kozstudio wrote:
I thought I would add my two cents worth on the dash matter. Back in 1984 I purchased a used 1980 LUV in great condition except for the dash of course. The owner told me he went out one morning to find it had "popped". About a month later I purchased a complete dash just like the original from JCWhitney or perhaps Warshasky for something less than $100. I took my time folding over excess plastic into and around all openings then painted the cover to get rid of the heat soaking black. It looked great till about 1995, but leaving the truck outside in the sun did a number on it again.
Two weeks ago I decided to go for the dash toppers that are being sold. Mine came from JCWhitney, but I'm sure it's the same as all the rest. Anyway, I didn't like the way the dash had holes for the defroster so a person looks down to the factory grill. My dash was in such a bad state like everyone else has, that no amount of filing, rasping, sanding and what not was going to bring things back to the original surface. What I did was cut away and remove a large portion of the top of the dash up to the front area. I searched for foam core, styrofoam, and other sorts of things to fill in what was replaced. That was a lost cause. (Spraying on foam then rasping was also considered - yuk.) It then occurred to me that when we placed carpet in our house we used a first class padding that is quite rigid and doesn't compress much. Making a trip to the attic I found just what I was looking for so made a pattern then cut the padding to replace the dash that was removed. It has the same depth as the original dash and by laying the dash topper on top I knew it was a winner. Using the original defroster and speaker grill, I traced around it onto the new padding then cut it out. Placing the new topper on that brought a bit more cutting so that it wouldn't interfere with the grill that would be added to the new topper. (Yes, I have been taking pictures of my steps.)
My original grill was malformed because of the dash, so after placing it in hot water, it returned to the proper contour. The grill was laid on top of the topper then traced with a sharpie pen where the speaker part was to be cut out. I should have pulled the grill to the front to hide the excess opening the manufacturer made, but everything will look great anyway. The next step was to cut the topper so that it will drop in properly. That can't happen till holes for the small protrusions of the grill fit into the dash. Once that was done, I used the original push on clips to hold the grill to the topper. Since the left and the right sides were cut out and a bit large, I decided to take some brass strips from scrap I had around to drill holes into that correspond to the grill protrusions. The brass was contoured to fit the topper and grill so that everything looks like the original dash. Those brass parts need to be anchored to the topper with silicone or something else in order for the grill to become attached to the topper. I used 3M metal body tape since the glue lasts well. Once the tape was applied I took a DAP 35 yr. acrylic latex caulk plus silicone to fill in the excess hole area in front of the defroster sides. A damp sponge cleaned up excess to give the look of a smooth vinyl curve. What little area there is does not have texture as in the rest of the dash, but I suspect even close observation won't call it to your attention. In any case it looks tons better than some hole that allows you to peer down to a grill surface if left as the company made it. A day later the caulk is dry for painting. To add to the time a hair dryer was used to ensure there will not be a problem.
SEM Color Coat is what I used for the coloring. I first tried VHT but didn't like the color choices I had. SEM makes a Plastic Adhesion Promoter for problem plastics, but after trying some of the color on the back found out that the topper does not need it. That said, I sprayed three coats on allowing each coat to flash before applying the other.
Since the speaker grill cloth was all bleached out I used some new grill cloth I had on hand. The small metal strips that held the original on were difficult to attach once again so I used a toothpick and contact cement to carefully apply it to the same areas as the metal strips. That worked great.
After checking to see the topper would drop in place as required, I cleaned the surfaces with alcohol then applied silicone (twice as much as was provided) then slipped the topper into place. Everything is propped into place with tubes and towels. According to the manufacturer, I should be able to remove all the stuffing in about four hours. Right now I think I will go take a quick picture showing how it looks at this stage then follow up with the finish picture once everything is cleaned up.
What I did was not an immediate process, but if you're like me you want the right results. At this stage I'm not going to post any pictures even though I must have taken 25 or so. If I have wetted anyones appetite to try the same thing or if you want to see some pictures, I'll be happy to do that. My guess is that many of those waiting for a complete dash will rethink that and go for the cut out grill application I just did. Anyway, I hope this helps someone.
Kozstudio
That has to be the record for the longest and best first post . Welcome to the forum .
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