How I fixed my cracked dash in my 82 Rolla Wagon
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:56 pm
the author rolla_rage
Like many cars of this age the dash had some nasty cracks in it from years of life.
What I did about it
(1) Removed dash, its not that difficult.took about 20-30min
(2) removed out existing cracks in foam/vinyl with a utility knife to give putty more to adhere to.
(3) filled cracks with a two part plastic resin (blue) This is an industrial product designed for making casting molds. you could skip this step, it was just my first attempt at a fix. it was too runny to fill the way I needed.
(4) filled the cracks with SEM polyester putty ($25) see pic (5) SANDED......(6) repeat #4 and 5.......and again......
(7) sand and lacquer thinner the whole dash
(8) now I had the problem of the repaired areas being smooth and the rest of the dash having the vinyl texture...a paint job at this point would make the repairs show very badly. so i fogged the whole dash with automotive undercoat ($5-10). holding the can back about 2-3feet and making even passes.
(9) once achieving an even surface finish I painted over this with SEM flexible paint ($10) see pic.
(10) Done! Looks great, seems fairly durable. I just have to see how it holds up in the hot summers and cold winters.
Keywords: fix, cracked dash, dashboard, old, repair, repaired, paint, 1982, 82, corolla wagon, 3TC
Like many cars of this age the dash had some nasty cracks in it from years of life.
What I did about it
(1) Removed dash, its not that difficult.took about 20-30min
(2) removed out existing cracks in foam/vinyl with a utility knife to give putty more to adhere to.
(3) filled cracks with a two part plastic resin (blue) This is an industrial product designed for making casting molds. you could skip this step, it was just my first attempt at a fix. it was too runny to fill the way I needed.
(4) filled the cracks with SEM polyester putty ($25) see pic (5) SANDED......(6) repeat #4 and 5.......and again......
(7) sand and lacquer thinner the whole dash
(8) now I had the problem of the repaired areas being smooth and the rest of the dash having the vinyl texture...a paint job at this point would make the repairs show very badly. so i fogged the whole dash with automotive undercoat ($5-10). holding the can back about 2-3feet and making even passes.
(9) once achieving an even surface finish I painted over this with SEM flexible paint ($10) see pic.
(10) Done! Looks great, seems fairly durable. I just have to see how it holds up in the hot summers and cold winters.
Keywords: fix, cracked dash, dashboard, old, repair, repaired, paint, 1982, 82, corolla wagon, 3TC
