here we are, the vinyl wrapped dash i've been talking about. here's a few pictures (sorry modem users, oh wait, i'm a modem user )



and here's a write up on how to do it:

vinyl dash recover "mod" :

what you'll need:

- vinyl material in the color of your choice
- spray adhesive (preferrably 3m)
- some kind of contact adhesive (i used automotive goop)

i bought tons more vinyl then i needed so i could do my other projects, here is the cost breakdown of my supplies (all in cdn dollars)

vinyl - $25.00
3m 90 strength spray - $19.99
goop automotive - (already had) approx $6.99

this puts my total cost at $51.98 (approx $31.19 usa), for enough material to do the dash, console, and door panels. less then half of what most used dashes cost. if you buy less vinyl, and/or a smaller can of spray adhesive expect to pay about half of that.

first, remove your side deforster vents and speaker grilles. i had 2 very deep cracks running from front to back in the middle of the dash. to prep the dash i sanded them down to be smooth, then wet sanded the whole dash with 800 grit to smooth it all out. clean it with water & a cloth after sanding.

i used more vinyl then necessary to ensure that i had enough on all sides. if you choose not to, allow approx 2" extra ay the front and back, and 3-4" extra on the sides. this will allow you to tuck the fabric underneath the dash so it stays tight.

spray the whole top side of your dash down with the sprad adhesive, making sure everything is covered, then *carefully* lower the vinyl ontop of it. spread it out, getting out any air bubbles, wrinkles, etc. you want it to look perfect! allow it time to dry.

next flip your dash over, here is where i trimmed the vinyl to fit. allow approx 2" extra ay the front and back, and 3-4" extra on the sides. this will allow you to tuck the fabric underneath the dash so it stays tight.

then get your contact adhesive out. apply generously to the bottom of the dash where the material will rest when folded over. do it in sections, setting weights on the vinyl as you go, and allow enough time to dry. this part of the job takes the longest, so don't rush! the material should fit snugly on the whole dash.

flip your dash over again, now you want to cut out your defroster vents. use a *sharp* utility knife or razor blade, make your slit down the MIDDLE of where your defroster vents are. the vinyl should now easily fold down to cover the sides of the deforster vent. repeat what was done to the bottom of the dash to the sides of the defroster vent, making sure it's glued down good.

and then, cut holes for your speaker grilles, and side defroster vents. they should fit back in snugly, so be careful! reinstall in car and enjoy! :lala:

 

think you could post some pics of it in better light (ie: outside) and also in your car so we can an ideah of what it looks like in the car.

thanks
anthony

 

the car's parked right now until spring/summer (giving me lots of mod time!) but i did manage to snap a few of the dash inside of it. you'll have to excyse the quality, my garage is kinda small.




and here's one more, the windshield was pretty dirty, sorry


and here's one of it outside in the sunlight



so what does everyone think?

 

looks good.

thanks
anthony

 

This may be diff w/ you having a Pontiac and me having a Camaro, but my dash toping material is vynil or some other substance similar. When you talk about Sanding, are you talking about sanding the old vynil? 'cause under mine I got padding and all that. I guess I just need more clarification (never attempted a job w/ this type material) on the sanding or prep work regarding the original pad.

Thanks.
And excellent post by the way.

 

Can you post some large pics of the corners? I'd like to see how you did with the seams there.

 

the firebird dash is vinyl, just a hard vinyl, not much softer then the rest of the interior panels. my dad's old '82 'maro was the same kind of material. i didn't sand them a lot, except where the cracks were, and that was to even them out. i only sanded them a bit, to remove 16 years of crap that may have piled up, and give the adhesive a better surface to bond to.

it's dark out right now, but i'll get some pics up of the corner seams come morning before i go to work. basically i wrapped them like you would wrap a christmas presant, applying contact adhesive underneath, and allowing the excess material to go fit between the bottom of the mad and the rest of the dash.

 

looks pretty good. I just did some door panels for my Camaro and I am currently doing the same to my dash except I am using the felt carpet. I see you ran into the corner problem too. I used a hair dryer on my vinyl for my door panels especially on the corners. It took the crinkles out of the radius. Instead of using foam padding, I used some thin trunk liner and some contact cement for carpet (when was the last time you saw trunk liner deteriorating). I used a trowel to put the contac cement on the fiber board and the trunk liner and I used spray adhesive on the edges of the back of the fiber board and stapled all around the out side edges with 1/4 staplesdid the same for the arm rest openings etc. I didnt glue the vinyl to the trunk liner no need to the felt is what needs to be glued to the board. Sorry no digital camera. But I must say they look sweet with the hand made Chevy symbol attached to the door panels all the material cost me less than 50 dollars.

 

wow.....we had the same idea at the same time

I'm just waiting till spring break to do mine. Yours looks top notch though - props to you

 

i think it looks really good. i would do something better to the speaker holes though. maybe wrap them tighter or something

 

Just a few tips... You need a heat gun to make it look a little bit better around imperfections, or use a higher quality material that can stretch in both directions (lower quality vinyl only stretches one direction). The heat, when used properly, can conform the vinyl around the corners and into the vents without showing folds or corner cuts seen in these pics. Not bad if it was your first attempt at using vinyl though. Good job.

Also, for others that may try it... You can fill in or grind down your cracked dash too before covering to make sure that you don't see it under the new material. Use a high grade construction adhesive to fill the crack, then grind it flush/smooth before laying down the new vinyl. This covers the crack, but still stays flexible enough to not crack under pressure if someone should put their hand on the dash...

 

Wouldnt an iron on low temp. be a help in doing some smothing of the vinyl?

 

An iron will flatten out any pattern or texture in the vinyl. It's better to use a heat gun (low temps and move around rapidly) or a heat box to get the vinyl up to temp.

 

the speaker holes are there because i havn't installed the grilles back in yet, i'm covering them in red felt like a headliner.
once the grilles are slid back in, you won't see the cuts for the speaker holes, they will be under the grille.

as for making vinyl streach, yes i have used a heat gun before to make it streach in corners. i wanted to have the folds in the side though , something to make the dash stand out that it is vinyl wrapped, not completely stock looking. they look a little better in person, i do admit that in the pics it doesn't look as good.

 

I think it's going to take more than an iron to flatten out that vinal. It looks like it wasn't stretched nearly tight enough when it was put on. In a case with something as intricate as a dash pad, it's important to use a good quality vinal that can stretch, and having the talent to be able to install it properly with the application of heat. If you know how to do this, you should be able to make a firebird pad look as good as new. I haven't tried it with a camaro pad yet because I can't imagine even the best vinal working in the speaker grills.

 

The best vinyls I've used would stretch 2-3" with heat!!! A basically flat dash pad hardly holds a challenge to anyone with experience with custom interiors or stereo installations. Newbies can get it done if they know the proper techniques...

89-28gp, be sure to get some better pics to sho it off when it's done.

 

You stole my idea! Did you remove the old vinyl off the dash pad or just recovered as is? Was wondering how a recovered pad was going to look. Did a good job!:hail:

Brandon

 

Thanks nice job but now umade me mad. Cause my wifes gonna kick my *** for starting another winter project I guess it is a good time to do it though the caris going into the shop for a new 350 and trans.

 

ooh boy, gonna be a while til i can get some better pics, don't want to get the car outside until the snow's gone

84 challenge: i just recovered the old pad, left the old vinyl on underneath.

the spots where the vinyl isn't very tight (windshield side) i didn't really care about because you can't even notice when it's in the car. the nice thing with an application like this is you can streach the vinyl to make the dash look stock, or not much to have some "ripples" in the bends all depending on what look your going for

 

Havent checked into it, but they have something called vacuum forming for dashes. I would be surprised if they didnt do a good job know what they can do with vacuum forming these days.