Dash pad repair S1 Zagato

[Rog]

I have a few damaged areas on the top dash pad from my Series 1 Zagato.

Theyre fairly small - one of them almost looks as though the top surface has been singed or burnt. Maybe an inch or so across....none of them are that big and theyre arent any cracks.

I cant find many posts on dash pad repair.....

But I did find products like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod…itle_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1



Those products seem to be dealing with the right kind of issues.....smallish repairs and most notably heating the surface and then using "pattern paper", to imprint the surface with the texture of the surface to match the dash.

Has anyone used these kits? any advice?



I believe the dash is a vinyl material stretched and glued over the foam base - correct? So ultimately I guess I could redo it.....

Any advice welcome.

thanks

rog.

[Wangler]

Fortunately my S3 dash top is excellent, however I have often wondered about how I would go about repairing such an item as it’s one of those things that's always staring you in the face and can look awful if it's not in a good state of repair.

There are a number of processes that seem to make extensive use of spraying techniques, but for a vinyl leather grain type dash they don’t seem appropriate. Might it be possible to get the dash wrapped by one of those car body wrapping specialists? It wouldn’t be anything like the original, but it could still look good and they seem to be able to work wonders on multi-angled curved surfaces.

If I had the budget I would go to a trimmer who specialises in leather. Yes I know it wouldn’t be authentic, but it could look really lovely.

[Jay]

Looks like the amazon link was shorten so doesn’t work, the Fulvia dash pads are foam (with press steel inserts) with a hard plastic outer. I am not sure if this outer layer was originally quite stretchy/flexible and it hardens over the years or it was pre-formed and place in the mode and filled with the Polyurethane foam type material.

Back to subject it seems that https://www.ricambilanciafulvia.it/it/content/19-riparazione-palpebra-cruscotto and other posts i have seen, use a flexible filler and then spray paint the whole pad.   

[Wangler]

That looks extremely good in the photos. How they get that finish seems remarkable.

[Rog]

Looks like the amazon link was shorten so doesn’t work, the Fulvia dash pads are foam (with press steel inserts) with a hard plastic outer. I am not sure if this outer layer was originally quite stretchy/flexible and it hardens over the years or it was pre-formed and place in the mode and filled with the Polyurethane foam type material.

Back to subject it seems that https://www.ricambilanciafulvia.it/it/content/19-riparazione-palpebra-cruscotto and other posts i have seen, use a flexible filler and then spray paint the whole pad.   

Whoops!
Here's the (hopefully working) link again:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007TQWK6?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1

But....thank you Jay, thats very helpful! I read a few posts about repairing by recovering with vinyl but when I look at my dash it seems like its a harder material (in other words, more like your theory thats its some kind of plastic filled with foam or plastic covered foam)

The Ricambi link is interesting. The tricky part is getting the texture back into the damaged area (see my link for dealing with that on small areas). Or I guess you just smooth it all - which seems a shame

thank you!

[Rog]

Fortunately my S3 dash top is excellent, however I have often wondered about how I would go about repairing such an item as it’s one of those things that's always staring you in the face and can look awful if it's not in a good state of repair.

There are a number of processes that seem to make extensive use of spraying techniques, but for a vinyl leather grain type dash they don’t seem appropriate. Might it be possible to get the dash wrapped by one of those car body wrapping specialists? It wouldn’t be anything like the original, but it could still look good and they seem to be able to work wonders on multi-angled curved surfaces.

If I had the budget I would go to a trimmer who specialises in leather. Yes I know it wouldn’t be authentic, but it could look really lovely.

Thanks Wangler -as you say, its got some complicated angles on there.....not trivial....
And agreed - my other option would be to spend some money and get it done in leather or something!

[Jay]

Hi Rog I was looking at that Raicambilanciafulvia link and I am not convinced that he sprayed it, but more the case he wrapped it with vinyl, as he didn’t file the mirror holes but they are covered in the final photo. You can buy stretchy vinyl and using contact adhesive, it’s not as difficult as it looks. I will be repairing mine, but not until next year.     

I must have got mixed up with another post where a user used a flexible filer and an ‘imprint’ to create the texture, then sprayed it.

[Sebastien]

Correct I think! "Finta pelle" in the Ricambi link is "false hide", so vinyl!

Here a picture of another Fulvia sport S1 dash needing repair.

[andyps]

I've been looking at this for mine because it has a couple of cracks in it. If you search YouTube for dashboard crack repair there are quite a few videos showing repairs which use filler and then spray. I would like to try covering mine with leather but want to practice first - if anyone has a really bad dash top I'd be happy to buy it off them for practicing on! I did buy another dash top but made the mistake of forgetting that the Coupe has a roof mounted rear view mirror which means there is no mounting for one in the dash which the Zagato needs! It looks difficult to add a suitable mount so I need to sell that dash top - it's an S2/3 version though.

[Rog]

Hi Rog I was looking at that Raicambilanciafulvia link and I am not convinced that he sprayed it, but more the case he wrapped it with vinyl, as he didn’t file the mirror holes but they are covered in the final photo. You can buy stretchy vinyl and using contact adhesive, it’s not as difficult as it looks. I will be repairing mine, but not until next year.     

I must have got mixed up with another post where a user used a flexible filer and an ‘imprint’ to create the texture, then sprayed it.

yes - agreed Jay
I looked at the article again and I think their approach is: they fill/repair the cracks, sand it down and then cover in vinyl.....

[nistri]

At the recent Padova motor show there were several suppliers of remanufactured dash tops (S1 and S2), not cheap. Re-covering an old top may be a short term solution as I have seen a few that soon deteriorate especially when exposed to sunlight, Andrea