Pop the Dash... and more Sanding

After I pulled the windshield, I started rooting around for evidence of rust. Like I indicated in my last post, there wasn't much difference since the last time I pulled the windshield, but I hadn't pulled the dashboard top panel either. Today covers that fun adventure.

Plastic Hats

the screw under the plastic hat

I'd always wondered why the top panel / steel sheet on my bus had been such a bright white. The rest of the bus was that slight off-white, but that panel had been bright bright white. It is so bright, in fact, that I cut carpet to set on top of it so the glare on the windshield wouldn't impair my ability to drive on sunny days. At the front-most point of that panel, close to where it meets the windshield, there are 8 little black plastic "hats". Once the windshield was off, and I looked at the rust, it occurred to me that those must by covers. After popping one off, I found Phillips head screws. Neat. I pulled the hats and the screws, and popped them into a "dashboard" ziplock baggie.

10mm Nuts
Once the Phillips head screws at the front are removed, there are 6 nuts/washer combinations at the rear of the top sheet which holds it to the pad. It is easier to get at these nuts if the glove box and dashpod are out of the way, but that's not entirely necessary. The glove box is freed by simply loosening the steel retainer (Phillips head bolt along the bottom facing rear-ward). Once removed, the nuts and washers pop into the same ziplock baggie, and the dashpad comes right off.

Panel Off

what's German for spaghetti?

With the dashpad out of the way and the front-edge screws out, the panel is no longer a-fixed. It may, however, be difficult to extract without some wrangling. I'll have to protect the painted areas on re-install, or I'll scratch up the new paint. I found that the panel was very light, once it was out, and it had been repaired before. There are small rust holes and rough sections under the white paint that leads me to believe that there was a half-assed rust abatement effort conducted once before. Why someone would go so far as remove the sheet and then not fill the rust holes, I don't know. I will.... and I'll paint it a more mellow color and sheen so it doesn't blind me on a sunny day.

I thought about buying a replacement panel, but I have had a hard time finding a new one. Since this is the panel with the VIN plate, it is possible that new panels aren't generally sold. I set the panel in the clean-up pile and decided I'll keep looking for a new one. The rust isn't too bad, but since it'll take me over an hour to rust treat it, much less paint it, it's probably worth looking for a rust-free new one.

That's it for today. Like I said before, I'm running out of things to remove before the next phase starts. That next phase should be rust repair. Then hole repairs, final rough sanding, priming, more sanding, painting, more sanding...
Thanks for following along-