Dashboards are hard!, --- Let's talk vacuum bagging Options

[Bob L.]

Hello World, Happy new year!

I have removed the dashboard from the car and have tried to recover the dash by hand using a heat gun and brute force stretching//pushing/cramming etc.
As much as it was a PITA, it was coming along pretty well.



Both times!
The first time I realized the glue wouldn't hold up in the heat. The second time I realized I want to use a Uv protected vinyl. Generally marine vinyl. I had no idea about the vinyl I was using, so off it came. I found some that will hold up well and is much stretchier than what I what I had been using. Awaiting samples.

Now, I have seen a lot about Vacuum bagging/pressing and want to try it on my dashboard. I think it would work well at normal temps with the stretchier vinyl and the right glue. (Weldwood)

So, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience they would like to share.
I have a vacuum pump but no bag yet. I've found a few options. They're
expensive!

I feel that the vacuum bagging will show the cracks much more than hand fitting so I want to fill them better. Is RTV the best thing to use? Maybe CA glue?

Advice and suggestions welcome.
TIA.
Bob.

[charliew]

I have done some diy car interiors, mostly when I was a lot younger. I may be wrong and someone chime in if I am but I think auto body filler kitty hair probably the short strand type would work on large cracks pretty good. Regular filler on small cracks. I think the bumper filler is really trying to stick to roughed up vinyl and metal not urethane. The summer heat is the challenge. I also would think the thin foam will have a shorter life trying to hold the vinyl in place than maybe a thin felt. I haven't tried to cover a curved dash before though and I will follow this thread as mine has developed a small crack at the windshield side by the gauge hump transition. We know this can be done well. My only hope is the first try is enough but usually on something like this as in car finishes only time will tell. My repairs on the urethane bumpers I did was only perfect for a few years. Probably because I missed some fractures.

I would also like the brand and vender of the 4 way stretch dash vinyl.

I have a 79 jeep truck that set several years with the passengers side window down in a pasture. The dash has never cracked and I have been using it since 01. Wierd huh.