Dash and Radio

[Oldbugman]

Been working on repainting Dash. Center section is going to be Titanium, and while I was doing this. I thought it may be odd to have a silver colored center dash with a black radio in the middle of it all, so I disassembled the radio and painted it the same color as the center section will be.

Got a few pictures, still have a long ways to go with this interior mod, but I'm making progress albeit slow.

What's that in the background? Hopefully my next project at the beginning of the new year.

[Yello_jellybean]

Very nice idea. So, far it looks GREAT!
Keep up the good work. AND Good Luck!

[Titchy]

Looking good! You are a glutton for punishment! This is a piece of cake compared to the door panels huh? I did all mine in gloss black so it sort of blended in. I wasn't sure I'd be able to figure out how to paint the front of the radio.
What's "what" in the background? The air ducts?
Here's mine, oh and those gauges that were giving me fits, done. On to the door panel

Tracy

[Titchy]

ohh, oops, now I see it, in the garage. That will be fun. Can't wait to see how that turns out. Good luck

Tracy

[Oldbugman]

Originally Posted by Titchy

Looking good! You are a glutton for punishment! This is a piece of cake compared to the door panels huh? I did all mine in gloss black so it sort of blended in. I wasn't sure I'd be able to figure out how to paint the front of the radio.
What's "what" in the background? The air ducts?
Here's mine, oh and those gauges that were giving me fits, done. On to the door panel

Tracy

Nice guage cluster may have to consider that soon...

Yes , I am a glutton for punishment, actually once it's all done I'm hoping it will look like I expected. And yes this was a breeze compared to the door panel, only problem is, is that I have one more left to do. Not sure if I have the paaitence for another one! Got some more pic's. I'll post them a little later. And if everything goes well the oval is heading to the body shop at the begining of the new year had it for 10 years, time to get it on the road again. It's tellin me it's time.....

[AbuNigel]

this is gonna look awesome. I sometimes think color matched interior pieces in NBs can push it overboard a little, but with reflex silver i think it will look really good.

[Titchy]

I've tried to go easy with the red, a little red goes a long way, especially with the red/black sport seats. I am going plain black on my door panels with possibly the door handle in red. Not there yet. It's whatever you like, you're the one sitting in there. I actually have a set of black dash pieces and a red leather grab handle I can change to if it hits me to do so.

The silver looks great and painting the radio face is excellent. Everything looks like it belongs. So are you going black carpet to tie it all together?

Tracy

[Oldbugman]

More pics of dash repainting.

Glove box, repainted.



Drivers kneepad repainted.



Another angle of dash.



Pic of dash and passenger door together.



Pic of door panel rework, still have a little seperation problem in an area you can't see in photo but overall this is the best yet. Will probably revisit this panel at a later time, it's got a few problems and I believe it can be done better. I should have used a thinner piece of vinyl. Not bad but not right.What can I say I'm anal about certain things, well just about everything that I do. If the job's worth doing it's worth doing right.

[Oldbugman]

Originally Posted by Titchy

The silver looks great and painting the radio face is excellent. Everything looks like it belongs. So are you going black carpet to tie it all together?

Tracy

Yes absolutely, was up in the air about it for a bit. But now after seeing the black trim against the gray carpet, it's got to go. But I had the original thought to change it to black, so my first instinct was correct.Working on center section of dash now, once I have that done, the only thing left with the gooey paint is the center console. Nice to be able to touch something and not stick to it.

[Yello_jellybean]

Oldbugman, Did you prep you plastic pieces before you painted them? (Like the glove box and such) I looked to see if you posted on this, and I didn't see it, So I thought I would ask.
Looks VERY nice. Good Work.
Also, Did you remove the rubber coating on the upper dash parts before you painted them, or what?
Titchy could probably answer that too, but since this is YOUR thread...

BTW, Titchy yours looks GREAT too.

[Oldbugman]

Originally Posted by AbuNigel

this is gonna look awesome. I sometimes think color matched interior pieces in NBs can push it overboard a little, but with reflex silver i think it will look really good.

Actually my car is White, but these colors work well with it.

As my wife always tells her friends when I'm done redoing a room in the house......he was gay in a previous life!

What can I say, I've got a way with colors

[Yello_jellybean]

Your way with color, is to be admired.

[Oldbugman]

Originally Posted by Yello_jellybean

Oldbugman, Did you prep you plastic pieces before you painted them? (Like the glove box and such) I looked to see if you posted on this, and I didn't see it, So I thought I would ask.
Looks VERY nice. Good Work.
Also, Did you remove the rubber coating on the upper dash parts before you painted them, or what?
Titchy could probably answer that too, but since this is YOUR thread...

BTW, Titchy yours looks GREAT too.

Yes, I removed all the gooey crappy paint from all the piece's even my gray pieces were gooey. Once everthing was cleaned I washed them with plain ole water, then used an adhesion promoter, then sparyed everything whatever color I wanted it.I used a variety of things to clean the rubbery goo crap off, Easy off oven cleaner, alcohol, drano, and wesly bleche white tire cleaner which seemed to do the best. And I used duplicolor adhesion promoter, followed by SEM paints, the colors are Med. Titanium, Presidio Gray, and Trim Black. Working on the center section, it looks like plain old sandpaper is going to be the only answer for this nothing seems to touch the paint on it. And believe me I've tried most everything got a few more things to try then it's gonna be sandpaper here I come.

[Yello_jellybean]

On the dash...black rubbery stuff, I was told that a sand blaster would be a good option. Just an idea.
Anyway, thanks for the info.

I have some grey plastic parts, on the lower half of my dash that I want to paint black, but I just thought that they were grey plastic, I didn't realize that there was paint on them too.
OR did the previous owner of your car paint them for some reason?

[Oldbugman]

Originally Posted by Yello_jellybean

On the dash...black rubbery stuff, I was told that a sand blaster would be a good option. Just an idea.
Anyway, thanks for the info.

I have some grey plastic parts, on the lower half of my dash that I want to paint black, but I just thought that they were grey plastic, I didn't realize that there was paint on them too.
OR did the previous owner of your car paint them for some reason?

I thought about sandblasting it, but I also thought it would leave to rough a surface, now if I could find someone who did sandblasting using walnut shells that would be a different story.

Bought mine new so I'm the only owner.

I was kinda amazed when the gray started to feel gooey as well. The only gray parts that I have found so far that are not painted are the door sill, kick plates. Everything else is painted. This paint they used is called soft touch paint or something like that gives you the nice smooth feeling when new then turns to an absolute mess over a period of time. When I take out my console and start redoing it I'll take pictures and show you what's on it.

[Yello_jellybean]

Since my dash parts (the grey pieces)aren't peeling, do you think I would need to go through that, or could I just paint it?

[Oldbugman]

Originally Posted by Yello_jellybean

Since my dash parts (the grey pieces)aren't peeling, do you think I would need to go through that, or could I just paint it?

HMMM, good question.
Not sure, I would think that if they are not peeling or have that sticky feeling to them then a good washing to remove any dirt or other armor all type products off of them should be sufficent.
However will the new paint attack the factory paint, I don't know. Also I'm not sure if they would'nt start peeling in a few years.
There's one way to tell. Do a test peice if you can. Find a small piece you could pull off and paint and see how it does. Not sure if you would need to use adhesion promoter or not, if I'm not mistaken it is mainly used to promote better adhesion of paint to bare plastic, but if you have good paint on now, then the new paint should adhere to it without the use of promoter just fine.
Try a sample peice and see what kinda results you get.

[xXRockyHorrorsXx]

man, this is looking hella smooth. I wish I had the guts to paint some bigger stuff. Any more before pics?

[T1KARMANN]

mmmmmm shame they don't make the dash pod in right hand drive

i think the dash pod may stop lots of problems with painting the centre dash

i have my centre dash painted dark blue and it looks great but when driving at night its a pain as the reflection from above street lights makes a big flash on the wind screen as you drive past the lights

the dash pod may stop this

[gabe74gt]

Dash Repainting is really a nice idea. I did not get so far. I will try this time. Thanks.