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Showing results for tags 'silicone'.
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My friend and I both own 240z's, and both of us had cracked dashes. Also, both of us hate covering up problems so a simple dash cap was not gonna do it. However, we are both lacking in high monetary compensation from our jobs so we decided to experiment and find a cheaper way to repair our dashes. This involved the use of silicone, bondo, light gorilla glue, jb kwik, and finally "Flex Seal". We began with the silicone, but quickly found out this really only works well for larger cracks, and also tends to have some small air pockets as well as it tears away from inconvenient cracks, still leaving medium to small size cracks un-repaired. To remove the excess silicone a 3" sanding pad was used on a drill for speed, but in some tight areas, such as around the three small gauges, the 3" is too big and abrasive and starts to dig into the vinyl. However, in certain areas it is necessary to sand down to the foam for a smooth finish, as when the dash splits, the two separated pieces of vinyl stick up. This then led to the use of bondo for the small cracks, which worked for the small cracks, but not the bigger cracks, as it just crumbled out. Then I used some light gorilla glue for some really small cracks, and finally, jb kwik to fix any big crack and small cracks that the previous methods did not work for. In between each method, we sanded with 60, 180, 220, then 600 grit sand paper to make the finish as smooth as possible. We were originally going to use filller primer so I decided not to worry myself, or cause more damage, by sanding some areas down more. However, while at the hardware store, I realized we can use Flex Seal, that stuff you see on TV, and although steep in pricing, $18 a can, is perfect and only one can is needed. It is flexible should the dash flex, it fills in small cracks, its meant for outdoor roof repair so it is good against the sun, and the texture is close, but not exact, to the original dash texture. It worked! However, I later realized I should have sanded down some areas a little more, but it came out with no cracks, original looking, and doesn't add any parts like a dash cap! Now, on with the pictures!