Fiberglass Dash help
 

Okay i have the normal cracks in my dash....i was wondering if any of you have just glassed the whole thing over? I don't want anything custom just glass the original. I've never glassed anything before fut i don't think it would be that hard. I've done body work and know the sanding routine. Just wondering if anyone could show me what it would look like or how to do it. Also what materials would you use?

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

We did one once..and I don't recommend glassing over it...first of all it made it extremly bulky...didn't fit correctl..andit started to crack because of the foam...we should have stripped it to begin with but the customer didn't want that.
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Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

so walk me through this if you got a sec....If it's not to much. I just take all the foam off and build up the glass?

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

Strip it down to the metal...grind it with some 36-40 grit to give the glass something to stick too...some people weld the holes up..some just glass over and gill em in next layer..just watch fir airbubbles..I have done it without welding the holes with no problem...one good layer of resin and matte should be enough..but do 2 if you'd like..i have seen people do either way...then. smooth it from there...
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Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

thanks ill let you know the end result, good thing i can get another dash for...20 bucks lol

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

I plan on pick'n up a couple trash'd pad's and try to see if I can pull off a clean glass dash.
I'll be watch'n this for any advice/ideas .

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

here's mine....

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

^^^^this one is awesome!^^^^ bet it would look bad @$$ in black

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

I'm hopin so...or whatever colour I paint it!

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

That is bad A$$ that is exactly what i want to do!!! Can you tell me what you used? What steps you took to get it that good? I know texasfunk sumed it up short hand but if i can get mine to look that good I would be shocked!!!!

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

looks real good! did you glass over the vinyl and foam?

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

here goes. first I broke off all the loose pieces and places where it was sticking up around the cracks to smoothen out the surface as much as possible. then I roughed up the pad with a D/A sander to give the resin something to adhere to and I wiped it all down with wax and grease remover. Next I covered up the busted out speaker holes with some aluminum foil tape, I also covered over the front of the dash where the trim piece was with some cardboard and taped over it. I did the whole dash in three sections, covering one section at a time in resin and laying the fiberglass cloth over the resin and workin it in with a paintbrush. When the whole thing was covered I brushed on another coat of resin to smoothen it out some more. You could add another layer if you want to, but I didnt want it to get too "thick" looking. I let it dry over the next week and then started adding bodyfiller and blocksanding between coats. It still needs some putty and sanding to get it ready for paint, but other than that Ithink it looks awesome compared to what I had!

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

this is what I used..the last pic is the fiberglass mat. DO NOT USE THE MAT! it is impossible to get smooth.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

so I should use the first pic of the mat? not the second?

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

yep right over it.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

The first pic is fiberglass "cloth" and the second pic is "mat". In this application you want to use cloth.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

The first pic is the resin, Second is the woven fiberglass cloth, thats what I used. The third is the mat, dont use it....unless you like sanding!....alot!

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

Sweet!!!! Thanks so much, im actually heading to the garage right now for a few hrs so we'll see what i can do!!!

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

don't rush it and you'll be fine.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

well i started it. got half done and didn't have enough mat....i'm going to finish tomorrow. Good news is that i think I did pretty good considering it's my first time ever working with the stuff. Bad news is that i didn't put enought hardener in it lol so it's going to take a little bit to dry haha.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

Without the proper amount of hardner (depending on how much you shorted the mixture) it may never harden...

The way I planned to do a pice such as this was the use the original as a mold and wrap it in foil or tape and then glass over that, top and bottom, then fuse the two halves together. I'm thinking of using this process on a cimpletely custom dash, but thats neither here nor there and to be honest, I probably wont have time to do it the way I want to anyway...

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

looks great mooseknuckles!

why did you cover the speaker holes with foil? i would guess you could've just glassed right over them once they were smoothed flat.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

haha...be sure to take some pics!

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

The speaker holes were all busted out in my dash, so I covered them with the tape to make it a little more level for the fiberglass, it still sagged a little when I fiberglassed over the holes.

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here's a pic after I was done fiberglassing my dash. I painted it black to see how it would look. you can see how wavy it is where the speaker holes are.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

Ditto on using the cloth versus mat. I did some work on my boat and the woven cloth is MUCH easier to work with.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

thanks after i posted i figured it was the whole speaker hole and not the tiny holes.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

mooseknuckles, why did you cover up the VIN plate?

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

I just wanted the two vents to be the same size and it was less work!

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lol as far as not enought hardener....it has enough just will take forever to harden. And moose ill get some pics today like i said it's only half done im going back tonight to put another layer on it. And ACEx if it doesn't harden then ill peel it off or just pitch it and but a used dash.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

Sweet i may try it this weekend.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

haha well i went over there a little bit ago and it was still soggy lol not really stiff at all so i guess i really didn't use enough....lol ....thats okay, i'm going to take it back off tonight and i bought more cloth. I will be putting the correct amount of hardener in it and go for round 2 lol

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...122_002804.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...122_002813.jpg
First layer of glass, I had to pull the other stuff off. I gave it 2 days and i went over there and peeled it off lol i don't think i had enough hardener lol but this coat was tacky when i left and that was about 1.5 hrs after i put it on.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

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Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

see "coverlay" Much easier.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

huh? who?

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

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Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

so i have to give money to "the best internet forum on the net" to post to classifieds? Ummmm no.

Re: Fiberglass Dash help
 

if you mixed it right it should be starting to set up after a few mins, if its warm! ........put it near some source of heat to dry it out. looks good tho..

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