Build a Dash Without Fiberglass or Filler

It’s Monday morning and you’re refreshed from the weekend and ready to take on the world. A customer comes in raving about a car he saw on television that had a crazy 10.4-inch monitor in the dash. He said the climate controls were relocated and it was the hottest thing he has ever seen. He asks if you can do it and you respond, “Of course I can do it! We are professionals and can do anything!” Now you made sure your boss didn’t hear what you just said because you knew he would remind you of the last time you tackled a dash rebuild and the customer came back a dozen times because the awesome dash you constructed did not wear well. In fact, once every two months you had to sand it down, fill in the cracks and repaint it. The customer was never really happy, you were never really happy and your boss was downright unhappy. We all know that rebuilding a dash with fiberglass and/or body filler is possible. We also know that it is sometimes hard to get the fiberglass and body filler to adhere to the existing plastic. There are many techniques that can be used with fiberglass and body filler to make sure the finished product looks good and is rugged, but it requires lots of practice. This article will describe another way of attacking a dash rebuild using the same material that the dash is made out of—plastic! The entire reconstruction will only use ABS plastic and glue. The main trick is to build areas up with plastic and then to grind and sand the plastic to the shape you desire.
Here is the factory dash panel. During this install a 10.4-inch monitor was installed in place of the factory radio, the climate controls were relocated, a smaller navigation monitor was installed at the bottom of the panel and space for an aftermarket head unit was constructed. This article will concentrate on the portion of the install involving the 10.4” monitor, but the same techniques were used for the rest of the panel modifications.

Source