Ignition Key Area Hole Vinyl Repair

[Diesel911]

See the attached pictures. You can see the hole that was developing from blindly sticking your Ignition Key. I have seen pics on the internet where that area is extensively damaged and decide not to wait for that to happen.

I used some heavy paper to make a pattern and then cut some scrap leather (from an old Purse). I glued it on with 3M 847 adhesive which is a Nitrile rubber cement that has one of the uses as being a engine gasket adhesive.

I used leather because the Key won’t easily poke through that.

What is important about that is that it can take the interior heat of a hot Car without un-bonding. (Maybe the more common 3M weather stripping cement would also take the heat but I don‘t know.)

The results in the last picture while entirely functional did not come out as nice looking as I would have wanted. I think painting it blue to match the dash would help or dying it black but I am going to leave it alone.

[Mike D]

Well, it isn't the prettiest job I've seen but I do agree with it being functional.

I bet with a bit of steam you could form-fit the leather and eliminate the separate patch you had to use. Worth a try anyway. I might pop over to the local thrift store and buy a cheap purse just to try it. Did you remove the cracked vinyl or just fit over it?

Yep, I imagine a spray of SEM 15043 Shadow Blue, would match/blend the color.

https://sep.yimg.com/ca/I/yourautotrim-store_2269_149898214

Well, rat poop! I notice that SEM won't ship to California.

There are quite a few places who supply leather dye. A bit messier than the SEM products but they still do a good job.

[Clemson88]

There's not a finishmaster auto paint store in Cal? Some of the guys on ebay might ship to you.

[BWhitmore]

Color Plus in Milford, PA sells an exact match blue color dye for Blue W123 dashes. They have a website.

[Diesel911]

What I would like to see is someone making a perfectly contoured formed stainless steel insert that could go into that area. But, there is too few 123s around for anyone to make money on an item that would have to be stamped out.

[BWhitmore]

I wonder if the fellow making the billet key heads would consider making a stainless contoured insert.

[Mike D]

A metal insert would be problematic due to differences in wear, sag and warp age of the original piece. The billet heads were done on a CNC machine and the technique used wouldn't work on the thin, curved work shape required. The pieces could be stamped I suppose.

I imagine a 3-D printer could be used to create a plastic shield. It would take some serious work making the 3-D model and color matching would still be required.

Haven't been able to convince the wife a 3-D printer is a "must have" bit of kit yet.

[Diesel911]

Originally Posted by Mike D

A metal insert would be problematic due to differences in wear, sag and warp age of the original piece. The billet heads were done on a CNC machine and the technique used wouldn't work on the thin, curved work shape required. The pieces could be stamped I suppose.

I imagine a 3-D printer could be used to create a plastic shield. It would take some serious work making the 3-D model and color matching would still be required.

Haven't been able to convince the wife a 3-D printer is a "must have" bit of kit yet.

The question is how do you get the specs to do that?

When someone spoke of molding the wet leather I had actually thought about that. But, I felt I would need to make a plaster mold of the area and decided it was too much trouble.

[Mike D]

3D scanners have come a long way and there's a ton of free software for conversion to 3D printers.

Just a matter of shelling out the coin for the equipment (ain't it always?). A decent scanner goes for about $500.00 and for the printer, from $300.00 - $3000.00, depending on the quality of the work needed.

3D printers are beginning to make inroads on the traditional CNC process. There's a place here in Tucson which will scan an object, create the code and cut it using a 5-axis mill. The image created by the scan is saved in a format usable by a 3D printer. Got to see a demo of it in action. The only human interaction was the actual placement and removal of the object and finished copy. Made all the CNC operators I was viewing it with a bit nervous.