Full fiberglass interior journey

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Mathew Habermehl

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Posts
4
Reaction score
3
Location
AL
Ram Year
2004
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Long term lurker first day as actual member. I have recently done some major repairs to my 04 1500. Its been beat and neglected for years so I gave her every steering, suspension, cooling, climate control, braking part i could and even did a paint on all engine bay plastics and a full detail. Rockauto saved me a ton. 4000 in parts for 1500 with shipping. Now that the truck is in proper working order I'm going to tackle the interior. First I stripped every panel I could get my hands on and now comes the task of putting it back together the way I always wanted. I have never tried anything to do with interior work but I am going to give it my all. First up is the dash. My factory dash was completely gone so I took it out piece by piece only to realize the panel that goes over the speakers in the dash were only in 5 or 6 piece! SCORE! I picked up a dash off of a 03 ram that just happened to be pulling into the local salvage yard I just happened to stop at to window shop (wife hates my habit of bringing home stray parts but she brings home stray dogs so fair is fair) it was like a sign from above. This truck had just been totaled by the insurance company and being pulled in as I was walking in. I saw it and went to the manager and and after begging and pleading to let me pick through it even though he hadnt inventoried yet he finaly resigned. I open the door and what do I find a perfectly intact dash. It was severely faded but I had plans on glassing eventually anyway. I was expecting a hefty pricetag but when I went to pay I walked out with it and several other interior panels for $25. So finally 4 years later I'm putting it to use. I didnt detail much from the initial steps due to not intending on joining but why not give something back to the community that has helped me so often in recent weeks and get some insight as I go. First I took the secondary panel which being super brittle lost all grills for the defrost vents and speakers. Never liking the front speakers I didnt mind I was covering those anyway and the defrost vents... I'll survive without the grills for now. I then took it and mounted it to the new dash as I would when having it inside the cab. I read on other forums about people glassing their dash and having rattling problems so I filled the layer between the two with expanding foam which helped act as a means for me to keep the old broken pieces tied together. Looking from the underside there are a I believe 8 angled screw holes that hold down the back half of the dash so I took a small drill bit and ran it through the top of the dash making a small hole. Using a stepped bit I then made the hole large enough for the longer screws to drop down into which will allow me to attach the panel after it is one solid piece. I will figure out a plug method when it's back in the truck. I then filled a few places with foam, let it cure then cut it relatively flush to fill the channel between the two pieces. It is a weird valley I did not want to deal with in bondo later. This wasnt smooth enough of a transition for me so I took some drywall compound I had laying around for small patches and filled it then sanded it to the shape i felt was closest to my final vision. Just finished using upholstery contact spray to wrap the dash in a layer of felt. After a quick initial trimming I had to call it a day. I plan on getting more detailed photos from here on out. Hopefully this turns out the way I have envisioned. So far I like the looks of it. Hoping to get this part done quickly with good results because I plan on laying the entire floor of the cab in fiberglass with a layer of sound deadened and spray foam underneath. A local interior guy suggested this method to take the carpet and turn it into a solid floor. I've already cut the carpet into three strips that run the driver, passenger, and center hump and each will be glssed in a manner that will allow me to seal them completely together after gel coating. The base of the pillars and kick panels will be done the same way which will allow my floor to be completely water tight so no more worrying about muddy shoes or dirt. Of it get nasty a quick hose down and a squeegee my floor is clean again. He says hes done it and it's a wonderful thing. Most people love carpet and I was one until he reminded me that the old trucks had vinyl liners and not carpet. This definitely made me feel nostalgic for my first truck so definitely giving it a try. Already found a replacement carpet for 200 if i don't like. The way it turns out and I probably have the other trim panels laying around. Sorry for the long first post just excited to finally share my project with the world. 20190328_141839.jpg 20190330_045326.jpg 20190330_045331.jpg 20190330_164748.jpg 20190330_164756.jpg
 
OP
OP
Mathew Habermehl

Mathew Habermehl

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Posts
4
Reaction score
3
Location
AL
Ram Year
2004
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Here are a couple of pictures of the engine bay before and after I spent a full day with a dremel with about 20 harbour freight wire bits and a pack of brushes plus an old vacuum I had laying around. No chemicals except for a degreaser where I was going to lay paint. I definitely ended up in the dog house after spending a full night laying the black over all the wording and emblems instead of being in bed with the wife. She gets my attention always and blue never seems to get any love these days. She can deal for now until I make up for a year of sitting in the yard without running and 7 years of hard running neglect before that. 20190318_150912.jpg you can see how greasy and oxidized everything is here20190319_164939.jpg 8 full hours of meticulous detailing later20190321_164245.jpg and how it ended up looking. From where it started it was worth every night spent in the dog house. In her defense though I did that level of cleaning degreasing and painting on ever part I pulled off all the way down to the suspension bolts and hub. But if she hadnt been so angry I never would have started on the interior. On the bright side I can do every repair imaginable on the 3rd gen ram and one that all bolts were rusted and impossible to get off. The steering rack took a 6 ft breaker bar and a very stupid unsafe method of using a Jack and the trucks weight to finally break it loose. The shop down the road from my house told me they would have to take the transmission out to break it loose it was so badly rusted together. Again sorry for the long post.
 
OP
OP
Mathew Habermehl

Mathew Habermehl

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Posts
4
Reaction score
3
Location
AL
Ram Year
2004
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Ok so it has been a very long month. Six college classes, full time job, three rugrats, and an extremely....patient wife have kept me busier than I recall being in a long time. Interestingly enough I also won my first cooking competition so the extra cash came in handy for this project. I have though been able to slowly but surely get little bits and pieces done along the way! Figured I would stop in and share the progress report. So i was able to lay glass over the felt.20190405_171222.jpg 20190405_191027.jpg that shot above is after some light sanding to remove the highest points and clean up some edges.
Over the next two weeks I was able, in five minute increments, to get her sanded as smooth as I intend to and get mostly everything trimmed so the other pieces would fit into their intended slots.
20190427_190857.jpg
 
OP
OP
Mathew Habermehl

Mathew Habermehl

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Posts
4
Reaction score
3
Location
AL
Ram Year
2004
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Today I got to spend a good couple of hours working on the blue beast. I stripped the dash support out. I intend to paint it since it is littered with surface rust. I know it is not a major issue but since I am down to this point I may as well cover all my bases for the future. Before painting I mounted the support frame to my porch(wife isnt happy....) and test fit everything to be sure it all mounted correctly before I bondo and paint. I've learned too many times not test fitting before finishing can lead to headaches later! 20190430_171213.jpg 20190430_171220.jpg 20190430_171229.jpg
I'm pretty sure I am going to go flat black or a satin since a gloss would be too shiny and cause a major glare. Any opinions on this? Black or grey is my major debate at this time. Wife says blacks too hot and go grey. So I told her I'll paint it purple and call it a day, she didnt like it but then I got to daydreaming about plum crazy purple interior and mildly intrigued about the way it would turn out. Anyway I have finals over the next three days so no more working on it until next week. Hopefully I'll be done by this time next Tuesday, then I can finish my fiberglass carpets. That has been like cutting a path through the rainforest. Could not find anything online about doing it so I've definitely learned some lessons. I'll post more details when I actually focus on that part. That is definitely turning out way nicer than I originally thought it would! 20190401_164054.jpg 20190401_180547.jpgLastly does anyone have any suggestions on painting the other trim pieces. I thought about glossing them all with pantie hose just so it wasnt very thick and painting them since paint seems to stick better to glass than the plain panels. Ultimately my goal is to glass the lower pillars and build a custom center console sealing it all together so when it is time to wash the interior i can hose it it out and be done. That way I can mount my maps and a sub in the center and run zero risk of electrical damage. I also am going to wrap the lower half of the seats in vinyl and only have fabric where the cheeks meet cushion. Any thoughts?
 

Spike95

Senior Member
TOTM Winner
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Posts
268
Reaction score
345
Location
Houston
Ram Year
2001
Engine
5.9
Today I got to spend a good couple of hours working on the blue beast. I stripped the dash support out. I intend to paint it since it is littered with surface rust. I know it is not a major issue but since I am down to this point I may as well cover all my bases for the future. Before painting I mounted the support frame to my porch(wife isnt happy....) and test fit everything to be sure it all mounted correctly before I bondo and paint. I've learned too many times not test fitting before finishing can lead to headaches later! View attachment 164584 View attachment 164585 View attachment 164588
I'm pretty sure I am going to go flat black or a satin since a gloss would be too shiny and cause a major glare. Any opinions on this? Black or grey is my major debate at this time. Wife says blacks too hot and go grey. So I told her I'll paint it purple and call it a day, she didnt like it but then I got to daydreaming about plum crazy purple interior and mildly intrigued about the way it would turn out. Anyway I have finals over the next three days so no more working on it until next week. Hopefully I'll be done by this time next Tuesday, then I can finish my fiberglass carpets. That has been like cutting a path through the rainforest. Could not find anything online about doing it so I've definitely learned some lessons. I'll post more details when I actually focus on that part. That is definitely turning out way nicer than I originally thought it would! View attachment 164589 View attachment 164590Lastly does anyone have any suggestions on painting the other trim pieces. I thought about glossing them all with ****** hose just so it wasnt very thick and painting them since paint seems to stick better to glass than the plain panels. Ultimately my goal is to glass the lower pillars and build a custom center console sealing it all together so when it is time to wash the interior i can hose it it out and be done. That way I can mount my maps and a sub in the center and run zero risk of electrical damage. I also am going to wrap the lower half of the seats in vinyl and only have fabric where the cheeks meet cushion. Any thoughts?
I know this is an old thread, but if you’re still around, I’d love to see how the rest of it went. I’m sorry nobody responded to all of this. This kind of work would probably get a lot more attention in the 2nd Gen forums.
 

HemiLonestar

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Posts
5,991
Reaction score
2,952
Location
MD
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7 hemi
He hasn't been back since two months after this post was made; not likely you'll get a response. His only posts were right here.
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
194,926
Posts
2,864,179
Members
155,296
Latest member
VLG6963
Top