Center Dash Pocket Fill

steve · 08-26-2006, 10:41 PM

Since I ordered my air suspension, I wanted to place my switches on the dash somewhere. I have had switchbox's before, but hate having to keep them in my lap when I am driving. After looking around the dash, I figured I would fill the pocket right above the ashtray since I never use it anyway. If you have dual climate or navigation, you may not have this pocket. Here are some instructions on what I did:

1. First Take off the center console. Open up the ashtray and tug. This will require some force to get it free.

2. Unplug all of the wiring harness'. There is one that you have to use a screwdriver to pull the orange safety tab away to get it off. It is circled below.

3. I chose to take off the buttons near the vents so there would be no risk of damaging them, plus I will be driving the car while I work on this project. They were held on by (2) 5/32" screws. I was suprised to find that I did have a 5/32" socket in my toolbox. It will probably be the only time I use it.

4. The climate controls are held on by (4) 5/32" screws, pictured below. Remove them and keep them in a safe place.

5. Take out your dremmel and try to cut as close as you can to the edge. Be sure not to cut off the 2 clips on the bottom.

6. Here is a pic with the pocked removed. I changed out the dremmel bit to a sander and smoothed out the edges.

7. Take some sandpaper and scuff the area that we are about to fiberglass. This will help with adhesion.

8. Take a piece of cardboard and make a template of the hole. Cut out the template and secure it to the back of the bezel.

9. I put some saran wrap around the cardboard to make it easier to remove.

Continued. . .

steve · 08-26-2006, 10:53 PM

10. Get out your fiberglass mat and precut your strips. You don't want to have to cut any more strips once you start playing with the resin. It gets very sticky.

11. Mix up your resin. Red bull is optional, may be replaced by your favorite beer or coffee if you are doing this at 8 in the morning like I was.

12. It's hard to tell in the pic, but lay down a coat of resin.

13. Start laying down your fiberglass mat once piece at a time. Take your resin and brush it onto the fiberglass. Make sure to soak the mat completely.

14. Keep building it up layer by layer and making sure to soak each layer with resin.

Let it thouroughly dry. I let mine dry all day and overnight.

Next we will sand, put one more coat of fiberglass on, sand, primer, paint and install the switches. Stay tuned.

steve · 08-26-2006, 10:54 PM

15. Here is some sanding after the first few coats of fiberglass.

16. Apply some body filler, aka Bondo, to smooth out the surface. Repeat this step until everthing is smooth and blended. You may want to put a final coat of glaze on there to fill any pinholes.

17. Apply some primer and paint to your desired color. Since we were installing some switches for the air suspension, we measured out the holes and drilled them.

18. Here is the finished pic of the center bezel installed.

BrokeBish · 02-27-2007, 09:46 PM

Hey Steve did u finish this yet.

SoCalRT · 02-28-2007, 09:42 AM

Keep us posted...

steve · 03-11-2007, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrokeBish

Hey Steve did u finish this yet.

Yep finished it a while back. I just updated this post with the final steps.

OCRT · 03-11-2007, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve

Yep finished it a while back. I just updated this post with the final steps.

WOW that looks sooooo good. I am happy that you finished up this post. Sinc e first seeing this ive been doing reseach on fiberglassing, its always been something that intrested me. Question though, did you just apply that overyour aluminum dash kit? If so Would it be possible to do it on the stock trim even though threre are alot of the divits?

steve · 03-11-2007, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCRT

WOW that looks sooooo good. I am happy that you finished up this post. Sinc e first seeing this ive been doing reseach on fiberglassing, its always been something that intrested me. Question though, did you just apply that overyour aluminum dash kit? If so Would it be possible to do it on the stock trim even though threre are alot of the divits?

That is my stock bezel. I don't have a dash kit. So the answer would be yes. If your bexel is textured, I would sand the entire bezel and get some high build primer. Spray the bezel with a few heavy coats of that and sand smooth.

05HEMIMAGNUM · 03-11-2007, 05:03 PM

Hey Steve, tight work as always..!

hop2000 · 04-12-2007, 08:40 AM

What brand and color did you use to match the factory silver color? Also, how has the paint held up under normal wear?