semproducts.com/product/dual...material/39767