Disassembly of 1965 Impala dashboard - The sheet metal, not just the gauge cluster

[ImpalaDan]

Has anyone ever removed the complete dashboard of a 1965 Impala? My SS is pretty solid but I want to do a frame-off resto over the winter and was wondering if it's better to remove the complete dash or, since it's spot-welded to the body, leave it in and get it dry-ice blasted or something. Don't really want to sandblast it cuz I don't want to end up with corrugated sheet metal.

Does anybody have any experience with this?

Thanks,

Dan

[squirrel]

leave it in the car. If you sandblast it at a reasonable pressure and with fine sand, it should survive just fine, I've done at least 3 of them that way in old chevys. Or if you don't want to blast it, just sand it, takes more time but you'll have more control over it, which should let you sleep easier.

one thing about sandblasting...it leaves a mess, sand is still coming out of my Chevy II after almost 3000 miles of driving it

[Scott Liggett]

If you are planning to do a frame off, do yourself a favor and get the body assembly manual. There are reprints available from Year-One, Classic Industries, etc. It will be very helpful in both disassembly and assembly of the car. Also, buy a ton of zip lock bags and a few sharpies to organize all the bolts, washers, shims, etc. Then take a ton of digital pics while taking the car apart.

[Aircooled]

one thing about sandblasting...it leaves a mess, sand is still coming out of my Chevy II after almost 3000 miles of driving it

On my '66 Corvair, I had to sandblast some pitted rust along the seam between the metal dash and the windshield channel. It took 10,000 miles of driving before sand stopped falling out of the underside of the dash.

[anotheridiot]

We just changed the top shelf on the camaro, but looking at the rotiseree thread, that dash is really solid too, I would think removing it would make the body even more flimsy.

[ImpalaDan]

Thanks for the advice, guys! Yes, I've already got a big (!!!) stack of zip lock bags and I've got my digicam ready, so I should be good to go. It's going to be a loooong winter... I bought a copy of the original manufacturer's assembly book, but have to say I think it's pretty hard to work with as there's no discernible structure in the book, so you have to browse the whole book every time you want to look something up. . I've also got the Shop Service Repair Manual CD, I like that a lot better :-)

I've got a guy here who does dry-ice blasting so I guess I'll give that a try, leave the dashboard in and get it blasted. Dry-ice doesn't leave a mess like sandblasting does, plus there's no danger of bending the sheet metal,so I'm guessing this might be a good option. Will keep you posted.

[ImpalaDan]

Update: After having a closer look at the car once it was disassembled, I decided to completely strip it and sandblast the entire interior, firewall and under-floor, so I sandblasted the dashboard as well. Rust had eaten through it in a few spots of the windshield channel so I wanted to do a thorough job.

What I did though, I stripped the several layers of paint with my angle grinder and a paint removal disc, then just sandblasted the metal. You need to be careful with the paint removal discs, they get pretty hot if you stay on one spot for too long and then the sheet metal likes to deform.

After I had sandblasted everything, I just bought a nice big industrial vacuum cleaner and spent a few days getting sand out of every corner of the car and my garage.

My personal summary: Sandblasting works great and it was definitely worth it. But if you're planning on just sandblasting a dashboard or other part of your car, I would advise against it. It really is messy! Even if you cover everything that's not supposed to get sand on it, sand and dust just gets everywhere and is super hard to get out of hidden places. It took me a full day just to get my car hoist clean after I was done.

[squirrel]

looking good!

you may think you have all the sand out of it, after vacuuming...but you don't.....

[ImpalaDan]

looking good!

you may think you have all the sand out of it, after vacuuming...but you don't.....

Well, of course I didn't just vacuum it, I spent a lot of time blowing it out with compressed air, vacuuming again, compressed air, vacuum..... and so on. Believe me, there's no sand left in there After I was done, I covered all seams with sealing compound and then sprayed the interior with chassis paint.

[Scott Liggett]

Looking good. I will have similar rust at the base of my windshield.

[ImpalaDan]

Looking good. I will have similar rust at the base of my windshield.

I cut out a rectangular piece and sandblasted all the rust away that I could get, then sprayed rust-preventing penetrating oil in there and just for good measure blasted it with compressed air to really spread the oil around. It worked really well. Do you know how you're going to approach this yet?