Painting the dash

[94RT10Ohio]

I am very interested in painting my dash. The large part that goes around the instruments/glove box, the samll piece around the radio and the small triangle pieces around the door handles. I think I am going black, possibly red. Has anyone done this? What did you do to prep the dash and what paint did you use? Any pictures? Thanks.

 

[RobHook]

I'll be doing this soon but I'm interested in reporducing the original look of the dash. So far I've heard that the styrofoam-like material that was sprayed onto the dash and then painted over is no longer available. If anyone has info on how to reproduce the original look, post it here.

--Rob

 

[RedEnuf93]

Do not use industrial strenght paint stripper, it will damage the plastic dash.
Emerypaper and steelwool will do the job (and a ton of elbow grease...)

Here are some painted dashes, mine is the red one. Paint was Viper Red (car paint, not spraycan).

I've seen some nice black das pistures too. Dont try to go with the original fuzzy paint...

 

[jimandela]

they look good with new paint!

 

[IEATVETS]

Had mine painted black and love it.

 

[PHILIP]

I have had paint especially made here in NZ that looks like it is going to be very very close to the original (94). I am not sure but presume that It could be sent to USA without too much trouble. I had 4 litres made, so have more than I need. Let me know if anyone is interested. I am coming to the west coast in March so may be able to bring it with me.

 

[ROCKET62]

Here's my dash:

Not a very technically demanding job, but it takes a lot of elbow grease to prep the old dash. SOS pads, fine sandpaper, etc. Someone mentioned a paint stripper to strip off the old gray stuff, but I wasnt able to find anything. Powertools, ie dremel also dont work and cause gouges. Take your time and have plenty of cold 12 oz. beverages handy. I just used plain old Krylon primer and satin black with satin clear coat. Painted the bezels Viper Red with paint from paintscratch.

From another post by OBAA96 re a product to help strip off the old gunk:

"I posted about using the paint stripper. I used Easy-Lift-Off (ELO) from Polly S; I got it from a hobby store. It's used to strip paint from models without harming the plastic underneath; you should be able to find some equivalent at a good hobby store. The original coating is pretty nasty stuff, because it melts into a gummy goo. I basically applied the stripper, covered it with some plastic wrap (the stripper flashes off quickly otherwise), and used a small scraper to remove the bulk of the coating. Then re-applied and took the rest off. Finally a third coat to remove the final bits. Its a major PITA, but a lot easier than sanding (which I tried first), plus I didn't damage the original plastic surface in anyway."

Good luck!

 

[Phil Lee 94 red RT]

I did mine in black. Semi-gloss worked well for me. Just make sure you get the old stuff off and use a good primmer. Don't use paint out of a can. Use a paint gun. If you have blk/gray interior, than I would use black paint. It will look great. good luck!

 

[jimster]

The key is the prep work. I used steel wool and sandpaper, then shot two light coats of black satin paint. I waited 12 hours, the shot several more light coats. It looks like new.

I used Krylon Fusion Black Satin Paint and it rocks. It's used by quite a few interior detailers and is made to chemically bond to plastic and comes in a spray can. You can get it at Wal-Mart.