1991 cracked dash

[zoomchey]

My car is pretty nice except for the typical cracked dash. Any new solutions or suggestions?

[Doward]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/DRFTMX5/eecf4278.jpg

maybe..

[zoomchey]

So, that's what I have to do? Man you are good! Me, I would rather wave a magic wand over it!

[WASABI]

Is your car a standard all black dash, or a black and tan? You should be able to find one on here or ebay. Since it doesn't affect you driving the car, you can wait for a good deal.

[Doward]

I can't really think of any new solutions or suggestions.
It's either repair it, cover it up or replace it.
Plastic weld and repaint like factory?
Or, cover it with a carpeted mat/leather/suede/etc?
Or swap one thats in better shape?

[zoomchey]

Plastic weld and paint? Can Dr Vinyl do it?

[zoomchey]

iT'S JUST A STANDARD ALL BLACK ONE!

[Phatmiata]

This might help

http://revlimiter.net/blog/2011/08/miata-dash-restoration-project/

[Phatmiata]

I would also recommend a rotory tool (dremel) with a metal burr to score the underside of the dash where the crack is. This will help with the adhesion of the plastic glue as it gives more "bite" areas for the glue. Before you glue it back try to get a wire hanger or wire ties in place to hold the shape of the dash and areas you want bonded together. This way when the glue cures all it has to do is bond those areas, you can then later remove the wire ties once the glue is fulled cured.

[RoadsterTech]

This might help a little.




The Dash

I called around with not much luck to find a dash until I got a hold of "The Parts Group" They had a 94 Tan dash that was in fairly good shape but the black top was getting sad looking and sticky. I bought it.

The Dash came in with as advertised bad paint on its top. But it also had the start of cracks.

Further inspection proved that all of the connection tabs were cracking as well. So I set out to fix them.

1. I cleaned the dash first with Simple Green and then with a mixture of 50% Ammonia and 50% Denatured Alcohol. This mixture is great for pulling out the old plastic treatments like Armor-all.

2. The Supper cleaner had the added benefit of being a paint stripper. It removed all of the old black paint from the dash.

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-7HTq9mC/0/L/IMG20101010175526-L.jpg

3. I Then went to work on the Cracks.

Using a Hot tip plastic welder I tacked the dash crack closed.

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-M3Ntg4t/0/L/IMG20101008174856-L.jpg

I then added some wire mesh and epoxied the back side of the crack. I also reinforced the mounting tab.

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-7G3SXWW/0/L/IMG20101010144117-L.jpg

Going through several types of epoxy I found Permatex Plastic Weld worked the best. Here are a few pics of the other tabs.

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-FzdwcdD/0/L/IMG20101010144123-L.jpg

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-nbwc4zB/0/L/IMG20101010144136-L.jpg

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-sbmpCQz/0/L/IMG20101010144148-L.jpg

After the Cracks were repaired I was still left with a Tan Dash. So, I looked for Paint... Krylon Fusion Paint looked promising so I chose to use it
I used the Semi- Gloss

The results were much better than I expected.

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-hbpHjs9/0/L/IMG20101010185704-L.jpg

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-Z3c2WV6/0/L/IMG20101010185726-L.jpg

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-5TZ6Gh9/0/L/IMG20101010185758-L.jpg

I left the visible crack alone on the outside... I did not want to have to mess with matching the grain...

http://rabrillhart.smugmug.com/Cars/New-Miata-Dash/i-V38H6JF/0/L/IMG20101010185858-L.jpg

Next Posting will be the seats...

[Dmn2258]

iT'S JUST A STANDARD ALL BLACK ONE!

here's an excuse to snag someone's LE dash!

[exdotcomer]

I just put two band aids on mine-