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General Information => Upgrades (non engine related ) => Topic started by: trav1856 on May 03, 2011, 08:58:50 pm
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Until I build a vacuum table to do it properly with a full sheet of vinyl (it's like $6 a yard here)....I decided I was going to patch my dash and make it look passable until I could fix it completely.
It had the typical big crack near the vent on top, so I cut off that whole piece of vinyl from seam to seam, and cut out a piece and glued it into place, and sealed it with SealAll, then used Vinyal Paint and painted it all black.
Here are the results.
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r41/Trav1856/vwdieselnet/2011-05-03224902.jpg)
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r41/Trav1856/vwdieselnet/2011-05-03224847.jpg)
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r41/Trav1856/vwdieselnet/2011-05-03224830.jpg)
It looks brown, that's because of the lighting, I had to use night mode, because my phone doesn't have a flash, and there's only one light in that room.
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Wow, you did an excellent job, where did you get your supplies?
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the foam to fill in the bad part was old carpet padding.
To help even it all out, I cut out a 24pk pop carton (diet Dr. Thunder to be exact)
1 yard of vinyl from Hobby Lobby
1 box/utility knife to cut along the seams
1 tube of SealAll
1 can of Vinyl and Fabirc Paint from O'reilly Auto Parts
This was just a quick and dirty repair until I can take the time to get it right (I want to get a spare dash to try out the vacuum table method)
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For quick and dirty, that don;t look bad at all...
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I'll take some pics when I get it all re-installed. It was all maroon, I went with Black (black goes with anything after all)
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That looks very good. Want to do mine? Seriously, there is no shortage of threads on the vortex of people wanting their dashes repaired. You could make some money.
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That's kind of why I want to get my vacuum table set up, they charge 800-1200 to repair a dash I'd do it for much much less. Heat up the vinyl a lil' so it forms correctly, and then suck it down on there good and tight.
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also wanting to find some spare dashboards so that I can try a few things without having to take mine out, because I need to start driving it, because my commute bill is killing me in fuel costs.
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I went the REALLY cheap and easy route and put a dash mat on mine. I was surprised as heck to find out they still make one for a 79 Rabbit but amazingly enough they do.
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I went the REALLY cheap and easy route and put a dash mat on mine. I was surprised as heck to find out they still make one for a 79 Rabbit but amazingly enough they do.
cheaper than $6? I think not ;-) The vinyl was the only thing I had to pay for, I had everything else.
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I drove my car for over a year with no dash...
Your repair looks good, hopefully you can get some clearer pictures up to really show the details
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I'll take some more pictures when I get it in. Right now I'm trying to pull the tranny from a donor car and it's proving elusive.
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I went the REALLY cheap and easy route and put a dash mat on mine. I was surprised as heck to find out they still make one for a 79 Rabbit but amazingly enough they do.
cheaper than $6? I think not ;-) The vinyl was the only thing I had to pay for, I had everything else.
True.... not quite as cheap as $6. I can't remember exactly how much it cost, around 20 bucks I think. My dash isn't in terrible shape, just a lot of cracks that I got tired of looking at.
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right on.
I'm also covering my glovebox door with vinyl, but it's proving to be more difficult, there will be a little bit of uneven-ness to it (some of the foam came off when I pulled off the old liner)...and I'm kind of just doing things to see what and how they're done at present; to see what's possible. It's kind of a plastic backing plate with a foam form over it. I tried plastic paint originally and the stuff just stayed tacky on the glovebox door...(mental note...NEVER use plastic paint on the rubberized vinyl parts...always always always, use vinyl paint...$6 at O'reilly's/Autozone/Advanced Auto Parts...Lowe's *SAYS* they have the Rust-o-leum version, but it's hit-or-miss with them. I see lots of engine paint, but the vinyl paint was a losing prospect at Lowe's)
anyway...I've learned that using a hair dryer is good for getting the vinyl to soften up as I'm molding it around the glovebox piece. It may not be perfect, but it'll match until I can find a proper one...when I build my vacuum table, I think I may make some sort of low-heat oven to pre-cook the vinyl before I put it over a dash, to get it to be really soft and stretchy when it's time to vacuum mold it to the dash...
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I'm in for better pics.
One issue I foresee with the vacuum table is that the vinyl will have to have seams in some areas. I've used 4 way stretch vinyl in the past and although it stretches, don't expect miracles..... especially if you'll be using padding under it. I used landau foam, 4 way stretch and 3M Super 90, and it failed. All the concaved areas areas eventually lifted. That was about 4 hours work, down the drain.
Weldwood contact cement is a popular adhesive, although some said it'll fail when subjected to Summer heat. Most of the upholstery guys tell you to use upholstery contact cement (duh!).
-Todd
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I drove my car for over a year with no dash...
Truth, saw it with my own eyes. No passenger seat either.. Real Redneck Style. :D