Repairing cracked dashboard foam?

[Xiao_Hu]

This is far down on my list of priorities for my A10 but, for cracked dashboard foam what do you guys do? 

 

I've seen like five different schools of thought on this: 

 

1. Fiberglass filler and paint

2. Specialized dashboard filling products. 

3. Leave it 

4. Flock it

5. Replace/custom dashboard. 

 

There's definitely more cracks on mine than good dashboard material and I'm not really looking to buy a second dashboard for a 78 A10. I don't like the texture of flocking so I'm basically left with options 1-3. How much did it cost to you for your materials and how long did it take you to fix it?

[Rustbin]

I was hoping I could suggest laying some hard foam over the metal then wrapping it with 1/4 in soft foam and then gluing on vinyl fabric but the vent holes and dash recess make it impossible without a sewing machine. I saw a cover for $250 but figured that was too much. Hopefully someone who has used one of the dash filler products will chime in.

[EDM620]

Cracks in my dash were bad, the covering was brittle as well - push your fingertip on it and it would just crack off bits.

 

My first step was to cut away all that was bad - really open them up - until the foam is not rotten. Then I cut stiff wire and inserted into the foam, basically like laying rebar into concrete. I messed around with a few different fillers, finally settling on some of the expanding foam in a can. Get the minimal expanding stuff as is easier to refinish. I found that some heavier plastic film the foam didn't stick to, taped that down and used that as a barrier to control the foam expansion, that worked reasonably. After the foam was cured, I peeled the plastic film off and set up to "re-skin" over that.

 

Here is where body filler works best. Unfortunately not what I did and my patches remain evident.

 

I don't like flocking as IMO that soon shows every touch stain or wears through. I used truck bed spray for my finish - hides texture variation better and will survive UV exposure.

 

I may still try to lay a cloth or vinyl top cover overtop. Compound curves can be a bitch.