My '84 had spent a good deal of its life in the FL sun and
although the dash pad was not cracked, it had suffered some
aging problems which I set about repairing. The most
obvious was that the defroster vents were sitting loose in
the dash and no longer fit down in the recess. Upon
removing the dash pad, I saw the problem. The vinyl had
pulled away from the metal back and had lifted the defroster
vents, breaking off the little plastic nipples that held
them down. With the vinyl curled up in the opening, the
vents could no longer sit down in the correct location.
(See pictures 1 - 4 below) Here’s how I solved the problem.
-
I took a piece of 220 sandpaper, folded it over several
times and worked it in between the back of the vinyl and the
metal form, roughing the vinyl and the metal. (see pic #5) -
Next, I wrapped a rag around a putty knife, sprayed it
with SEM 38353 Plastic and Vinyl Prep, and ran that in the
same area to clean out the residue from the sanding and to
prep the vinyl -
I then cut a piece of 3/4’ plywood to the shape of the
defroster vent and eased (rounded) one side (see pic #6) -
I drilled two holes in the plywood block and two
corresponding holes in a piece of 1x3 oak -
I covered the eased edge of the plywood with electrical
tape (see pic #7) -
Next, I held the gap between the vinyl and the metal
open and put a generous bead of heat glue in gap. Now, the
heat glue will harden as it goes in and the vinyl will not
lay down, but don’t worry about that now -
Then I clamped the block into the recess with two bolts
through the block and the piece of 1x3 and I put two small
(2’’ X 2’’) pieces of wood at each end of the oak to keep it
off the metal behind the recess. You’ll want to clamp this
pretty tightly being careful not to bend the dash pad metal
form (see pics #8 & #9) -
Here’s where the magic happens. Heat the metal on the
back of the pad around the vent opening with a heat gun.
You can also run the heat gun around the vinyl from the top
all around the clamping block. You’ll want to take some
time here and heat it really well. The idea is to soften
the vinyl and re-melt the heat glue and heat the metal to
the point where they all bond together and the force of the
clamp reforms the recess and squeezes the excess heat glue out -
After it cools, release the clamping block, remove the
electrical tape (see pic #10), and trim the excess heat glue
away -
The result is a perfectly reformed recess that the
defroster vent fits correctly into. You can easily hold it
in place with a small dab of silicon or any other glue/caulk
you are comfortable with.
You can use the same method to reattach the vinyl to the
metal along the front or the roll at the rear. Then it’s
just a matter of cleaning the rest of the vinyl’s surface
with SEM 38353 Plastic and Vinyl Prep and respraying it for
a brand new look.
http://www.jag-lovers.org/snaps/snap_view.php3?id=1227915878--
Wild Bill
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