dash cracks

[pauljmcnulty]

I've had an enquiry from a member about a cracking dash (Gromit ) on an oval-dash model.

Not good, as mine is one of the first of the ovals and therefore is probably cracking as we speak...

Is there a repair? And, what are the implications in time or annoying squeaks of changing to a good used dash?

Thanks,

 

[Fen]

What colour does he need? My perfect marine blue and linen one is probably coming out very soon to be replaced by Paul's cracked one that I'll patch up and have flocked.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Don't know,

Just a general question, particularly as it will be a concern for a large number of us in the future and you can't supply everyone [][]

 

[Diver944]

When I first bought my Turbo I noticed a few hairline cracks in the top of the dash. About a year later I noticed they had grown, I can't remember by how much and how wide but they were then annoying me so I started to look for a new dash.

It took me about 18 months until I found someone breaking a car with a perfect blue dashboard, so I bought it for £100 and it took me about six hours to remove the old and install the new using the guides on Clarks Garage and Pelican Parts. I took the opportunity to clean and dust everything that came out behind the dash, and squirted some of the mounting points with Holts plastic and vinyl lubricant.

Result was a quieter dash than the old one [] There is a scary pic of my car minus its dashboard somewhere on this forum []

Now that I am 'in the trade' I know that there are plenty of Trim fix specialists out there that will be able to fill the cracks with a flexible bond and then replicate the colour and pattern to hide the cracks. IMHO it will be virtually impossible to do it with the dash in situ because the windscreen glass gets in the way of the equipment they use

 

[944cabby]

I wasn't aware that the oval dash suffered from cracking like the early 924/944 dash.
As an exercise i did try to repair a black 924 dash about 3 years ago (i would have used it in my 924lux if it looked ok).First off I coated the back of the dash with a layer of fibreglass and resin to strengthen it as it had suffered water/condensation damage around the vents.I then filled the cracks in the vinyl with loctite chip/dent filler and after smoothing out the thin layers of filler i gave it a going over with a couple of tins of black vinyl trim spray from halfords.
To be honest the finish achieved with the spray was quite good but you could tell it was just a "repaired" dash and nothing more so i didn't fit it.

 

[Fred Hindle]

I did here one time that the cracks could be stopped from lengthening by drilling a small hole at weach end of the crack, by small I mean 1/32 nd of a inch. Don't know if it works though. May have to remove dash or windscreen to gain access with a drill. I suppose you dould then fill the holes / cracks.
Cheers,

 

[Guest]

I tried one of these: http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8147

now either I'm ham fisted (a distinct possibility! [] ), or it is bleedin difficult to get right. its basically superglue with some cardboard patterns,some paint, and a soldering iron bit that allows you to match grains. I could see that it would maybe work if you have the dash out (To get to where it cracks around the vents and actualy work on it in such a detailed way is a nightmare), but I really couldn't be bothered to have another play after I'd had the dash out to replace it.

I chucked my old dash and found a used one (thanks to Graeme)

 

[Fen]

I have that Frost kit and I think it's really good. I repaired quite a big hole in the bolster of my cab's cobalt blue leather seat with it and while it had a hard lump to the touch it wasn't very noticeable to the eye. I have also used it slightly less successfully on my linen door cards, but the problem there was that I didn't match the colour well enough.

 

[Guest]

Fen, I suspect its a lot easier to use on bigger blemishes. I'll be having a go at the centre console at some point where the PO had a phone holder, and It looks like it'll go a lot easier. It'll certainly be easier to get to!

 

[Fen]

I think you're right, I just wanted to say I liked the kit in case anyone was put off and missed an opportunity to make a repair for £12 or so plus some time.

 

[Diver944]

I repaired some telephone holes on my linen centre console using the Frosts kit a few years ago and it worked pretty well.

I subsequently found a perfect centre console at a Husbourne Crawley autojumble, so swapped them over []