How to recover your dashpad in 13 easy steps

[MarkN]

While I had my sedan apart to get it painted, I took the opportunity
to recover my dashboard, and I'm stoked on the realtive ease of the
job, and how much better it looks now.
1. Remove the dashboard from the car. Don't be afraid, it's not as bad
as you would think. Drop the steering column, unscrew 3 bolts on the
bottom of the dash, 2 bolts on the top, and start unplugging
connectors as you slowely pull the dashboard free.
2. Remove the dashpad from the dashboard.
I deviated from stock here, so do what you want. I wanted a smooth
dashpad, with no ashtray, and no grab handles. I sourced new vinyl
from a local automotive upolstry shop by telling them what I was doing
and accepting their recommendations like, "use this stuff, it's stretchy."
3. Using your handy angle grinder and a 36 grit flapper wheel, grind
away all the high spots on the dashpad. Also rough up the remaining
vinyl so that the bondo and contact cement will stick to it.
4. Fill in all the cracks, holes, warps, sags or bends with a
combination of bondo and thin stuff (wood veneer, abraded metal). This
is alot like doing bodywork on your car, except really crude.
5. Sand, Sand, Sand, and once you have the shape you want, test fit it
in your dashboard, and make sure that all of your edges are smooth and
that you've compensated for the thickness of the new vinyl where the
dashpad meets the dashboard.
6. repeat steps 3-6 until everything is perfect.
7. Next, I made a "stretching fixture" out of an upright chunk of
plywood that I could fit the dashpad over.
8. Using the fixture, prestretch the vinyl over the dashpad. Staple
one end of the vinyl the the plywood and the other end to a 2x4 that
you can pull on to evenly stretch the vinyl over the dashpad.
9. I used a hair dryer to heat up the corners a little to give them a
better fit without wrinkles.
10. Slop contact cement (I used Weldwood Contact Cement from my local
hardware store) over the dashpad and the underside of the vinyl.
Ventilation is key here.
11. Follow directions on the can, stretch the vinyl over the dashpad,
massage the corners into place, let dry in a warm place overnight.
12. Carefully remove from fixture and trim excess
13. Instal in car and glow with pride!
All in all, maybe a 5-15 hour project with very satifying results.
Since you used bondo and wood, your dashpad is no longer squishy, but
it is smooth.
Cheers, Miles E.

[dealadayray]

Miles E, sounds great, thanks for the tip.
Bill C