Dash Repair

[Grantkat]

My next project will be a dash repair as soon as the weather shapes up here in southern Ohio. I have seen most all the posts and videos on the repair, but I want to get a few opinions. There is only one S70 in any of the yards within a 100 miles of me. I may pull it, but not sure of the chances that its any better than mine for the effort.
As far as the repair itself, I am definitely going to use metal strapping, same as a recent post from scot850. I am interested in the gluing process. I have seen several. One was using fiberglass and resin, however it gets thick fast and the few I have watched show that you have to pay attention or the fitment will be an issue.
Any opinions on using ABS pipe glue? As I understand it, ABS pipe glue is simply ABS dissolved in acetone. fast setting and allows for shaping etc if needed. The the other nice part is it can be reshaped or contoured using acetone.
Lastly would be an epoxy of some sort.

Im interested in anyone thoughts and what other have has success with

[Sveedy]

I'd use the original J.B. Weld. Even their plastic version doesn't seem to work as well on this Volvo plastic. And it will bond to the metal strap.
I just reinforced all 4 of the firewall mounts ( no straps ) and things are still quite 3 years later. The best solution,imo, would be to have some way to attach it better down around the kick panel. Something vertical that would not allow the dash to drop down, so that the firewall mounts are not doing all of the work.

[scot850]

Each to their own. I use JB Weld Plastic as mentioned in my thread and that includes the metal straps. The straps make the dash way stronger than it ever was. It is a case of what works for you and what you feel comfortable with.

Having a spare dash you can repair before pulling your own allows you to easily get this repair done in a weekend.

I should add I clean the area of the gluing with either rubbing alcohol or acetone to give a surface that is clean to adhere to. This may help in either way of gluing and even roughening the surface with a Scotchbrite will help to take the surface shine off the plastic.

Good Luck!

Neil

[foggydogg]

As far as the repair itself, I am definitely going to use metal strapping, same as a recent post from scot850. I am interested in the gluing process. I have seen several. One was using fiberglass and resin, however it gets thick fast and the few I have watched show that you have to pay attention or the fitment will be an issue.
Any opinions on using ABS pipe glue? As I understand it, ABS pipe glue is simply ABS dissolved in acetone. fast setting and allows for shaping etc if needed. The the other nice part is it can be reshaped or contoured using acetone.
Lastly would be an epoxy of some sort.

Im interested in anyone thoughts and what other have has success with

If you have the time, do a training run on the one in the salvage yard. You can get a feel for the job without the danger of extra grief on your own dash.
ABS glue might mend the mount boss itself if all the bits are there, but likely won't grip the metal strap very well.
Robert uses a two part epoxy.


He has a three part series on the job,


Pack your patience, the plastic they used wasn't all that stout to begin with, and now it suffers from old age.

[Grantkat]

ok JB weld it is. That was my original thought, I never thought about adhesion to the straps, good point!
also not a bad idea to pull the spare and repair it.....

thanks everyone! now...i just need some warmer weather.....