TheSamba.com :: View topic - fiberglass dash in a baja.........anybody done this?

Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:25 pm

alright, took my shredded stock dash out, and put the fiberglass dash panel in place...........

is there a trick to this?

I know i'm going to have to trim it a bit to get it to fit right, but for some reason it just doesn't look like it's going to mount quite right no matter what i do :(

Anybody got a pic of a fiberglass dash panel installed? Maybe that'll help...........who knows :(

Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:37 am

IMO you're just the victim of the sad nature of fiberglass.

How well fiber. parts hold their "intended" shape depends on so many variables it's pathetic. Mold condition, hand laid or chopper gun, the condition/age of the resin used, how long it cured in mold, the temp. while it was curing, how the part was stored after it was pulled, etc & so on. ~ Unless it's a very high quality, hand laid cloth & thick part (which is unlikely unless it was truely a one off custom)... they twist, bend, bow & distort making each and every instalation a very "custom" job.

My advice is just do what you think needs to be done - that probably includes cutting, filling, filing, or maybe adding dependiing

Wed Mar 02, 2005 6:26 am

Where is it not fitting? I have one installed on my car, I can take some pics tonight when I get home for you.

IIRC I had to do some more trimming around the "defrost" vents at the side, that lip found at the top that hits the windshield lip should be cut off, and I think that was bout it for the trimming. Rember you can cut the "edges" way back if your gonna form it into the car (which looks really good over bolting it in).

Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:00 pm

mdetro4660@aol.com wrote: Where is it not fitting? I have one installed on my car, I can take some pics tonight when I get home for you.

Pix would be AWESOME!!

It's not quite fitting where the upper corners of the dash are rounded.........the fiberglass dash piece is rounded also, and my just fit after i trim the lip off the top section, but it "looks" like i'm going to have to force it a tad to get it to sit flush :(

Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:34 pm

These probably aren't goign to help you too much:
This is a decent pic from a long time ago

These were taken tonight (notice the larger wheel, mucho better to drive now :)) sorry, I have a really badly lit garage and the old sony Mavica camera ain't what it used to be!

I used fiber-strand style bondo/resin to bond/blend the cover into the og dash so you really can't tell where it meets (thats the point). I did this quite a few years ago so I can't rember the worst of the fitment issues I had. I rember alot of futzing around those vent areas though. You can also kinda makeout the bottom of the windshield seal, how its kinda funky on the drivers side. Thats because I figured that lip thats on the insert was there for a reason, its not. I should have cut it off and them used some resin to fill/form as it just makes the lip twice as thick as it should be. the bottom edge I just ran a few screws across to help keep it permanant.

Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:41 pm

Wow Mark, that looks AWESOME!

I can only hope mine will look half as good as yours when it's done..........but i'm not good with "blending" glass/resin, so i doubt it LOL

Thanx for the pix, they help a ton.........thinkin tomorrow i'll start diving into mine if i can get the 'ol woodstove in the shop goin good.

Man it's cold here in SW Michigan :(

Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:10 pm

bikeworx wrote: Wow Mark, that looks AWESOME!

I can only hope mine will look half as good as yours when it's done..........but i'm not good with "blending" glass/resin, so i doubt it LOL

Thanx for the pix, they help a ton.........thinkin tomorrow i'll start diving into mine if i can get the 'ol woodstove in the shop goin good.

Man it's cold here in SW Michigan :(

Man its cold here in FL right now too! 50degrees!!! I had to put a pair of jeans on instead of shorts today :(

You know the funny thing about when I formed that diah in, is it was probably the easiest area on the whole car to "finish", and there was alot of bodywork that had to be done on my car. After you get it bonded to the dash just mound the bondo around the seams and start shaping with something like a rol-loc disk on a die grinder. No need to be exact the first time around, get a general shape and work form there. When I start gettin close to where its pretty right I go to about a 180-220 grit, and get it by hand or my palm DA if I can get in there, then finish by using a leveling "bondo" and eventually 320 grit . all those curves make it real easy to make it look good, not like trying the side of a bus straight.

Good luck