Ruined my dash

[EZ$]

Well, as the title says, I managed to ruin my dash. Through my own stupidity, and inattention I clipped the dash in place to mark for the brackets to mount it to the frame. Then got sidetracked by work phone calls, and forgot it was still clamped in place. Left it there overnight, and now, as you can see in the photo, there are two places along the top edge where the foam backing has been compressed flat, and does not seem like it will recover. Checked with the company that supplies the materials to Alex to see if they had any suggestions, and they thought that heat applied to a wet towel over the spots would cause it to rebound. Sat applying heat for way longer than I was comfortable doing, and no luck. It appears that I will be disassembling the dash, removing the vinyl and foam, and recovering.
P5050097 by Rick Paul, on Flickr

If I keep this up I'll be too old to drive it if I ever finish!

Rick

[PeteH]

I have the vinyl cover that came with my 289 kit, did mine in leather. I don't know the height dimension you need with the dropped center section. This one is 11 3/4" high in center.

[EZ$]

Pete, thanks for the offer. I'm not sure if the FFR vinyl matches the material that Alex supplies to match his glove box. I was going to get more material to do the trans tunnel cover and the back wall of the passenger compartment. I just hadn't planned, or wanted to re-do the entire dash as well! Mostly my frustration caused me to post. It's kind of a way to purge all my stupid moves, and hope that someone else doesn't follow my stupidity.

Rick

[Norm B]

If you didn’t apply enough heat to melt and harden the foam, I would give it a couple of days before doing anything. It may rebound very slowly. My neighbor is an automotive apolhstrery refinisher. I’ll ask him if I see him.

[EZ$]

That would be awesome Norm! I need to rewire the dash a bit to make it more easily removable, if necessary, down the road. Just don't really want to take it completely apart to start over. Thanks.

Rick

[Jdav]

I’d give it some time. I had the FFR upgraded dash and it had a few marks in it from shipping. After a couple of days, they were gone

[GoDadGo]

I'm sorry that you had a little issue, but this too shall pass.

Hang In There & Don't Dwell On It!

You've Got This!

[shark92651]

Man that has got to hurt. I was planning on arranging my indicator lights in the exact same pattern that you did. If it's any consolation your dash looks great and recovering it will take far less time that it did the first time.

[dpariso]

What will be the red light above your steering column for?

[Norm B]

My neighbour says, without knowing what type of foam was used to pad the dash, he can't give you an answer. He recommended setting it where the sun can shine on it and leave it be for awhile. Makes sense to me. Its an open car so the dash should be able to handle direct sunlight.

Norm

[EZ$]

Jdav, I'm going to leave it for awhile longer while I get other things done, and see if I get lucky.

GoDadGo, Thank you for that. When I compare this to what you went through, I'm almost embarrassed!

Shark, Thanks for the compliment, and I hope you're right.

Dpariso, It's for brake system failure.

Norm, I'll give that a try. I have a job that is going to take all week, so no work on the car. I'll see if it helps. Thanks for following up.

Thanks everyone for the input and ideas. It's actually been about four days, and I haven't seen any rebound in the surface. Just unfortunate to make such a foolish mistake. I guess I'll work on the wiring a bit to make it possible to disconnect if needed later, and then take it apart and redo the vinyl and foam covering again if it doesn't improve over the next week. Just have to stop making so many mistakes that keep slowing me down more than I already do to myself.

Rick

[herb fraser]

put a hair drier on it for a while ,should come out

[Chris @ Forma]

Depending on the adhesive that is used and how it is applied, you may or may not be able to recover the compression. I went to the school of hard knocks as I was learning how to upholster interior components. Applying contact cement by brush is least preferable. The foam tends to absorb too much adhesive and if the construction get compressed, the adhesive on opposite sides of the foam get glued together holding the foam in compression.

For heat, we use a Wagner Furno 750 Heat Gun paint stripper heat gun. Medium heat, high fan. Keep it moving. In your situation, I would apply the heat to the back side ot the dash so that you are heating the foam more than the vinyl.

Good luck.

Chris

[EZ$]

Herb, I don't know what I was thinking. You work with this type of application more than most. I should have contacted you. But unfortunately, I believe Chris maybe right. I used 3M Super 90, and may have over done the application, especially on the edges. I'll let it sit in the sun while I work on some other items, (more items remain than I care to admit to),and see if see if I get lucky. Thanks for the ideas.

Rick

[EZ$]

Well, it's been a few months, but I finally got the dash back together, and actually have it mounted in the car, Yeah! I had to make an adjustment to the speedometer location. When I put the dash together originally I hadn't located it with the body in place. It turned out that I couldn't move the dash high enough, because the speedo was hitting the 3/4 tube. Had to recut the hole lower, and patch in the portion of the old hole that was too high. Took a bit of thought, but I've found that epoxy and Rage are your friends! Anyhow, It's finally back together, in the car, and wired back up. Not something I'm looking forward to ever doing again.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156322.../shares/72th49
Thanks to everyone.

Rick

[EZ$]

OK, Flicker seems to have screwed up the picture post, so I'll try again.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156322.../shares/72th49

[GoDadGo]

OK, Flicker seems to have screwed up the picture post, so I'll try again.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156322.../shares/72th49

Looks Great!

[EZ$]

Thanks, now if I can just straighten out that rats nest behind the dash! Man I wish I understood the wiring better.

Rick

[Dave Howard]

Nice looking lay-out Rick. Where did you get the bezels from for the various switches.

Dave

[slpro1207]

Great looking dash. I unfortunately had a similar clamping experience. Glad you got it worked out.

[Jazzman]

I am sorry you had to do it twice, but don't feel alone. Others have done the dash twice. (Ask me how I know!!) It did come out very nice. You can be very proud of it . . . twice!!

[EZ$]

Dave, Thanks for the compliment. Originally I had them made at a trophy shop, but this time around, I checked with a friend who owns a FastSigns, and they made them up for me. Really inexpensive. As a note, because they are just plastic, and my first set ended up cracked when I disassembled the dash, I decided to glue the new ones to stainless washers so they wouldn't flex when tightened down. They also tighten down better this way.

Slpro, Thanks. I'm sure you'll understand when I say that I wish I hadn't joined this select club!

Jazzman, Thanks,...twice!

Rick