I can guarantee you can find a leather mask, somewhere some how there has to be one.

 

You could always add some filters to this one ))

 

Is that what you have in your dungeon?

 

​​​​hey @sobeIPL ....well...rounding back to your epic work and can with confidence re-state that you did a great job on your dash!!!!!....tried this @#$#&$# s$hit ... and tried it with leather and marine vinyl as we'll....no pics as both times I tore the stuff off....dude I'm pissed , it looked good in most places but circled the part in pic , just would not lay down...I mean contact cement would not do it...hair dryer on scalp burning high...zilch!!!!! f'it man...you really made it look easy via pics....anyway , I'll try when the weather cools down again as both times it was humid and hot and maybe added to my frustrations lol...at least my excuse ....

 

@G37sPhoton Holy smokes your doing it! What am I looking for in the red circle? I don’t see anything wrong? Are you talking the corner where it meets AV?

What contact cement are you using? I used dap weldwood on the entire project.

You got the vents okay? That was hardest part for me. Cutting the holes was a bitch but you also need to sand the perimeter of the vents a bit too to get them to fit back in. You have to get those cuts really tight. To high so it fits easy and it’ll show, to low and it won’t sit in its spot. I slowly wedged a brand new exacto knife around to clean it up.

I also used exacto to slightly enlarge The speaker square b/ it’s too tight of a fit.

You catch the bug yet? Center console next?

I might have made it look easy, but it definitely wasn’t. I also had done a lot more leather work before the dash so I was getting more comfortable with it when I got to the dash.

 

I’m having dash blues of my own. I need to try and clean up the edges around the radio. The Sugru just made it a little lumpy and it’s kinda not as clean as I’d like it. I peeled back the leather around already as I didn’t tac it down just in case. I need something putty like that I create a good edge, have it harden and slightly sand flush and smooth. It’s gotta be able to hold too. The Sugru almost worked, but it didn’t. And the dap weldwood will not stick to it all. Any ideas on what else I could use? Think I’m gonna try flex paste. Never used it but it seems like it could work.

 

Hey @sobeIPL ...sorry man, should have been clearer, that pic is the one you posted sometime back and i borrowed it for reference as i was too pissed to take my own lol...so yeah, nothing wrong in that pic and if mine looked like that i would have been frigging happy! my problem is that the material would not lay down in that area..i could not get it to lay flush no matter and last night was the attempt with marine vinyl- medium grade and same result..so after 3+ hrs of pulling and gluing(yes, used dapwood cement glue) still no go man..so tore the $hit off and tantrum etc etc lol and then said f'it will try another time lol. But yeah, almost there and could see it coming together, just something about that curve there and the material stretching to glove compartment corner...it seems to pull it at a weird angle and makes the material clump up and not lay down and i cut relief cuts but then it was cutting into the whole dash area so it looked like crap..anyway, will take pics next time and hope 3rd time's a charm....
As for your clean up...man, you are killing me here...im hoping to get mine looking even close to your pics and would be frigging happy, so you must be a perfectionist lol..but sorry , no ideas as im learning from you ,l but flex paste? not sure..i read something a while a go about red putty, its a filler like bondo, so maybe worth a check , it may do the trick for small areas..i also used Sugru on some small hairline cracks but had no issue with glue as they weren't in areas that needed adhering to dash etc..anyway man, your project has come a long way...you've done 40+ different things and im stuck on dash lol...but im sure your ride will look awesome with as much detail as you put into it...

 

@G37sPhoton I was like man, this guys dash looks a lot like mine, lmao. I still don’t understand the exact issue. Is it that curves are giving you excess material in some spots? I have no idea about vinyl except that it’s much different than leather. For the leather, use squirt bottle of water to stretch/mold it into shape. I was able to pretty much lay it down, form it and pinch it in place with the trim pieces without even gluing it. Once it was sitting good, I started with the back near the vents.

 

@sobeIPL ...LOL..yeah, should have fyi'd you on pic ..ordering another spec of leather and will try the water trick to get it to stretch etc...but yea, its just not laying flat, like the material wont shape right above the glove compartment but maybe it was just too stiff and needed water..more water to soften it etc, i was close and it looked good around vents, no issues, but i pressed it down and stretched it a lot...also, wasnt on there long enough to see if in days it would bubble up or look uneven or something, so the few hours i had it down it looked good in those places and that is what pissed me off man, most of it looked good and i could imagine it complete, but just that area..anyway, going to try again and will see

 

@G37sPhoton Man I’m still having trouble picturing what’s going wrong. I wish you would have taken a pic. You said glove box in your last post but that’s not where you circled. If I know the exact area that’s causing you grief, I may be able to imagine the issue a little better. Is this is the only spot that you had problems with? If so, maybe try again and identify the exact area with the pic of my dash if it’s not what you circled the first time.

Also, is your issue:
1) it’s just not adhering?
2) you have excess slack?
3) you have an area with curve (like around passenger left knee) and the leather is too tight to pull into the curve)?

Lastly, why do you need a new skin to re-do it? You should be able to use the leather you peeled off, right?

 

Hey @sobeIPL ..yeah, pictures would be better, but honestly i thought it was a done deal and would have taken pics after etc...so its basically the part right above the glove compartment , the whole flat area but closer to center console(passenger left knee direction)..when i lay the leather/marine vinyl down, starting at windshield and working back down, all is well, but when i get to this area, the material wont lay flat down..it sort of bubles, if i pull towards console, it lifts up in that area, when i lay that are flat down, the area near center console either bunches up or has a tension spot that wont lay there and no relief cut helps and when i pull it, it just didn't seem to stretch well for leather and the marine vinyl just wouldn't heat up to mold there..so yeah , hard to explain and im thinking i just didn't wet the leather enough and the marine vinyl is new to me so maybe not enough experience on handling it...OR i just don't know what the f i was doing lol..but yes i think 3 above describes it best...Also...when both tries didn't initially stick..i went heaaaaavy with cement glue lol...i mean heavyyyyy...figured it would stick with enough...well it didnt and the material is just messed up with that much , so figured fresh new material(yeah, getting expensive) also, had cut both to fit too close margins and when i tried relief cuts, it went too far into it and was done at that point..im going to try again man as i look at your pic and really want my dash fixed... i may try the marine vinyl again as its 19 per yard so the least expensive option right now...

 

@G37sPhoton okay, I think I get you now. So here is thing, stretch isn’t a great word when it comes to leather, think of it as pulling or molding. You can “stretch” vinyl and when you let go, it’ll mostly retract back. In that regard leather doesn’t really “stretch”. If you apply glue and push it real hard into that spot, it’s just going to pop back up. The glue needs time to grab and you have a force that’s lifting it back up. Before you glue that area, you need pull, massage, mold it into that area so it starts taking the shape. The leather will expand. It takes some patience tho. So you like start pulling it in the direction you want it to go and use your other hand work it into the curve. I would use my palm or fist a lot to work the shape. If the misses wasn’t home, I’d use her jade roller, lol.

It also helps if your leather has some play to it. Some leather is just more firm and less mailable than others. Heavily processed cheaper leather is also less likely to mold that great. I’d go again for leather. Just take it slow and if you get jammed up, take some pics and I’ll help you through it. But if you can’t cut a small strip and pull it to increase length 10 to 15%, try a different hide

 

@sobeIPL yep, i think you hit the nail on the head, it was the leather being too 'heavy'..i was over at a leather shop over weekend talking to the owner and a few oz of weight is enough to make it difficult to mold, so i ordered a lightweight 1 to 1.5 oz from him, as i think that will be much better than my previous hide weight and will see how that works when it gets in, so thanks for confirming, never really thought on it being too heavy as a possible issue etc, but will try again and thanks!!!

 

@deep0542 @Joyryde So either we are all dumb or only I am dumb in which case I don’t understand the struggle you guys had with grab handles.

The handles are super easy once I realized I was doing it wrong. I was trying to insert the handle with the metal clip in the roof and with the faster cover off. If you instead just put the metal clip on the grab handle, put the cover on that holds it in place and push, then they click right in. I’m willing to bet the foam and and leather on my roof is thicker than your guys’ suede so should have been even easier for y’all than me, and once I figured it out, no problems whatsoever. We’re y’all doing it wrong too?



Oh ****!

 

Hmm, I did what you mentioned but with my caps open. Oh well, that is a good observation and amazing problem solving. Good work man! I am considering redoing my headliner again with charcoal and just do a complete delete of the envelope holder and the grab handles this winter. Keep up the good work.