Gary Tyrrell\'s interior

[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

[evildave]

Originally 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

[gaz 7470]

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

[msc125]

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...........

[ds2000]

Lots of kits here:

http://www.dragonautomotive.com/cars/mazda/rx7/interior_accenting.htm

Dave

[Donato]

Have you asked them if they do right hand drive kits?

[ds2000]

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

[msc125]

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:

[Donato]

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

[msc125]

yeah me too, donato, let me know how you get on- pics aswell please 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

[Donato]

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!

that kit does look quite good though.....no not more money! :rollin

[Matt.Wild]

Originally 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

Would dedicated paint thinner work better?

[SCOOMER]

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

[msc125]

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?

[eatmyrx7dust]

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 !!