Dash Cap Restoration

[elowsma]

1978 Wagoneer Blue Dash Cap - Vinyl is 40 years old and not in the best shape. Have some restoration ideas? I was thinking of making a foam mold of it (not sure of the foam I would use) and capping in with upholstery vinyl blue as close as I can get to original. Not really sure.

[Full Size Jeeper]

Go to the build threads and look at the last few pages of Kaiserjeeps thread. He just recovered a dash pad and gives a lot of details on materials and technique.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Thanks FSJer. This thread caught my eye. Essentially you want to get rid of all high spots by sanding off. Then using something like the 3M product fill all low spots. The 3M stuff was fantastic. But get the adhesion promoter. I didn't and lots of sanding made heat that had a tendency to pull the edges up. When I stopped sanding and went to a different spot then returned, it went fine.
For glue use Fast tack 92. It is a high temp interior headliner glue and it is probably one of the only glues that will hold up under the heat a dash will experience. And you will need to find an extremely flexible vinyl. The more flex capability the better. Sorry but I don't know the brand of what I bought. It had been sitting around for quite a while till I had the time to attempt a recover. The glue sprays out in a 3/4 to one inch wide spray. I could see the ridges from overlap after applying the skin. I smoothed them out with a 4 inch wide rubber linoleum roller. If I could redo it I would buy a cheap HF spray gun and try to find fast tack 92 in bulk and get a 4 inch wide spray and apply it very carefully. Be prepared for some smoothing while the glue is fresh.

Sharp transitions can be tough to keep the detail. Valleys can lift from tension and that does not look good. I did not post it but had to drill out a tunnel under one of the defroster edges and fill it with RTV. Then squeeze it all back out and very lightly clamp a plate of plastic with all the sharp edges sanded off till it hardened. It worked great and for the next pad I am considering making full length clamping jigs to make excellent detail on the defroster openings.
With some prep you can do it. The other most important thing is a very good wipe down before you do any repair work. Naptha is good and removing any oils or heaven forbid armour all (armour aweful) is paramount to keeping the fill repairs and the final skin attached.
Good luck and post up for others to learn. Even if it is not what you had hoped for. But I am confident in you.... Go for it.

[elowsma]

Good Lead!

Thanks for the input. I am pulling my ideas together for this one. KaiserJeeps, did you use a fabric type vinyl or more of a plastic type that the FSJ already has?