What have you guys used for dashpad foam?

[zombiekiller]

So I'm in the process of working on my dash. I ordered one of the dash caps, but to my dismay, when I pulled the dash apart, the foam and vinyl was far too gone for me to sand, fill and cap.



So, I've got the cap and I'm got the metal portion of the dash cleaned of all old glue.

I do need to make the foam portion to put the plastic cap onto.

What have you guys used for recreating the dash foam? I initially though about using "great stuff" and using the plastic dash cap as a mold, but I've head that it tends to not cure all the way.

Thanks in advance!

[cheapthrillz]

Would a styrofoam craft block work?

[zombiekiller]

thats open cell, so I don't think so. i also dont want to deal with the off-gassing inherent in styrofoam.

I may try ordering a 4" thick block of firm upholstery foam, but I'm trying to keep this economical.

[SS PUNISHER]

I would just use the expanding foam. Test the foam in strips to see how far it expands then space the strips out accordingly on the frame. If you wanna remove the cap afterwards just cover the bottom in clear packing tape beforehand and it will remove easily.
Hope this helps...

[cheapthrillz]

thats open cell, so I don't think so. i also dont want to deal with the off-gassing inherent in styrofoam.

I may try ordering a 4" thick block of firm upholstery foam, but I'm trying to keep this economical.

There are a few types of "great stuff". The normal expands like crazy, but they make another that is more dense that only expands a little...

[aps63]

Check out this place.
http://www.yourautotrim.com/foscplch.html
They have all kinds of padding. From seat foam to sculpting foam and everything in between.
It has to be better than "Great stuff".

[txfordman]

When I was operations manager at an automotive upholstery supply co. we sold a roll material that was called "vinyl top padding" IIRC it came in three thicknesses-1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 x 60in wide.
This is a dense, coated, closed cell foam.Don't know how much thickness you need-maybe you could layer it. here is one of several links that came up when I googled"Auto vinyl top padding":

http://www.wsusol.com/c-184-auto-vinyl-top-padding.aspx

Hope this helps

JH

[zombiekiller]

Check out this place.
http://www.yourautotrim.com/foscplch.html
They have all kinds of padding. From seat foam to sculpting foam and everything in between.
It has to be better than "Great stuff".

i ended up going into a local coach builder shop here in town. I ended up buying a 2 part foam mix that they use to custom mold dashpads and one of the interior guys was nice enough to give me a brief how-to on using it and sinking an anchor strip into it. he also showed me how to close off the dash cap to make a fully functional mold.

When I was operations manager at an automotive upholstery supply co. we sold a roll material that was called "vinyl top padding" IIRC it came in three thicknesses-1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 x 60in wide.
This is a dense, coated, closed cell foam.Don't know how much thickness you need-maybe you could layer it. here is one of several links that came up when I googled"Auto vinyl top padding":

http://www.wsusol.com/c-184-auto-vinyl-top-padding.aspx

Hope this helps

JH

Thanks! i may use some of that to pad the console that I'll be fabbing too.