My cracked dash repair
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:39 pm
Hello Everyone,
Like a lot of people my Spider had a badly cracked dash. I look into replacing it found they were pretty $$$. I also read in some places they didn't fit so well or required some shaping to make them fit. The dash caps seems to be OK for the price, but some people said they had a hard time getting the cap to lay down while the adhesive set up. So I went a different direction.
I peeled off all of the loose vinyl back to stable areas and cleaned everything real well. I then used a can of the regular Great Stuff spray foam and filled all the voids by smearing it into the old foam with a putty knife with just a slight build up. I then sanded and shaped flush. When I sanded the Great Stuff back it cut all the little bubbles open in the foam. This is where I then filled those areas with Evercoat Everglass short strand body filler (it has a little flex to it when total cured) and sanded it as before. The adhesive I like to use is 3M's Super Trim Adhesive #08090. I got the vinyl for the dash from a local deal that only deals in vinyls. The most important part to this project is to get good quality vinyl that will stretch 4-ways. I made the mistake of getting some cheap vinyl that would only stretch 2-ways and I had to rip it all off and start over. Also, you will need a heat gun to make the recessed areas. What do you think?
Like a lot of people my Spider had a badly cracked dash. I look into replacing it found they were pretty $$$. I also read in some places they didn't fit so well or required some shaping to make them fit. The dash caps seems to be OK for the price, but some people said they had a hard time getting the cap to lay down while the adhesive set up. So I went a different direction.
I peeled off all of the loose vinyl back to stable areas and cleaned everything real well. I then used a can of the regular Great Stuff spray foam and filled all the voids by smearing it into the old foam with a putty knife with just a slight build up. I then sanded and shaped flush. When I sanded the Great Stuff back it cut all the little bubbles open in the foam. This is where I then filled those areas with Evercoat Everglass short strand body filler (it has a little flex to it when total cured) and sanded it as before. The adhesive I like to use is 3M's Super Trim Adhesive #08090. I got the vinyl for the dash from a local deal that only deals in vinyls. The most important part to this project is to get good quality vinyl that will stretch 4-ways. I made the mistake of getting some cheap vinyl that would only stretch 2-ways and I had to rip it all off and start over. Also, you will need a heat gun to make the recessed areas. What do you think?
