Restoring Rusty

[flashed]

That dash is looking great ,cant wait to see it installed .

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Front Range

In High School I was in the passenger seat of my buddy's pick-up while we went to MacDonalds for lunch. Kids from our school had to make a 10 minute trip into town for "not-school" food. The truck was a rodded cherry red 1954 Chevy pickup. It was quick - like dry lightning, and well known on Main Street. Coming back from lunch, late for school, on a tightly packed 2 lane rural highway just outside of town, he punched it to pass a line of slow moving cars. By punched I mean it felt like the Boot of God came down and kicked that little truck square in the ass.

We snapped back into the seat, howling instantly up from a plodding 25mph through 65mph into 70. The next thing I remember is the loud BANG of the big bubble hood slamming back into the glass and cab, and then overwhelming fear. Time gets contorted, everything moves both quick and slow, pure adrenaline. I still remember that mind numbing blank windshield where the outside world should have been. Then tires squealing, the uncontrolled whipsawing, weightlessness... and that thick ass dirt & rubber smoke filling my nose. Ended up out in the field, no one hurt, and euphorically wondering how it was we were still alive when we should be dead.

I'm 48 now but still feel it like yesterday. Very glad you came out of it unscathed. Check for gray hairs on your head.

man, I love your writing style, and more importantly the fact that no one was hurt

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by flashed

That dash is looking great ,cant wait to see it installed .

thanks, it's been two hours and still not much in the way of a wrinkle finish, I will check on it tomorrow during the day time and maybe give it another coat, one technique they recommend on the can is to spray it than blow dry it, more as the news develops

[Robert8096]

That wrinkle paint don't do squat unless you apply heat to it while drying. Best to use SEM texture paint or if on a budget use the Rustoleum bed coating.

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/sem-...FdgSgQodHFUK2A

https://www.zoro.com/rust-oleum-truc...g&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Robert8096]

If you want to cure your hinge problem get a set of these:



Rusty will love you forever but not the wife if she finds out what they cost.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Robert8096

That wrinkle paint don't do squat unless you apply heat to it while drying.

yup, it dried smooth and way too shinny / glossy, i don't like it at all, and thank you for the recommendations, but at this point I have spend so much money on this dash with the JB weld as filler and specialized paints, etc. that I might as well bought a new dash, ha ha - so I am done dropping any more money on this thing, plus I tried the Rust-Oleum undercoating and it was horrible, I talk about it earlier in the thread

[Gregski]

I did buy this Dupli Color Textured Metallic paint before someone recommended that Rust-Oleum wrinkle paint so since I already had it today I gave it a shot

what do you all think of what it is doing, I think if I can get it to even out and get rid of the flat spots, I will be happy with it, though it is more charcoal than black, such is the life of the shade tree mechanic - I might could shoot it with the same vinyl paint that I shot the door panels with just to get them all to match

I am just sharing to see if I can help some of you out, maybe save you some money, or give you some ideas, that's all

[Gregski]

after I got tired of fooling around with rattle cans filled with empty promises I decided to take matters into my own hands, and my daddy's words echoed in the back of my head from the days we painted houses together, "the way you hide imperfections is with more imperfections son"

so I busted out the ol' roller and added my own texture to the canvas, I also shot it with some left over undercoating for better or worse, basically I used anything that I thought would add bumps to the equation, possibly even the swarming mosquitoes

end result = good enuff for a TRUCK !!!

[rgunlock]

Sorry Gregski, but someone has to say it. That'll do until you're ready to come back to the dash with a new idea

[68post]

Aww Gregski.. now ya gone un dunit..dang thing looks like gloss black alligator hide....

lol

How about a trip to the Fabrics Shop or Hobby Lobby for some kind-of skin or material you can stretch over it and glue ?? Naugahyde that puppy !?

[Robert8096]

Originally Posted by Gregski

yup, it dried smooth and way too shinny / glossy, i don't like it at all, and thank you for the recommendations, but at this point I have spend so much money on this dash with the JB weld as filler and specialized paints, etc. that I might as well bought a new dash, ha ha - so I am done dropping any more money on this thing, plus I tried the Rust-Oleum undercoating and it was horrible, I talk about it earlier in the thread

I hear you, the bedliner is totally different from the undercoating. The undercoating never dries and don't like to be painted. The bedliner will dry, leaves a nice texture and will give you the satin finish your are looking for.

If you were closer I would hook you up with a new in the box aftermarket dashboard that I didn't use on my project.

I'm with the others, scuff that thing up and spend the extra 30 bucks for the bedliner.

You're going to be looking at the dashboard every time you drive Rusty and it wll bug you if your not happy with the dash.

[68Timber]

This gets my vote: Cheyenne Pickup Parts dash pad. For all the time and money we spend on them, the dash is what we end up looking at the most.

[y5mgisi]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained they say. But in this case, you are either going to have to start over, or get a new dash.

Another potentially cheaper option is to get one from a junk yard and then put a cap on it. They are only about $100.

[daddyjeep]

I have been using the Duplicator Bed Armor in a spray can on my Jeep frame and bumpers and it leaves a real nice subtle texture. That is most likely what I will be using on my dash when I get to that point.

[SkinnyG]

I want to wrap the headliner and cracked dash pad on my '77 in period black diamond Naugahyde, but none of the local fabric stores carry it.

[deejaaa1]

at least you're willing to try something new/different. good job on the thought, sorry on the outcome.
it might take some coin to make it work but i'm sure you will come up with a low budget solution.
keep up the good work!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Chaplain

Sorry I must agree...not your best. Regroup and get back at it.

thanks for your honesty, but I must say the goal was never SEMA ready, ha ha

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

Nothing ventured, nothing gained they say. But in this case, you are either going to have to start over, or get a new dash...

Thanks, going to install it in the truck this morning and see how it looks installed, it really don't look that bad to me, maybe it's the light, ha ha

[Gregski]

my brand new Tachometer came in from LMC truck today $153 bones

I came to learn there are two types of gauges, used ones, and ones that work, ha ha

so going to install this bad boy plus the new speedo this morning and the dash cover, stay tuned

[midnight rambler]

The gauges will look good

[y5mgisi]

Now that's sexay!

[Gregski]

ok, let's get this party started!!!

first we yanked out the old speedo meter and took some pics of the old side by side with the new for comparatability

note the two stupid shinny goldish screws on the back on the new one, they are there to prevent the new meter from sliding right in like its supposed to, I had to remove them and toss them to get the speedo to fit proper like

[Gregski]

next up was the Tach-O-Meter, and where as the Speed-O-Meter is pretty much plug and pray, there is some fandagling that must take place to install the new tachometer, you see the new one don't come with the plasticky blue bracket in the back, so one must unscrew it from the old tach and bolt it up to the new tach

[Gregski]

the new tach goes smoothly right in the gauge cluster, if you consider using a crow bar to get it in smooth, ha ha, needless to say it needed some fandangoing to [ahem] "persuade" it to fit proper - but GM willing we made it fit

one thing that may bug some of youz and is worth mentioning is the finish or the different finish of both the new meters, the speedo is flat black and the tach is glossy black, it may bother some of you so I am sharing this finding, I believe the factory gauges were both a shinny

might be hard to tell in the pic, but here it is, again for comparison of the sheen

[Gregski]

yes we were having fun, and there was more fun to be had, so we moved on to the dash cover, The Greg caught some flack for underperforming on this piece so lets see if he can redeem his self

here he is installarazing the speaker grill

remember IT'S A TRUCK and not a boom boom Honda, ha ha