Carbon Fiber Dash??

[Buzzfagan]

Anyone thought of, done or seen and entire dash (driver and passenger side all combined) "wrapped" or "skinned" in carbon fiber? Thinking about doing it to my dash for my restoration. Any ideas tips or example would be appreciated.

[joescoolcustoms]

I built a Tube chassis for my buggy, and I like a enclosed tunnel area because otherwise it would collect all kinds of dirt/debris and always look nasty. So I hand formed aluminum over home made wooden bucks. Then tapped and screw them onto the tube chassis.

I covered the panels and dash panel with the cheap Carbon Fiber Tack Paper. It is really vinyl material.

About 30,000 miles later, I pulled the seats out to clean everything and install seat heaters. The material has held up well for a $ 24.00 roll.

When I installed this material, it does not give much around compound corners very well. But I did not use a heat gun to offer some compliance to the material. It has stayed put very well and in coming on 3 years and 43,000 miles, I have not had any come loose. The material I used, (again, cheap, off of ebay) is textured. So when I have gotten mud or dust on it, it is hard to clean up and get the dirt out of all the texture.
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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[jspbtown]

Consider water transfer printing.

[bim55]

I've always liked the look also and have done it a couple of different ways on my buggies.

This first photo was a 3M adhesive available in different colors an patterns from ebay. The flat dash on this Deserter Series 1 obviously has comparisons to your dash.

This photo is a basketweave fiberglass cloth that I used to wrap the dash of a Deserter GT while repairing it with epoxy. I can add a before photo but you'd just think I was crazy to rescue this dash.

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Boston Bob E.
www.bimelliott.com www.deserterownersgroup.org

[GS guy]

If you want the "real McCoy" stuff, it'll cost a little more. Thin veneer pieces can be purchase and glued over a base material (aluminum or fiberglass sheet) to save some $$.
Here's a couple of vendors:

http://dragonplate.com/default.asp

http://www.protechcomposites.com/
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70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!

[911pickup]

[HeidelbergJohn4.0]

most places that do vehicle wraps can do a carbon fiber look wrap, or as was suggested, hydrodipping looks great. I just did the cabinet back for the TV on my boat to give it a cleaner look.
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71 LWB Manx style dunebuggy
71 Beetle
71 Volksrod
Machette Speedster
2012 Passat TDI SE (sadly sitting in a buyback parking lot somewhere waiting for it's heart to be ripped out.)