First off special thanks to Warren, he brought up this idea in his thread about his newly purchased crack free dash, that arrived cracked!! Thanks for mentioning and giving me the idea bro. I put it to use.

WARNING: This is not a monte carlo dash LOL.

I figured I'd post it anyways because i works pretty good. it could be used on any old cracked dash. This is the dash out of our 86 chevy 4x4.

Tools and supplies needed:
1.Compressor to run die grinder
2.Die grinder, I used a right angle style one
3.Surface condition disc, or sanding disc, I used 36 grit, was old one half worn out. Plenty of others would work. Theese are to be used on the die grinder.
4.Sand paper, I used dry paper only, 36 grit and 220. 36 was old worn out junk just to cut it down fast.
5.Automix flexible repair compound, it's a 2 part system, designed for bumper cover repair. A little costly, like $35 for small pack(more then enough) or $55 for the large pack. I used half this stuff on my bumper covers before paint, had half tube left of each to use on this dash.
6.Some scrap cardboard or mixing board.
7.Bondo spreader.
8.Sanding block, like 4-6" long.
9.Grease and wax remover, I had some R&M left over, fairly cheap stuff.
10.vinyl paint, I used some plastic kote stuff from wal-art for like $4 a can.
11.Maybe some cleaning/primer thinner for extra cleaning measure. or tack rags.

Here's what I started with....
[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0968.jpg[/thumb]
You can clearly see how it's cracked.

The first thing I did was to knock down the cracks, since they were bulged upwards. I done this with a right angle die grinder and a grinding disc like 36 I think. I also broke loose the cracked or loose pieces, and used the grinder to smooth the edges. That step may or may not have been a great idea, doing so took out some of the foam underlay, which made me need to use more filler. it looked like this once done...
[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0970.jpg[/thumb]
You can see I had like 4 big spots to deal with.
[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0971.jpg[/thumb]

Next step was to mix and apply the automix compounds. it's easy, it mixes 50/50 squeeze out a line about 4-6 inches long of both tubes, then mix to even color. Apply just like bondo. it dires in about 30 minutes and can be sanded. once that was done I needed more because I had low spots. i sanded mine with a rubber snading block and some 36 grit paper on it, using an X-pattern, like blocking a body down to keep it flat and level.
[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0976.jpg[/thumb]

Now since I had used half of the automix i ran out, and mainly due to the fact that I cut into the foam too deep, left me short on the automix. I used some glazing putty to fill in some low spots, I wouldn't recomend it though, by all means if you can use the automix as the only filler. Once I had it all sanded and smooth I took it outside, wiped it down with the grease and wax remover, then followed that with some laquer thinner, just to be safe. I knew I had alot of armor all on the dash.
[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0977.jpg[/thumb]
[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0979.jpg[/thumb]

I laid it out in the sun to warm it up also, next I shook up the vinyl paint, and sprayed it using light coats, then allowed some dry time between coats, just a minute or two. it dried very quick. I put about 4-6 coats on it total, I noticed it you got it on too heavy it would fisheye/seperate, but would dry out smooth. So light coats is the key. once you get a few coats on, you can get a little heavier with the coats. Just watch yourself, don't get too carried away or it could run or seperate badly. Here's how it looks now....

[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0986.jpg[/thumb]
[thumb]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i209/alwaysbroke53/IMG_0987.jpg[/thumb]

It turned out really well, so well in fact I pulled the door panels, cleaned them in the same way as listed above and painted them with the same vinyl paint.

Oh I also broke out every one of the little speaker opening, they were all cracked and were only holes, see the first pic. I am going to make some custom grilles for them out of wire mesh.

did that dash have the texture our monte dashes do?? how do you dulicate that??
looks great by the way!!

I didn't, it does have the grain texture.

There are tricks to doing that though, like buying the vinyl top paint to do it with, or the textured(not trunk paint).

Even take a rag after you apply paint, and dip the rag into it to give it texture. I just left mine with the 220 sanding marks, and sanded the whole dash down somewhat with 220.

WOW!!! That turned out GREAT!!! Now I gotta get crackin (no pun intended) on my dash. My dash cap came in. Just waiting for a few other parts. Excellent job bro!!

Warren

Thanks Wwarren, I don't think I would have thought about it until you mentioned it, and I remembered I had some automix left.

It'll do for now but later I'm a get a molded cap for it, or try and find another dash board itself.

wow, hundreds of dollars for a new dash pad, or A hundred (if that) and a days worth of work. You all know what my choice is. Nice work benwa. this should be a sticky!

Thanks, it cost about 60-75 total, and took a total of 3 days to complete.

One day to remove, prep, and apply filler, dry overnight.

One day to sand all that down, reapply, and repeat like 2 times.

One day to wipe it down, paint it and let dry.

I didn't get started on it until like afternoon each day and only worked on it maybe 2-4 hours at a time so yea one good day 8 hours maybe plus should do it.

It may not be perfect but that was my fault for running out and not buying more automix. Plus it was a first time trail and error project.

Looks awesome Chris! nice write-up and detailed pics! Congrats on a job well done!

Thanks very much.

I'm hear to help.

I was really down in spirits about my lil project(lot of personal crap goin on). This write up really got me fired up!!!

Warren

No prob. bro.

Just a heads up for you guys I noticed that raybuck automive body parts has monte carlo dash covers now and plenty others. Montes were 80 bucks.