i have my dash off (my biochem class this year was a cinch in comparison...) and i have to replace the vinyl...but i got the crazy idea last night...what if i bought a few yards of carbon fiber cloth...and coverd it in that (after a few layers of FG to be sure) If i could get the weave right i think it may look sweet...especially if i clear coat it afterward...

what do yall think?

 

I think this would look great.

I really don't get why people think this is rice. Its all for looks, not performance. If someone says this is rice, then I guess almost anything that someone does to make their car look better is rice.

 

If you do it, put just enough in there to go with it. Like dont start getting CF gauges that really you dont need ect. But if you get that done, which I think will be a challenge, then it should look better then a torn up dash anyday. One thing to look at is if the rest of your interior matches in quality, like fadded or torn, even missing. Make up for these differences and get them to a matching color sceme you wont regret. I myself am trying to get a whole semi-gloss flatblack and grey. I dont want to flashy but i want something that looks like it should be like that when its done. It has alot to do with what you think looks good, and sometimes ppl say anything is rice. Being our cars are much older and look like they're classic cars, it might change a bit. Let us know what you think now.

 

I think it would be sweet. If you do it be sure to post pics. Thats something i would like to see.

 

I am going with a classy silver on black theme for the interior...kinda modern Audi...I have painted the insturment souround...stereo binacle and the gear lever souround "silver charcoal" (duplicolor) and i have done it the right way (sand prime sand prime sand paint sand paint...) ontop of that i made aluminium pieces to go where the radio and stereo control joystick once resided...which i epoxied in place...and filled and sanded to blend in with the lines of the binacle...so far I am happy with the under stated silver...i think the only other things i will paint like that are the door pull sourounds....so i dont know if CF will go well, but if i do it well...it just may.

I might post pics soon.

 

CF is really tough to work with, especially if you want a nice finish. I cant think of how you could get it to conform to the dash and look nice without vacuum bagging it.

 

Ya i have been thinling of that as well...I could lay it down in thin strips...and hope i get the weave mattched properly...but it will be hard.

 

if you can do it and make it look good, then go for it, I'd like to see it

 

I may try.....but its quite an undertaking...I would need to re covver all of the other trim bits to make it look good...not impossible.....but time consuming.

 

if you like the carbon fiber look thats cool, not really my taist though; I'm more classic, so i'm doing some custom wood grain(not faux, the real stuff)

 

wood is cool...I have considerd how to do it tastefully before on a rex...i think one vaneer strip running under the dash would be best...

Im making my self a custom wood shift ****...like on the 917 and carrera GT

 

To rice, or not to rice..... that is the question .

Sorry -- had to.

Covering the stock dash with CF would br pretty tough, and really doesn't accomplish much in terms of wieght savings. Thats why some would consider it rice. Other's would consider it rice purely because it's CF. Yet other's wouldn't consider it rice if after covering the dash with CF, you then paint the center consol orange, and stick a big Mugen sticker on it. Rice is in the eye of the beholder .

 

actually, if you were wanting to turn your car into a race car, doing that would actually save a lot of weight if you got rid of the metal frame behind it... that's an *** load of weight!! hell, even if you don't pull all of the metal out and just want the looks, it would look cool.

 

for the wood trim i was going for the stip acrosed under the dash but i was also going to do it with a solid carved center consol mutch like an 80's benz (my other car) and mabey somthing with the door panels to i havent disided and most definatly the shifter ****.

 

cf is not necesarily rice, it is if you start saying it made your car faster. then it would be rice

 

Order those vacum bags on you see on tv where you hook it upto a vacume and suck all the air out. Be sure to get a good one though.....

 

Yeah, I dunno how'd that look. The car almost seems to old for that stuff and wood does not belong in a sports car. If anything, put it in a FC.

 

I painted my brake calipers yellow, my car is gonna fly now!!!

 

carbon for purely cosmetic reasons is ricey... think vinyl... kinda like carbon fiber printed vinyl. hey, that'll be an easy way to form it to your dash. i made some carbon fiber FUNCTIONAL pieces, like a block off plate. kinda slick to show off to your buddies that you have one. even takes the heat, since it was autoclaved (where carbon gets its strength) instead of just laid up and thrown together with some epoxy.

 

next is the center console piece... freakin former owner cut up my piece to hell, and since the cuts have to be so narrow on the sides in order to fit a standard sized cd player, might as well make it strong... i put my stereo in the glove compartment and my next project will be to make a guage face where the stereo was, out of my 3/8 autoclaved carbon. off we go to the water jet.