Today I pulled my cracked dash out and set about stripping it down. The foam pad removal was fairly easy; I used a flat head screwdriver and chipped off all the foam and brittle old vinyl cover pretty easy. Then what was leftover I soaked with some acetone and sanded off. Now I have a smooth plastic shell of a dash.

I want to recover the whole dash with one piece of fabric with a little foam padding underneath; like the factory dash. I want to cover over the clock and all the vent holes. With the foam removed, there is a small lip around each hole so I can epoxy a flat cut-to-fit plastic cover and fill in the edges smooth.

My question is: what fabric should I use? It needs to be stretchy so it goes over those sharp angles around the gauge cluster. It must have a matte finish so it doesn't cause any glare. It doesn't necessarily have to be black, as I am also stripping the interior to paint it a gloss silver. (white is too hard to keep clean [see my engine block!] and black is too gloomy)

What about DiNoc dry CF or matte finishes? Or are you opposed to vinyl covering?

I hadn't considered that yet. Would it stretch enough?

Use a hair/blow dryer and it will be plenty stretchy, not sure about the carbon style wrap, but the matte stretches and covers nice. Its quite a bit of work though and help is nice to have.

Oh what about headliner material? It already has a foam padding back and it's stretchy

Ok so now I'm looking at this flocking kit I've seen on a couple other forums; but with varying results. I found a Subaru WRX that looks ok, a GC8 that was over done, and an Evo X that looked like butt in the pics. Everyone responding is all drooling over these kits, but I'm not super impressed. Plus it looks like a messy job; spray the adhesive then spread on the fibers and let it cure. Straight forward sure, but messy I think.

I found a Korean company that sells a self-adhesive spandex-based faux-suede that I think will look nice, and it should be quick and easy to use. Today I have to cut up some plastic storage tubs for panels to cover the clock and vent openings and epoxy em down.

carbd7age wrote:Ok so now I'm looking at this flocking kit I've seen on a couple other forums; but with varying results. I found a Subaru WRX that looks ok, a GC8 that was over done, and an Evo X that looked like butt in the pics. Everyone responding is all drooling over these kits, but I'm not super impressed. Plus it looks like a messy job; spray the adhesive then spread on the fibers and let it cure. Straight forward sure, but messy I think.

Came here to mention the Flocking. Looks awesome, probably a huge mess to DIY.


Im leaning to this or just wrapping the dash in alcantra

you could always take it to an upholstery shop. ask them how and what materials they would use...

Great ideas guys. Flocking looks like it could be a big mess, and i'm not even sure I like the end result. Looking at the dash panel with the foam stripped off, it's actually really weird shaped above the gauge cluster. Wish I could post pics to show you guys. I am going to use a plastic tub cut up into strips to build it up and make it level again. Where the 3 Philips screws go in front of the gauge panel, there are 3 humps, then there are 2 deep grooves where the 2 bolts at the back go into the crash bar cover. It looks crazy all naked like this lol.

Also, from what I've read about alcantara: expensive and might not stretch enough to fit smoothly around the contours of the dash. I reckon that's why flocking works on every surface cuz you spray it on.

I busted up a plastic storage tub to make covers to fill in the vent and clock holes. As luck would have it, the depth of the lip on the dash is almost exactly double the thickness of the tub I cut up. So I made some shims for the covers and epoxy'd them all into place. I just need to fill in the small gaps around the edges and sand it smooth. It's not pretty, but I just need a smooth, flat surface to adhere the fabric to. I ordered some thin foam-backed suede today.

you could make a fiberglass mould at this point as well. DIY carbon dash.. the possibilities are endless.

I hadn't thought of that.... I reckon I could finish filling in the little gaps and I might be able to make a mould. Would anybody want a smoothed dash with no clock or vents? It would just be like a cap kinda.

Received my material today. I need some super spray adhesive, and I need to finish smoothing out the edges on the dash. The material isn't as stretchy as I hoped, but the piece is about double the width I need, so I should be able to fit it smoothly without it ripping or bunching up. Lookin for free photo upload sites now...

imgur.com

its free, you dont have to make an acct either, if you dont wanna

Flocked mine, simple to do, looks killer

Also, the flocking filled in a couple of minor cracks I had. I made a FRP mold of a dash before, what a pain in the ass that was, hahaha

Flocking looks like a bit of a mess; at least I know it would be for me anyway lol. Hinga yours came out great! Until I started this project, I had no idea what that surface actually is. I always just thought it was alcantara or micro suede or some fancy material.

It's a little messy, but the flocking itself is easy to wash off the skin under running water with no scrubbing. As for it getting everywhere, I was wreckless with mine. They couldn't send the flocking adhesive to Japan, so I used black enamel paint, which dries quicker that I thought it would so I was shootin that mini-flocker like it was a mac-10. Got some paint on me, but only because I'm an impatient old bastard





For as quick as I did it, it turned out beautiful. I have that temp vent on the top of my dash and flocked right over it, haha.

link me the kit, dude

This is what I have seen elsewhere....
http://www.donjer.com/

http://www.flockit.com/index.php/order/ ... ibers.html

This is the kit I ordered. Better to have too much, than not enough.

Minky dot
https://www.fabric.com/apparel-fashion- ... tegoryLink

You will have the softest dash in the history of dashes.

minky dot... only if its diamond pleated.. with buttons.

Lol some of those look like the color blind tests at the eye doctor lol. I gotta finish this thing up soon, some dude wants the car; but I've heard that a dozen times already and it's still here.....eating my money lol.

mmmm, delicious money. thats the elusive ae86's favorite food

I have no idea on how the application works, but it seems there are many different ways to flock a surface? Did a quick search and it seems the applicator voltage and quality makes a big difference.

http://www.driftworks.com/forum/technic ... o-far.html

Pics of your work would be sweet, Carbd7!

I think since most of our dashes are bunk/cracked, we should have an official dash refurbishment thread with various pics of different materials/methods/etc
Does anyone have what those 'dash cap' replacement covers look like installed?

The flocking looks pretty cool.
I was personally thinking about wrapping it in alacantara but I feel like it would be hard to execute an OEM type look
and when the material grain is not all going the same direction, it would drive me mad.

Mine has a dash cap:

That looks very fresh, Chuck! Nice.

Did you simply place that atop the original cover or did you have to peel the old dash 'skin' off and glue that one in place?
How was fitment overall?