blunce

Ahhh, nothing like a little dash rust surprise to start off the new year. I should've known though. I was able to push up on the windshield and raise it a 1/4 in. or so in a few spots. I was fine with this since I wanted to repaint the metal portion of the dash anyway while I'm doing all the rest of the dash area right now.

So I pulled the windshield out last night to find some areas of rust that were previously completely hidden . From some others I've seen, this doesn't seem to be all that bad, but needs to be fixed regardless. I removed all the weakest areas, so the spots you can see that are rusty, but still intact I feel don't need replacing.

So, what are my options, or maybe more accurately, what's the best way to deal with it? I'm leaning towards the window channel patch piece that is available. Here's the cheapest I've found it, by Tamaraz too! $124 shipped. But I also have a parts car that I MAY be able to get the pieces from, but right now, I don't know its condition either. Or is this minor enough to just weld in some scrap metal cut and shaped to fit?

Any advice and tips much welcomed! Oh, and in the last picture, it shows the geniuses who installed the windshield last time had no idea what they were doing. The butyl tape was not only applied right over the rust, but in the areas where there was significant portions of the channel missing, they actually doubled up the tape on the windshield ! Gotta love it!


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69442C

Brian,

Look at it this way....it could be a lot worse. I think your best plan is to work with replacing the bad sections using new scrap metal. If you find the parts car has a solid dash then that would be helpful too. Your biggest challenge will be the passenger side because the patch piece will have a curve to it. If you have to, make that secion in a couple of pieces and weld them together. If you have a 3" cut off wheel, this will make this work easier as cutting out the bad sections will be easy. I had to do similar repairs on a 69 442 conv but I'll admit it wasn't as bad as yours. Plug weld the new pieces along the bottom and butt weld everywhere else. A small angle grinder with the 2" grinding discs is also a great tool to use. If you don't have one, Harbor Freight sells them and they are inexpensive. A little weld through primer on the support structure is also a good idea when you cut out the bad areas. When you complete the metal work, spray the area with epoxy primer, let dry, scuff the epoxy and go over the repaired areas and the pitted areas along the bottom with fiberglass filler, not bondo. FG filler is waterproof, bondo is not. Grind the FG filler to smooth it out and use a skim coat of bondo to finish it smooth. Watch the heat on your mig so you don't blow holes in the metal and so you don't warp things.

Brian

69442C

Forgot to mention. Make sure you remove the "stops" that support the bottom of the glass. The driver's side looks pretty bad and if you need a replacement, let me know as I have a few laying around.

Brian

blunce

Thanks for the tips Brian! Here's some pics of the dash from a donor car. It's in much better shape, even all along the channel is much more solid than my existing dash. Think I'm going to cut out the one pictured above and replace it with this one.
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Bernhard

I would sand blast the area with a spot blaster one that can catch the blast media. Cut out the bad metal and patch with good donor metal from another car.Mig or tig weld metal into place .Take your time and fit the metal well clean work is always self rewarding. Epoxy primer and auto body shop grade top coat.There is a glass pintch weld primer that you use around the window before you lay the window seal tape down.Use good saftey practices when you work with epoxy primer and automotive grade paint.

ent72olds

If those last pics are from the donor, I wouldn't waste my time. By the time you blast that, there won't be a whole lot left. Almost looks as if it was "repaired" at one time in the past. If you are going this far as to cut out and weld, look for a clean solid used piece from someone out west like 2blu442, or something in the aftermarket......if you do get used, have them cut the top of the cowl across the vents under the screen, that way you will be able to repair the rot there too....

blunce

Yes the second group of pictures is from a potential donor. I poked around on the metal pretty good and it's nice and solid except the two areas that show holes. I was planning to just pull the whole dash out and swap it into my car. The metal is obviously not pristine, but I was thinking it would do the job. Figured this would be easier (and cheaper) than getting the $125 patch panel, then have to deal with that seam running all across the dash.

ent72olds

As far as the seam, that's why I say, get a donor piece that is clean and cut it across the braces under the screen. Then you keep the factory seam at the base of the windshield. Just weld across the top of the cowl. Nice and flat and easy to do bodywork.....

Indy_68_S

I went thru something similar. I did get 'the piece' for like $85 (forget where), but ended up only using about half of it due to it being a Chebby piece so the dash profile was wrong. The rest was just welded up using thin strips to get the right contour. It came out pretty nice. I'll try to get some pics up....

IF you can find a complete original dash piece in good shape, that would probably be easier...

allyolds68

Mine was almost identical to your's right down to where you have the rust through hole where the indent is on the passenger side. I found the rust went up just above the seam where it's tack welded. There are pics of my repair in this thread.

http://www.realoldspower.com/phpBB2/...ic.php?t=86206

Pay no attention to the drama that's always seems to be part of ROP

Bernhard

If you are going to use a body filler use it on top of the epoxy primer and use a fine strand fiberglass one.

69442C

Brian, been off line for over a day due to my modem taking a dump and I had to wait for the cable company to get out here to replace it. So I'm just getting caught up. How is the top of the existing dash in your car...fairly straight? Looking at the 4 door dash, I'm not sure I would use it given how the lip at the bottom isn't all that great. By the time you cut the spot welds and broke that lip loose, you would have a mess since the lip would end up needing a ton of work. And cutting out the entire dah even going across the top of the cowl is still a lot of work. I think I would still fix the one you have. Use the passenger section from the donor to fix you pass side but I think you can easily make up small patches for everything else. I would try to sand blast that lower area if you can to clean it up well before you started any repairs. Once the repairs are made and you spray it with epoxy, you could put a light coat of 2 part seam sealer along that bottom lip and make sure you smooth it out well. That should seal it and protect it. I think in the end the repair will be just as good and the effort will be less than tearing out the entire dash.

Brian

ent72olds

Good luck!

ent72olds

I still believe this is the best and cleanest, as well as easiest way to do your dash......just clean up seams, drill out spot welds, and cut in the small areas as you can see....here's some pics I scanned in from when I did my cutlass. Sorry, but this was back in '96....no digital camera yet!


Here is a pic with everything cut out....drilled out spot welds along outer perimeter, and cut across top of cowl....very little welding on top of cowl! I did split the cowl and dash by cutting the spots out at base of windshield. That way, I could clean up underneath and it also had to be spot welded the the firewall.

This image shows where I cut across the braces inside the dash.....small areas to weld, and no need to do welding or bodywork!

Here it is in primer....the last pic is another view...

ent72olds

The corner was also pretty bad...didn't look that way until I blasted it!

I made up a few patches....

Once welded, very little bodywork then primer....

69goatpgh

Hello,
If you need it I have a section of the '68-72 dash repair panel left over from the repair on my '68 442. The one picture shows what is left of the dash repair panel and the other picture shows the area of my dash that needed repaired. The picture of the dash with the red circle is to give you an idea of what was cut from the repair panel.
Eric

booois

anyone know where you can buy the windshield stop pieces for the bottom of the windshield. I'm just getting ready to replace my lower windshield channel and think I will probably need them also from the looks of the dash.