Manche757 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Any new ideas for vinyl replacement on dashboards? Replacing a dashboard with one out of a junker is kicking the can down the road. After 30+ years it is all brittle. Has anyone stripped off the old vinyl and cleaned up the metal and painted it? Would that pass inspection? I very much do not like the carpet overlays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 3 hours ago, Manche757 said: Any new ideas for vinyl replacement on dashboards? Replacing a dashboard with one out of a junker is kicking the can down the road. After 30+ years it is all brittle. Has anyone stripped off the old vinyl and cleaned up the metal and painted it? Would that pass inspection? I very much do not like the carpet overlays. The dash has a metal frame but is mostly plastic duct work. @Limeyjeeper I believe had his dash refinished. I managed to find an original in perfect condition. Plenty of conditioner and it is nice and soft vinyl again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 2 minutes ago, ghetdjc320 said: The dash has a metal frame but is mostly plastic duct work. @Limeyjeeper I believe had his dash refinished. I managed to find an original in perfect condition. Plenty of conditioner and it is nice and soft vinyl again. I did get one refinished in vinyl and then I found an NOS one. If you cover it you have to use a very thin fabric as the dash is a very tight fit between the A pillars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 minute ago, Limeyjeeper said: I did get one refinished in vinyl and then I found an NOS one. If you cover it you have to use a very thin fabric as the dash is a very tight fit between the A pillars. Did you use justdashes? There is extra material usually in the radio opening on a stock dash. The OP could probably trim a little piece of that and get it matched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manche757 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 19 hours ago, Limeyjeeper said: I did get one refinished in vinyl and then I found an NOS one. If you cover it you have to use a very thin fabric as the dash is a very tight fit between the A pillars. Limeyjeeper, aren't you the chap from Scotland? Would you mind taking a few pics of what it looks like? Someone covered it in new vinyl? What type of place did you take it to? Any words of advice are appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manche757 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 hour ago, ghetdjc320 said: The dash has a metal frame but is mostly plastic duct work. Is there metal under all that is covered in vinyl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 7 minutes ago, Manche757 said: Is there metal under all that is covered in vinyl? No, the vast majority is plastic. There is only a metal skeleton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZJeff Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 If you are attempting to restore the dash so it has the same appearance as when it left the factory, “JustDashes.com” (or any of their competitors, if they exist) are your best choices. The OEM construction is foam over a plastic dash structure, and that is covered by a layer of vinyl. Duplicating that without the right fixtures an d materials will be almost impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 17 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said: Did you use justdashes? There is extra material usually in the radio opening on a stock dash. The OP could probably trim a little piece of that and get it matched. No they wanted nearly $2k and a year to fix it. They are masters at what they do but you pay for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 16 hours ago, Manche757 said: Limeyjeeper, aren't you the chap from Scotland? Would you mind taking a few pics of what it looks like? Someone covered it in new vinyl? What type of place did you take it to? Any words of advice are appreciated? Telling a Londoner he is Scottish, (and visa versa) is fighting talk lol!! I had a local upholstery place do the dash. They smoothed out and filled the old dash and stitched the vinyl together and laid it on. I don't have it any longer but here are a few pics. Before After Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 That was some nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 That looks really good. Is that a stitch running across the corner of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 I contacted justdashes a while back and I never got back to them but it seems like they ought to be able to do our dashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manche757 Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Limeyjeeper said: Telling a Londoner he is Scottish, (and visa versa) is fighting talk lol!! I had a local upholstery place do the dash. They smoothed out and filled the old dash and stitched the vinyl together and laid it on. I don't have it any longer but here are a few pics. Before After The Londoner's friendly spirit comes through. The finished product looks better than I would have expected. Was the vinyl on the front left and the new vinyl stitched to it? Then glued to the frame? If the old vinyl was left on the front, how did they manage to stitch it? Drum rolls: Do you mind saying what you paid to have it done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxyjeep Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 I got a dash from the junkyard from a 95 or 96 XJ in near-mint condition. Painted it grey to match the rest of my interior. There are good ones out there in the JY, just need to get a newer one that wasn't exposed to too much sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Serva Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 Not to steal a thread as my dash is in pretty good shape yet I removed a bunch of parts to clean up, change radios and lube some sliders and such. Also, I got a good deal on a factory, NIB, bench seat cover in Burgundy. Of course my interior is baby blue--a color I never liked. I plan to change color to the burgundy all over. Anyway, my point is, I never liked the creaky, plastic 80's dashes. And, I know I'll have to go back into the rats nest at some point to re-vacuum tube and swap the heater core. Am thinking of modding more of a race car dash with shelves instead of glove boxes. I'm pretty good with such things yet wonder if it will kill the collectable value of my Comanche even tho I plan to be buried in it :-) I know Jeeps tend to be modified yet I don't want to ruin this and I plan to not cut any metal--just do a simple off-road sort of dash over the original with a simple toggles and analog guages. What do y'all think? I appreciate your opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 it's been done in actual race MJ/XJs. fitting that rollcage kinda sucks with a dash in the way. seems like a lot of work though. I did the lazy man's version by removing the glovebox door and making it a shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Serva Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 Thanks for responding and posting a pic too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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