hi,
i was looking through the pictures from the bromley pageant 2002 and noticed that gary tyrell\'s dash looked awesome.
i\'ve just started looking for this, but at the moment i haven\'t had any luck.
does anyone know where i can get them for a 92 fd?
if you read this gary, let us know,
cheers
Hey bud. Any chance of posting some pics at all? Do you know if the dash is a \'standard\' add on from an aftermarket tuner or an entirely customised job?
i think it\'s a \'standard\' add-on because i\'ve seen other similar ones. here\'s gary\'s dash:
and here\'s another one. this one seems to be brushed aluminium, whereas gary\'s seems to be silver(ish):
and a picture from the left hand side, what do you guys think?
This was done using two pack paint. Ruber is down well, then prime and paint.
Cant think where Gary got the idea of doing the interior like that! Clive you got any ideas????
Fish
gary\'s one seems to be the better of the two because the dash kit goes around all the icons on the dials for the fans, fan speed and hot/cold air. it also goes in with the gauges on the dash (tacho, speedo etc..)
here is the link to the site i found the other picture of the dash kit on.
http://www.motorcars-ltd.com/dash-kits/mazda-rx7-dash-kits.htm
i emailed them (and their british parts website) a couple of weeks ago, but they haven\'t got back to me. i\'ve emailed them again today.
the say the dash kits are fully removable aswell, and won\'t ruin your orignal dash (full installation instructions are on the site aswell), check it out
any idea where i can gat two pack paint? i assume i\'d have to cut the rubber myself (very likely to balls it up!!).
wouldn\'t this give the dash a bit of an odd feel to it?
I\'m half-way through tarting up the interior on mine (done centre console and bit round heater controls).
Mine\'s one of the early cars and has the rubberised coating (changed in later ones) - this comes off with a liberal application of paint thinners, you can then use a fine grade of paper to roughen the surface. Use whatever primer is reccomended for the top-coat you\'re using and add a few layers. Wet and dry lightly to get a good finish. Then apply top-coat, again a few layers. use very fine grade wet\'n\'dry on this then apply a few coats of laquer.
A pro could do a better jopb of it than I have but I\'m well pleased with it so far!
Iain
QuoteOriginally posted by Fish
This was done using two pack paint. Ruber is down well, then prime and paint.
Cant think where Gary got the idea of doing the interior like that! Clive you got any ideas????
Fish
Nah Danny no ideas !
Seriously, l did this some 4 years ago by removing the whole dash assembly and removing all the little bits and pieces then having the bare "plastics" painted with the same paint as the interior.
At the time l wanted the Mazdaspeed carbon fiber kit but it was mental money so l came up with this budget version to liven the cab area up a little, nice to see it caught on a bit !
http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/dash_removal.html this should help
"imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"
;) ;) ;)
.
got a reply from motorcars ltd in america:
I can do the dash kit for $319.75 plus about $50 shipping and a $60 for
flipping the mat for a right hand drive. I don\'t know if there are any
duties due at the border.
more expensive than i thought, i\'ll probably wait to hear how gary did his.
Seriously, l did this some 4 years ago by removing the whole dash assembly and removing all the little bits and pieces then having the bare "plastics" painted with the same paint as the interior.
This IS how Gary did his, he even had my paint man do his as well !.
p.s. you will be a long time waiting for Gary, his not on this site!
Did mine myself about a month ago.
Took about a week to do (1 part per evening).
The hardest (time consuming) part is getting the old "rubbery" coating off.
I sprayed mine a darkish grey (Ford Polaris Grey) from Halfords, looks good on a black car :)
Jon
i\'ve got a black rx aswell. the wheel i\'ve got is a momo \'race\' wheel with brushed aluminium on it, so in a perfect world i could get a brushed aluminium kit for the dash, but not if it doesn\'t go all round the dials/ icons/ gauges like the american one.
cheers jonrx7uk, will check at halfords if they\'ve got a similar colour to the brushed aluminium. what rubbery coating? what model/ year is your rx7? mine is 92, and the dash is just normal plastic
Mine is a \'92 as well. You should be able to scratch the coating with your finger nail (all \'92 cars had this coating IIRC). I think it was used as an afterthought to dull the interior (for glare?)because the plastic underneath is quite shiny.
The Halfords paint & laquer is quite good and hard-wearing. I went for a darker colour as i didn\'t want to have any glare in the cabin.
Jon
Clive must have chose his colour to reduce glare in the cabin too! :p
What did you rub it down with? Wire wool be ok for this?
Cheers
Donato
Interesting...and thanks for the pics. The brushed aluminium effect looks great. Also, i can imagine how well Ford Polaris Grey would go inside a Brilliant Black rex. Any chance of some pics of that hard work, Jon? ;)
For 7\'s older than 92 models, was the rubber removed. I remember reading that one of the versions was made with cheaper interior parts...does that refer to the rubber being removed?
And Clive, it certainly did catch on!:D
cheers for your help clive, looks like removing and painting it is the way to go!
your interior looks brilliant!:yes
What did you rub it down with? Wire wool be ok for this?
I used a butter knife :D believe it or not to get the coating off! It took hours but was by far the best way. Once most of this was off i finished with 400 grit sandpaper all over to prepare for painting.
The end results are well worth the effort, it has taken years off the interior of the car ;)
I\'ve no pics i\'m afraid, but it really is worth doing.
Let us know if you have any trouble removing any of the interior parts, i could probably do it with my eyes shut now...
Jon
QuoteOriginally posted by Donato
Clive must have chose his colour to reduce glare in the cabin too! :p
What did you rub it down with? Wire wool be ok for this?
Cheers
Donato
:cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool :cool
Fine wire wool would be O/K as you will need to get the remaining laquer off if it\'s an early car.
Don\'t think that will be problem, it appears to be falling off at will anyway! :rolleyes:
Cheers
Donato
i have just started rubbing mine down for painting and andy p has agreed to take pics for the site as i dont have a digi cam . i have used 800 paper and alot of elbow grease and is coming off well will start posting as soon as pictures are taken
great to hear you\'ll be taking pics hounddog.
i\'ll be changing my steering wheel over the weekend, and because it\'s so awkward with a momo boss, i\'ll take pics of that for future reference
i\'ll be starting my interior next week hopefully, and will take pics aswell.
I did something a little different with mine
thanks for the pic teamafx, how did you do it?
i checked out the jeffrx7 site, and those rotor tail lights look cool. how were they done? were the rotor shapes cut out of black film then stuck over the lights?
after much thought and deliberation i\'ve decided to order the brushed aluminium kit from america.
i checked out the ford polaris grey at halfords, and i agree it woulld like great on a black rx.if it all goes pear-shaped i can always remove the dash kit and rubbery coating and go for the ford polaris grey.
i\'ll let you guys know how i get on, and should be able to post some pics soon!!
QuoteOriginally posted by msc125
after much thought and deliberation i\'ve decided to order the brushed aluminium kit from america.
i checked out the ford polaris grey at halfords, and i agree it woulld like great on a black rx.if it all goes pear-shaped i can always remove the dash kit and rubbery coating and go for the ford polaris grey.
i\'ll let you guys know how i get on, and should be able to post some pics soon!!
Quick thing to check, but will it fit a RHD car or do they do two versions?
he\'s charging me about £25 extra to make one for RHD, not too bad as these people seem to be the only people that do the brushed aluminium kits
whats the total cost of the kit ? i am sure you could do in that colour by yourself, i am still doing mine just been busy at work but going really well and looks great
I\'ve found that using liberal amounts of paint thinners removes the rubberised coating on the early interiors. Gets you down to the bare plastic that can then be rubbed down before undercoating.
Using this method helps prevent accidentally scratching the plastic which takes alot of work to sand out!
Iain
QuoteOriginally posted by iaint
I\'ve found that using liberal amounts of paint thinners removes the rubberised coating on the early interiors. Gets you down to the bare plastic that can then be rubbed down before undercoating.
Using this method helps prevent accidentally scratching the plastic which takes alot of work to sand out!
Iain
Agree with Iain, thinners worked best for me on a \'93 fd.
Took ages to strip all the fan control stuff down etc but worth it in the end. Oh and managed to make a hole in the dash cowling when trying to pull it away from the dash :( all sorted with a bit of P40 :)
hi hows the dash,s going any pics im thinking off sorting mine out but i like the carbon fibre look ones any ideas where you can get these from
i\'ve had to put the dash on hold for a bit. just haven\'t had time lately. but will post pics for sure when i get round to it.
i know you can get a carbon fibre dash kit from knight sports, but i can\'t navigate the site (japanese!). anyone know of an english version of their site/ uk supplier? i\'m pretty sure it\'ll be pricey though...........
Lots of kits here:
http://www.dragonautomotive.com/cars/mazda/rx7/interior_accenting.htm
Dave
Have you asked them if they do right hand drive kits?
Nah, because I\'m not that interested in a kit as yet sorry.
Could be worth an email though, you know how the US guys like their JDM motors :)
the guy from america emailed me asking which pieces i needed changing. i haven\'t got back to him yet, because of all the hassle involved.
it\'s pretty awkward for them to do a RHD kit. unfortunalety it\'s not just a case of flipping the parts. the cig lighter, numbers on the fan controls, spacing between dials, shape and contours (curve) of gearbox panel etc......
check out this diagram:
I think im going to paint mine anyway. Its going to be cheaper and im spending a fortune as it is at the moment...
Cheers
Donato
yeah me too, donato, let me know how you get on- pics aswell please :D i really want a brushed aluminium effect though
this one looks pretty good, slight differences, but they include the vents and glove box.
hmmm, come to think of it, it\'s actually a better kit! (apart from the passenger door) i\'ll contact them to see if they can do a rhd one. here\'s the link aswell
http://www.benevento4you.com/Inside/FlatDashKitPages/Mazda.html
not sure what the price codes (a,b, c) mean, but its either $450, $502 or $537 :eek:
I will post pics as soon as i get round to doing it, sometime after the engine is put back in and its resprayed! then i can start on the interior! :eek:
that kit does look quite good though.....no not more money! :rollin
QuoteOriginally posted by iaint
I\'m half-way through tarting up the interior on mine (done centre console and bit round heater controls).
Mine\'s one of the early cars and has the rubberised coating (changed in later ones) - this comes off with a liberal application of paint thinners, you can then use a fine grade of paper to roughen the surface. Use whatever primer is reccomended for the top-coat you\'re using and add a few layers. Wet and dry lightly to get a good finish. Then apply top-coat, again a few layers. use very fine grade wet\'n\'dry on this then apply a few coats of laquer.
A pro could do a better jopb of it than I have but I\'m well pleased with it so far!
Iain
I take it that white spirit isn\'t enough? I\'ve just spent about an hour removing a line about half an inch thick and about 3 or 4 inch\'s of the rubber - seems a lot of work :eek:
Would dedicated paint thinner work better?
Check this out!
http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=96207&highlight=mark+carbon+fiber
cover your old panels in carbon, shame hes in the US. :(
Scott
i\'ve FINALLY started taking the panels out to paint them!
the gearbox/ ashtray panel is easy to take out, i used paint thinner and a butter knife as recommended and the rubbery coating is off, ready for wet & dry, priming and painting.
to take out the heater control panel, i first removed the two screws holding the bottom of it in place. then i had to take off the \'under dash\' panel, then unscrew the gauge cluster, move it to the right, then remove the other two screws holding the heater control panel in place.
at this point the instructions i\'ve got
http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/dash_removal.html say that the climate control assembly should pop out. errrrm, it doesn\'t!! :(
the panel comes out about an inch from it\'s original position, but no further. there is some black plastic boxing attached to the panel, which must contains all the climate control connections. in order to remove the panel, i need to detach this boxing from the back of the panel but i can\'t see how to do it.
can anyone help?
Being a late 95 model mine had the textured plastic which took absolutely ages to prep. Then I rushed putting it back and left a finger print in the paint.
So I then bought the dash out of a scrap car which had already had the clocks removed, so only £50 for everything. Also it was a 92 model with the smooth plastic. Well worth getting older dash if necessary, much easier to prep and paint.
Total job including paint, prep stuff and dash was about £80-90 and about 6 hours labour.
Well worth it, lightens up all that blackness !!
looks good mate, you\'re right, really does brighten up the interior, and matches your wheel well
i\'ve only managed to completely remove the gearbox/ ashtray panel. i\'m having a lot of trouble fully removing the heater controls panel, and the gauge cluster panel. how do you actually get these panels out?
MSC125,
Sound\'s like you have removed all the necessary screws, you have to remove the nut from around the fan control switch and then the panel should come away.
The gauge cluster is only screwed in a couple of places at the bottom edge, it comes away complete with the top cowel which is held in by spring clips. You will find this easier to do if you remove the steering wheel and indicator/wiper switch cowel. Take care with top cowel as this gets quite brittle with age.
Hope this helps,
Kev
cheers fd3uk, i got the heater panel off now. turns out the cable coming from behind the controls was doubled over on itself and had a cable tie on it, but once i got this off, the panel came out ok.
i\'ve painted the gearbox panel, and it looks niiiice!! :cool but when i sprayed lacquer on it, it was just too shiny. is it ok to leave the paint without lacquer, or will it be susceptible to scratches? are there any other clear topcoats that give a matt finish?
eatmyrx7dust: from the pic yours doesn\'t look too shiny, it\'s jsut right! did you put lacquer on it?
cheers
Hi,
Nice work on those consoles!
I am going to do mine next week while the car is being resprayed. I was just wondering if anyone experiences a lot of glare from having a light coloured cover under the windscreen?
Thanks
Trevor