(INTERIOR) How to: Repaint your stereo surround/center console pieces.
 

I started with this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0T2/rx7-17.jpg

As you can see from this close up, there was some heavy fading...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/7a1e8ca8.jpg

The ashtray is worn, too:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/81bb19f3.jpg

You can't paint those parts without painting this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/76ebf3ce.jpg

First things first: Remove all the switches, the AC vents, and the ashtray. Take apart everything so it's down to just the bare plastic. This minimizes needing to mask stuff off later. Then, wash the ever loving shit out of it. I used a scrub brush and some dish detergent. Dry well.

Next:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/2ecf85f5.jpg

I sprayed everything with "Plastic Adhesion Promoter", bought at my local auto parts store. I gave it about 4 coats.

I went with "Medium Gray Metallic", which is actually a tiny bit darker than the factory silver color:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/84b716a1.jpg

You have to be careful on the shifter surround, because the paint will pool. I did probably 10 very, very light coats after I fucked it up the first time and had to sand it all off.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/5d6f1f9c.jpg

The worn spot on the ashtray was a bitch... I let the paint dry, sanded it flush, then painted a couple more layers... It's barely noticeable now, and it's good enough for me:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/10c663a7.jpg

And here's the finished product, complete with my new leather shift boot from Maciek:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/P8230019.jpg

Next up: How to dye the dashboard.

very nice!!!

The pics take a while to load though.

I like threads like this...plenty of pictures and nice explanation. And no problem loading the pics with broadband!

It would have taken me forever to resize all of 'em... I was lazy. :D

NM looked it up in haynes manual!

very carefully...haha

Carefully. :rlaugh:



And looks great.

Dang you beat me to it.

lol, not quite what i meant.. more like do u pull down on then up and out. Any screws u need to worry about etc.. Do the knobs slide off or is there is special way. I just helped my friend take his dash off his Escort wagon and it was pain in the butt. Better to know what your doing before start ;)

That looks really good.

More info on that Plastic Adhesion Promoter? Never seen it before.

I have done the same thing except I used a black primer before the paint so the primer would fill in everything. @ coats of primer and sanded afer each coat dried.
Then very small coats of the color of your choice.

Black is a good primer color if your going dark. If staying light I would use gray.


I also have put dye on my door panels / and parts of the dash. Need to finish the rear cargo area and the inside will be done.
Here is a pic of my door panel when I finished it last winter (I had to drive out side to get a good pic).

The dash and doors are harder than you think to get perfect. After you have scrubbed the parts either the door panel or dash parts, Wipe the shit out of them with alcohol. Then use a prep spray to make the dye stick to the material. Then spray your dye in very small coats. Wear a breathing mask or do it in a very well vented area.
I went to a local automotive paint store and had them match my dye for me. Then I used a 8.00 pump sprayer they sold me. That sprayer is like a can sprayer but is more even and sprays alot better.

If you need to know any of this info about I can post pics.

Here is my door panel,

cant wait for dying the dash!

The other thing you can use if you have some light scratches on your plastic pieces is "filler primer", which will handle small imperfections. Mine was nice enough I didn't have to worry about it. And, as far as priming it goes, you don't need to if you use the plastic adhesion promoter... It's basically a clear primer.

O' ya I forgot, I painted my surround a flat black that matches the black around the cluster perfect.
I will see if I can get pics of it.

Looks great! Now I have another restoration to do for the Mound!


Right on!

Looks sweet, the only other thing I would like to see is a after picture from the same angle as the first picture to see what the finished product looks like in your car.

Hey that looks real nice.

Just one question is that metallic a little more metallic than the stock. Looks os in the pic but as we all know pics can be decieving!

z

Very nice job, its amazing what a few dollars and some hard work can do.
You seem to be "very" busy with the new beast. Good to see alot of energy going into it.
I did mine awhile back and was amazed at how well it came out, like you said with many thin coats....
my crappy pix...
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=107842
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=107843

Now if I can just get off my azz and finish the other 2,389 projects :D

how did you do the lower section to accomodate gauges?

My thoughts exactly.

I'll pop it back in the car tonight and do another pic of the same angle as the first one. I think I am going to do the gauge surround in the same color, we'll see. I think it will look nice with the black and grey interior I'm going to do.

Center Console
 

Just wondering if anyone has ever tried to just remove the old paint with a very mild stripper.
If you look on the Back Side it is Black. So before the factory sprayed the Panel (Whatever Color it's Now) it started out being solid Black i.e. UnPainted.
I have an extra 84 Surround so I'm going to try to find a Plastic Safe Stripper.
Unless someone here has tried it before of course.
If not I'm going the Paint Route.
Looks Great By The Way!
sgieldon
steve

Paint stripper will melt the plastic. I sanded my surround with fine steel wool and then washed it with dishwashing detergent and dried it well. Next I sprayed it with a few light coats of silver plastic model paint followed by a few thin coats of clear plastic model paint.

It appears to be the heater knob section off another cover piece... but that looks real good how its molded together.

That is what I was thinking as well since the holes all line up. I have done some plastic welding before(mostly structural and not to aesthetically pleasing) but to get it that perfect would require welding and then sanding. And project pics max7?

At any rate that looks great!

That's what I was thinking too... Maybe he used some sort of epoxy or filler or something to attach it. If I can find a panel like that, I'll do the same thing to mine. Right now, I have that blank panel under the stereo, it looks like crap... I'm either going to fab a gauge panel out of a piece of mdf and cover the mdf and stereo panel with a piece of painted ABS, or go with the heater section off another cover piece.

That is some nice work. I always like to see work that stays close to the original but with that little something extra to make it unique.

Well after having this idea for 4 years I did it.

I took the upper 3 hole part and blended a spare I had into the lower deck area so the gauges are set back in the dash and kind of give a factory look, I then molded in the CD Player surround also, plastic cement some bondo and sanded it all, then shot it with primer and the gun metal I did the rest of the console in.

This is just a trail run to see if every thing works before I spend the time to make a better looking one. This one has some imperfections and blemishes.

Here's the after pic:

Yes, that is a $9.99 ricer shift knob... Just until my other one arrives. I gave my dogs the tan/red one to chew on.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/P8250029.jpg

Man that look really good. Can't even tell that you painted it. I understand what you mean about the black block plate. Why don't you take that out and paint it too? I don't know if it would give your car a rice look though.

Any ways nice job!

That's why I'm going to go with Max's gauges using the heater panel... It just looks so clean. I realized today that my radio doesn't have the trim panel, which is also an eyesore. Here's today's project...

From this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/P8250032.jpg

To this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/P8250035.jpg

I have the interior about 1/2 stripped now. Once I get the dash out as well as the headliner, I'm masking everything off on the inside, cleaning the shit out of it, and painting it black. I also found a spot of rust that I need to repair, so that will be a good time to try out my bondo skills, especially because it will be hidden under the carpet.

I already have black replacement pieces for the big speaker covers/wheel covers, so I am going to try out that vinyl paint on 'em. I'm also thinking about going two-tone on the interior, black on the lower stuff, grey on the top... It's how my Audi's interior is, and it looks very classy.

Here's another shot of the painted center panel:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/P8250034.jpg

I like it alot! Are you willing to make them and sell them?
Or when you make your new onw will you sell me this one?

THis is what I am looking for so I can add guages so when the factory ones decide to act up I know I am still good.

i did the same thing recently but i painted mine black, also i painted up a spare center console black.... figure i'll paint the dash too.

100 if you are taking the dash out make sure it is what you really want to do...it is a little pain in the butt. Are you switching colors? If so what color? There is a great write up that felixwankel did a while ago. If you do a search in the archives I am sure that you can find it...I did. The pictures will not show up but the explanations are pretty good.

Paradox that looks pretty good. I would fab my own but I am just going to have one made. Is it falling in towards the center though?

100, use krylon fusion, its specifically made for plastics and sticks like no other with no prepping :bigthumb: i painted my a pillar trims gloss black on my old black interiro conversion gsl-se and it was so clean i contemplated doing the rest with the fusion paint :)

Here's how I painted the switches and gauge surround. I went with a satin black for the switches, and did the gauge surround in the same dark metallic silver as the center console... I am going with a black and gray interior, and wanted the dark metallic silver to break up the black a little bit.

Start with masking off the buttons. I used blue painters tape. It's important to wrap all the way around, so you don't paint anything you don't want to paint:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030001.jpg

Spray with the plastic adhesion promoter:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030002.jpg

Next up, paint!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030004.jpg

And, here's the gauge surround. Again, 2 to 3 coats of adhesion promoter, followed by the dark mettalic silver.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030007.jpg

I'll put up the finished pics tomorrow.

Here's the after pics now:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030084.jpg

That's still with the masking tape on.

Here's with the tape off:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030087.jpg

A nice close-up for you. Dig it!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030086.jpg

A couple more for ya:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030094.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/P9030095.jpg

same color I used for mine!