Jballard81's 1994 super cab 4.0 4x4 Restore

[rumblecloud]

That looks really nice! I hope mine turns out that good.

 

[Terrys87]

It is rewarding to be driving an older truck that looks a lot newer. I think you are going to enjoy the experience. Sandpaper sounds scary but you will get into trouble quick with a buffer and rubbing compound. It takes a little more effort with sandpaper but I think you get better results. Rubbing comound can burn the paint or sand thru the paint. Looking great.

 

[jballard81]

Well after only procrastinating for about a year with my refurbished dashboard sitting in the garage, my wife accidentally bumped into it while parking and pushed it against the hot water heater:

Luckily I have a bit more bodywork experience and some better tools now. I used an air die grinder and had the cracks cleared out in about 5 minutes:

In my previous repair i used a bunch of plastic bond. I think I'm going to skip that and go directly into filler. Will update once I get a chance to work on it again.

 

[Terrys87]

I have used filler in the past. One of these days, I want to try kitty hair fiberglass filler. I kind of wonder if it would be better?

 

[jballard81]

I have used filler in the past. One of these days, I want to try kitty hair fiberglass filler. I kind of wonder if it would be better?

I'm going to use filler since that's what I have, but I follow a guy on YouTube that swears by fiberglass. He says fiber glass first, followed by filler, then icing as needed will give you a fix that will last a long time.

After looking more closely at my pics, I did notice that the cracks that came in were NOT in any of the spots (well, one was close) that i had previously fixed. This old vinyl is just beat by the sun. I almost wonder if it would be smart to cut in a few more relief lines in the dash and then fill those, maybe make it less susceptible to cracking in the future?

If i really hated myself, i could sand the whole thing down and give the entire dash a coat of filler/icing... That sounds pretty awful though

 

[jballard81]

Body filler and smoothed out with the angle grinder. Minimal hand sanding. Sprayed on 3 coats of charcoal gray on it. It matches the vents much better than the previous gray. Good enough!

Just need to let it cure up and work up the effort to install it.

 

[Terrys87]

That turned out really well. You will be smiling every time you see it driving down the road knowing the difference you made on it and it is looking new.

 

[SenorNoob]

Get it done before you drop it again...

 

[jballard81]

Found a power side mirror in good shape from an 01. Looks good and was a direct swap:

TOO damn hot though, still a good day at the bone yard and in the garage.

 

[jballard81]

Finally decided to tackle the dashboard replacement. Weather is too nice and the wife was gone all day, no excuses could be made.

I followed this post on disassembly: https://www.explorerforum.com/forums/threads/how-to-remove-1991-1994-dash-with-lots-of-pics.248021/

Incredibly helpful. Only difference for me was that just about every connector I touched broke. So taking my time and bagging screws so I don't forget where they go, it took me about 2 hours to get it out.

Then I spent the next couple hours figuring out fixes for different things that broke along with painting things I had forgotten.

The lines for controlling the AC vents were the worst. I ended up using self tapping screws to hold the pivots in place bc the plastic bits broke. Had to melt some new plastic on the blue pivot point bc the old nub broke apart.

Letting paint dry and the vents soak in super clean and calling it for the night. Hopefully it goes back together quickly and uneventfully tomorrow morning

 

[rumblecloud]

You are way more into it than I am...but inspiring me nonetheless.

 

[jballard81]

You are way more into it than I am...but inspiring me nonetheless.

Pretty sure this is a first and last time type situation . At least I hope so.

 

[jballard81]

Went back together easier than it came apart. Rerouting wires and fixing past wiring sins took me a good while.

Notable points:
-wiring sucks. Ended up leaving plenty of electrical tape covered sins.
-connectors are really brittle. Especially AC stuff.
-the dealer (I presume) installed remote entry also added to the wiring spaghetti.

Reattaching all the connections was pretty straightforward. They basically went right back to where they were and the connectors usually were color coded.

Finally installed the drink holder I got a while ago as well

Overall I'm happy with how it came out. Would I do it again? Probably not , but who knows. Like almost everything with this truck it was a good learning experience.

 

[RobbieD]

Much better! Great work.

 

[rumblecloud]

So... when are you planning to drive it...if ever?
There isn't even any dirt in the brake pedal grooves....