LUVTruck.com

Have a 75 Luv and have checked for a repro dash.A company in Australia was making them but quit and destroyed the dyes. Any ideas or link?
I was thinking of patching it with expanding foam or Kitty Hair bondo. I then would put the vinyl dash-cover or a felt one.
Any comments would be appreciated.

Do a search of the site on dash or dash repair and you should find a bunch of info on what other people have done. I am hoping I can maybe get reproduction dashes made someday and I have done a lot of research, but it just might not be cost effective to have them made. I need to check with some more companies yet to really know for sure. I have a brand new dash still in the Isuzu box and none of the areas have even been cut out of it for the ash tray and gauge cluster and glove box. I am hoping to make use of this for molds someday, but like I said, I have to do some more studying to see if it will even be worth it. There is no doubt they can be made, but we don't want to have to pay like $800 for one either!

Here is a couple pics of my dash.

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http://www.purerockradio.net/

Fancy!
My dash is beyond hope in saving, I'm thinking of ripping off the pads and skinning it with aluminum, then covering it in something plush to give it a nice feel. Something like a foam with a cheaper knock off of alcantara.

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1975 Project LUV
It's ALIVE!

I know a guy that runs a plastic molding factory.Maybe I should and see how much it would cost to develop something like this. talk to him

Well the dash process is actually polyurethane injection molding and it is pretty pricey. There is no plastic there, just the covering is vinyl. I have been doing some research now for a couple years or so and the molds themselves would be thousands of dollars. I want to check with more manufacturers, so I could always check with the person you know and see what they can do. If you want to PM me with some contact info I will see what they say. Right now with the economy down, I am a little hesitant to invest in this, but if they could be done for a reasonable price, then I will do it. But so far from what info I have gathered, it wouldn't be worth it, so that is why I want to check with some more manufacturers.

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http://www.purerockradio.net/

I have one that I removed from my sons truck in my shop. I'm going to experiment with Plastice...superplastic and such to see if i can make a quality repair to make it at least look decent. Dashes and rocker panels are two difficult things to find. I made the rocker panels..can't make a dash though. Good luck.

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In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

If your experiment works,post it so I can take a look at it please!

I look at it this, if it was easy and cost effective, somebody would be doing it already.

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Click on C.M. logo to go to my webpage


RIP R.J.B.

Very true Tilted. I guess what I am trying to discover is whether it can be done for a reasonable price. We all know it is expensive, but if it is at all possible to be kept in a price range where it would have enough people interested, then I would get them made. It doesn't look too promising from what I have found out so far, but I will still see what some other places tell me.

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http://www.purerockradio.net/

I'm just hoping to make a decent repair that looks significantly better than the Cracked, sun-baked, curled up dash that's in it now. Something that lays flat and that I can color or paint. Just about any repair would look better that what I have now.

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In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

Has anybody used JUSTDASH? Heard a lot of good things about them.

http://www.justdashes.com/

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I like it, but the problem I see with that idea, is our dashes are only foam and vinyl. No plastic or metal backing. Then again, they might have fix for our dashes also.

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

I'm going to try a fishing lure mold product. It dries pliable, maintains it's "rubbery" characteristics, can be shaped and supposedly painted...hopefully I can find an upholstery shop to cover it when I'm done. My dash is bad ebough shape that it will be hard to make it look any worse.

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In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

i called just dashes to have an overhead console recovered . it was about 24x4 and just to reskin it they wanted $350, this was 2 years ago

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My old but now gone Luv...

I googled dash repair and so guy had used the two part epoxy to fix plastic bumpers after sanding down the cracks.Next he spayed it with two coats of bed liner,sanded it ,then spayed his color on it.
Another guy used silicone and before it died used a vinyl repair kit to texture it,used the resins from the kit to color it.
Just dashes quoted 900 bucks before seeing it! I think I will mess with it myself before I do that!
I think I might just take some aluminum and patch things that are missing and put a cover over it.

Like I mentioned before, search the forums and you will find a bunch of info on what other people did to repair their dashes. They do also make dash caps that can be had on eBay for like $70. I have looked at the just dashes website and from what I gather, they just do repairs on your dash, not manufacture new ones. New dashes can be done, it is just a matter of can it done for a reasonable price of like $200 to $400 range. Also the question is, would there be enough people who would buy one? I know just about everyone could use a new dash, but would they want to spend the money on it and even if I could sell a couple thousand of them (that is being optimistic), would it even be worth it? I haven't even got to the point of asking about the materials and labor costs because just the price of the molds for the process would probably be 10 grand. I will certainly continue to do some research though and see where that takes me. I haven't been in a huge rush though with the economy on the downturn the last couple years and with a large investment like this, it is a hard choice to make. If anyone knows any manufacturers I can check with, let me know and I will contact them and get some info. It is at least work asking some questions and seeing what they can offer.

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http://www.purerockradio.net/

I know there has been alot of effort and experiments trying to make dashes look, if not new again, at least presentable. I have a spare one removed from a truck that I plan to play with. It's no good to me now so if I make matters worse then there's nothing lost. I have to believe with all the people out here and ingenuity we can come up with that we should be able to find at least a decent repair job. I'll have to look into the dash caps Mokadeth mentioned on e-bay. I hope to get someting done in the next two months. I had to drop my class because of work requirements so this is one of the targets to get done. If I get going on it I will post whatever happens out here....success (at least to my satisfaction) or complete failure.

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In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

This may not be for everyone, but I used Herculiner (The bedliner stuff) my dash. I had 2 major cracks in my dash. I filled the cracks in with herculiner untill I brought them even with the dash, let it dry, then herculined the entire dash. Since I had herculined the floor pans and the console, the dash now matches. I think it gives the interior a really rugged look. Again, this may not be for everyone, but I think it looks really good.

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1962 Chevy C-10 Stepside-Rat Rod
1990 Chevy Suburban

The only way to combat violence is with greater violence!
Trying to please everyone is way to hard, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake!

Just to put my 1.5 cents in. As in Dog Trainers reply, he has one that he REMOVED form a donor truck which will makes his restoration easier, if you can even call it easy in any form. Working a dash while still in the truck and with the windshield in place makes it much more difficult. The only videos I have seen to date have the dash out of the vehicle when being reworked.

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I've never been wrong! Once I thought I was, but I was mistaken.
Rick
Loranger, La
1980 Stepside LUV (Again)