Dash painting (again)

[Jame5]

I\'ve taken my dash out for painting and decided on black. I\'ve experimented on the ash tray and really like the matt black I\'ve got. After I lacquered it though I didn\'t like it. Is there any lacquer I can get so I don\'t lose the matt finish?

Cheers
James

[RobbieRX-7]

i never bothered laquering mine because i scared of ****ing it all up.As long as you give it enough coats ( i did 8 coats) you will be ok

[Steve Burnett]

Looks like you did a good job there.

[Bobfish]

looks good there robbie, just spurs me on to do mine

[Madden]

what kind of paint do you use?

[RobbieRX-7]

i used halfords acrylic primer and paint but only because they had the colour i wanted. it cost about £30 all together inc sand paper. Some of the fd`s have a rubberised coating on the plastic parts like mine and you need to get all this off before painting. I used rough wet n dry untill the rubber coating was off then sprayed several thin coats of primer whilst sanding with smoother paper in between coats. After it was primered i did the same thing with the paint but used even smoother paper towards the last 3 coats to get a smooth finish. Mine  has been painted for about a year and it has standed the heat of the summer no problem.

[gmogle]

What about scratches ? Does it scratch easily ?

Gareth

[RobbieRX-7]

the paint itself is pretty tough with the amount of coats i gave it ,but i try my best not to scratch it. ideally if your worried about scratches, then you would lacquer it, but i didn`t want the shiny effect and i`ve also completley fukd paint jobs up in the past when applying lacquer :Grrr

[Gman]

How easy was it to get off the panels for painting?

[Jame5]

It isn\'t that hard to do. I started with the clocks and shroud (careful not to crack the shroud). Then I just pulled the gear stick surround up, then took off the heater control panel. Take the door cards off and dismantle them to get the parts off you want to paint. I\'m sure there is a guide somewhere, sorry I can\'t point you to one though.

The most annoying bit is taking off all the rubberised coating. If I had to do this job again I\'d prep all the stuff and get the spraying done in a body shop. The finish on mine is fine, it just took a bit of practice to get it to a good standard.

[Gman]

Thanks mate, i\'ll give it a go.

[Gman]

Right i have taken the centre console panel off which was easy but the others look a bit more compicated.  Can anyone tell me where all the screws and catches are for the heater surround and instrument shroud?  I would hate to crack these getting them off.  Also do i have to take the instrument clocks out with the shroud or do they stay where they are.

[RobbieRX-7]

first you need to remove the steering column cowls,then you need to remove the instrument panel (2 screws at the bottom, then gently pull the lot towards you) , unclip all the connectors then you can get to the screws for the heater panel.

[Gman]

Brilliant, thanks.

[johnf]

I\'m sure when I did this last year that there was a \'how to\' link somewhere - I\'ll trawl back, you could try aswell.

John