LUVTruck.com

i have looked everywhere and need to find a repo dash pad for my 79 luv project. please help

Well, sorry but you didnt look around very hard on this site as you would have found out there arent any.

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RIP R.J.B.

yeah sorry to be a downer but there arent any new dash covers for the luv. i know someone was working on some other than cat but im not sure what became of that.
gotta get creative

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

On E bay there are some hard plastic dash caps you can buy, if you only need to cover the top of your dash.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

well, thats all bad then. my whole dash pad is gone and looks like hell

same. it looks like crap and that section where the top meets the front with that nice big 1/2" piecce of sheet metal sticking out is just sooo inviting to a passengers face.
im thinking about using some foam to get the shape how i want it and then using fiberglass to smooth it out and finish it up

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

OK ,,, I THOUGHT someone USED to make a fiberglass one piece race replica dash? I thought I remembered it being in maybe in the Motion or Alston catalog,,,,,

SRAD

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My Wife is faster than you think you are

I have a new in the box dash pad for my my Luv. Bought it from my Dealer before they became Obslete

So having said new in the box dash pad,,,,, I wonder if we could find a company to reproduce it? Or for that matter, would it be possible to use it to make a mold for a repro?
My thoughts ,
First due to the rarity of the dash you wouldn't want to subject it to ANYTHING that might harm it.
Would it be possible to lay the dash pad out and cover it with paper mâché? Repeated layers eventually reaching approximately 1/2" thicknes. At this point I would think your next would be to bond in some balsa reinforcements. Finally removing the paper mâché from the dash pad. This would provide you with an adequate ONE TIME use mold. Pull one dash from this mold, then clean smooth mod it as needed. This gives you a plug to create a fiberglass mold from, without ever subjecting the original to harsh chemicals or high curing temps. Then at this point numerous dashes could be pulled from the mold and depending on cure rates and warpage the mold could last indefinitely. Went this route a few years ago with some largely irreplaceable motorcycle racing plastics. Later a company started making commercial repops. So now the idea is out there,,, , , ,, who is going to do this, or pony up a dash pad so we can get it done?

SRAD

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My Wife is faster than you think you are

Quick note
On the face of things this SEEMS like it would be a pretty straight forward project as there are very few negative areas and the back edges of the mold would be against the windshield base and under the dash. The only two downsides I see are, this would be pretty labor intensive having to pull a mold then a plug and then build ANOTHER mold, but not difficult. AND in the event of an accident the fiberglass wouldn't be any safer to someone striking the dash, but hey, that's what seat belts are for right? It is possible that filling the cavity(backside) with black rtv silicon could provide some degree of support and prevent the dash from shattering.
BIG FRIGGIN DISCLAIMER
This dash is a REPRODUCTION designed for use in show cars and racing vehicles due to the fact there are no originals available. This dash IS NOT designed for use on a street driven vehicle as it does NOT provide ANY impact protection, by purchasing said product I release the manufacturer ______________ of any and all claims of liability blah blah blah

SRAD

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My Wife is faster than you think you are

i tell you what seems to be the best three ways of doin this: 1-buy a dash cap off ebay and before you put it on take out your gauge cluster,vents, and glove box sand down the bottom part of the metal skeleton and paint it to match your truck then put your dash cap in, 2- cut your whole metal dash out and make a new one and tack weld it in place, or 3- go get you some fabric and some foam like stuff some spray adhesive and a razor blade and put that on your dash however you desire

I was the one investigating the dash manufacturing idea, but I was not at all interested in any fiberglass ones, I am only interested in exact reproduction of the originals, or as very close as possible. I know there was someone here that was working on fiberglass dashes, but I am not sure what became of that. I was in contact with some companies and you don't even want to know what the cost of just the molds alone are. I am still entertaining this idea, but not with the economy the way it is. I don't want to invest tens of thousands into something where I may end up having to make thousands of the dashes and not have anyone want to shell out for them. I know we all can use a new dash, but how much are people willing to spend. I would want to have them as very close to original as possible with better material than the originals if possible so they may last longer. I do have a brand new in the Isuzu box dash that I forked over like $800 for a couple years ago with the intentions of getting these made. Once I found out what the polyurethane injection molds would cost, I held back and want to do some more research.

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For a good repro~ no more Than $500~ and that's if the wifey let me...,

I doubt most people would want to pay that much. I was thinking if it can be done in the $200 to $300 range then maybe. The Aussie dashes were like $600 with the shipping I think and apparently they weren't the most awesome perfect reproduction dash. I had heard a couple years ago that they were slightly larger than the originals. Anyway, I don't think very many people bought those, so I can't imagine many people paying $500 for one, especially the way the economy is. I wouldn't even be able to come up with a ballpark figure. I didn't even get into minimum materials for ordering and all the other costs. For all I know I might have had to order 10,000 of them or whatever? I only discussed in some depth the costs of the molds. If quality dashes could be done for a real decent price, they probably would already be manufactured by someone or still manufactured by Isuzu. The demand probably isn't there and the costs of production are probably not worth it. I definitely have not thrown in the towel on this idea, just put it aside for a while in hopes the economy gets better and then it might be more affordable for all of us and I wouldn't feel as worried on a super huge investment such as this.

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