Mazda Rotary Club

Removed the dash  and will start painting soon. The question is, what primer?

Will the normal grey primer do or is there a specific one for plastic?

This operation seems to be a popular atm so what advice is there?

John

You need plastic primer, you can get white, grey and yellow depending the colour you are spraying.

Dont do normal primer as it will flake off really easy....

Plastikote primers work really well on plastic. I\'ve used them for plastic trim pieces before and sprayed over with normal auto paint base and clear lacquer. Worked a treat - no peeling or nuffink. Probably worthwhile using the Plastikote high build primer as it will fill any scratches in the dash at the same time.

Right, time to bug you John :D - I see you say you\'ve now painted your dash?  What exactly did you clean the rubbery stuff off with?  Also, what did you end up priming the plastic with and what paint did you use to paint it? :D

I wanna do mine but i\'m not sure where to start? :confused:

QuoteWhat exactly did you clean the rubbery stuff off with?

Not sure what you mean - I sanded all the parts down with a small electric sander from B&Q finished off with wet and dry, wiped over with \'panel wipe\' b4 priming and spraying.

Got a close spray can match [silver] 4 coats topped of with lots of laquer.

Very pleased with the results but I wouldn\'t want to do it too often.

Just got the main dash to put back and I\'m getting too old for lying on my back under dashboards [think Ive just left myself open for some smart ass Si comment]

All the seats and steering wheel are out atm, that makes it easier.

As I posted earlier I seem to have lost a wire somewhere thats stopping me finishing.

One of these jobs where it just has to take as long as it takes.


John

I\'m tempted to do my dash at some point, too much black for my liking. I was thinking about getting the bits done that most people paint (i.e. the bit round the gauges, round the heater control etc) maybe covering with leather? Anyone done this or had it done? I persoanlly think it would look the bollux if done correctly (not by me then)

Possibly a shade of grey maybe to break up the black? Seeing as its a black car I think grey would look quite fitting?

The rubbery coating was on 92-95 cars to make the dash a little less shiney :D

I guess if you used a sander it would have killed most of that stuff off - which seems like a good idea \'coz I was trying to take the rubbery stuff off before and it took about an hour to remove a two inch section of the stuff :mad:

Looks like at the weekend, thats what i\'m gonna be doing :D

Cellulose thinners removes the rubbery coating very easily, just apply liberely with a cloth, leave it for a few seconds and you will start to see it crack/bubble then just rub it off. It will just flake off, a bit of wet and dry after that and bobs your uncle! (or if its the weekend your aunt! ;) )

Cheers

Donato

Be warned - the plastic is ABS, and is porous.  I had mine done when the car was painted, and in the last 18 months, as it\'s got hot in the sun, the gasses inside the ABS have expanded and bubbled the paint in places.

QuoteOriginally posted by Archbish
Be warned - the plastic is ABS, and is porous.  I had mine done when the car was painted, and in the last 18 months, as it\'s got hot in the sun, the gasses inside the ABS have expanded and bubbled the paint in places.

Hot sun, Scotland, i wont be losing any sleep.. ;)

QuoteOriginally posted by Archbish
Be warned - the plastic is ABS, and is porous.  I had mine done when the car was painted, and in the last 18 months, as it\'s got hot in the sun, the gasses inside the ABS have expanded and bubbled the paint in places.

was this before or after you melted it at Gas mark 15 ? :D :D :D

sorry .. i couldnt resist :D

Tee hee
i was waiting for someone to mention that
Sorry Bish

that story is legendary .. EVERYONE should know about it ;) ..

apologies for the hijack John

back on topic :) ....

Can someone tell this story? Or do i need to do a thread search?

OJ put his dash in the oven to warm it up so he could easily remove the nasty coating but erm ended up with a nice one off liquid plastic based dash i hear he had watched T2 the day before & got all excited thinking he could have a state of the art dash which could change shape at will.......:rollin
Si (all hearsay & as i heard it..... lol)

hahahahahaha.  I hate you all.  you are evil, and that is why you are all ugly and loathed by everyone you know.

what ACTUALLY happened was...

To loosen the glue holding th dials on, I turned the oven on the lowest setting, and put the relevant bit of dash in it.  I got distracted by an argument with the other half of the time, and it was somewhat misshappen by the time I got back to it...

there.  See, not that funny.

There is someone on here who took his lovely new car to the bodyshop, and got a call from the dude there describing the dent in the roof.  It was then filled and painted - and he ended up with the only smooth topped RX-7 EVER...

PMSL :D

you are a legend OJ .. and that story is too :D

Did it loosen the rubber stuff then ;) :D :D :rollin

QuoteOriginally posted by scooby_si
OJ put his dash in the oven to warm it up so he could easily remove the nasty coating but erm ended up with a nice one off liquid plastic based dash i hear he had watched T2 the day before & got all excited thinking he could have a state of the art dash which could change shape at will.......:rollin
Si (all hearsay & as i heard it..... lol)

when iwas a child i used to do a similar thing with crisp packets and make them into key rings .....could this be the only rx dash key ring in the country!