Do whatever colors your little heart desires...however some quick tips.

Wash all the parts in dawn dish detergent first. This will remove all traces of armor all or similar products.

RINSE TWICE to get all soap residue off.

Paint them with automotive primer first.
Then do your choice in colors.
Then do your choice in clear coat

Some Paint tips.
Make sure your paint is plastic friendly
Make sure your primer is plastic friendly
Make sure your primer, paint and clear coat are compatable.

Spray paint an old plastic cup to test the paints coverage on plastic, and to test their compatablilty with eachother. I found that some paints/clearcoats/primer to NOT mix well. I learned the hard way.

 

thanks for all the responses smile.gif

 

could you tell us the brand or line of paints and stuff you used? that would cut down some time trying to figure this stuff out...also...could you give an estimate of total cost and time to do it? so we can plan it into our budgets...lol (those of us who use them) wink.gif tongue.gif

 

You betcha!
Go to Rondex and pick some paint up, the 1/2 bottle that Dave's got left, will maybe cover the shifter surround and center console, if that,....
Sometime in the new year, I'm super crazy busy now.
Does Dave still have the heat gun?

pbhou: Do a seach on here for "painted Dashes" and you'll find lotsa threads about different paints we all used.

 

Yeah, Dave still has the heat gun, Ken forgot it at the shop when he came down one day to visit. I didn't mean that we had to do it like this weekend or somthing, next year would be good after the holiday has passed. BTW ru going to Dave's New Years Bash at his house? smile.gif

 

I got the heat gun and some paint, let's paint.

 

For all of my interior. It took about 7 cans of red, and about 7 cans of black, and 10 cans of Clear Coat. The Red paint was MUCH thinner than the black, so it took more to cover the same area, and the primer I used only came in black, so it was harder to cover the black with red, than black with black.

The Primer was "Krylon automotive primer". It works on plastic and fiberglass, and it ROCKS! No problems with that.

The Red Paint was VHT Red Caliper Paint. Got it on special for $3 a can. It has a nice vibrant color, but it goes on thin, and has a tendancy to run if applied too thickly. It also put out a TON of paint "dust" into the air. I ended up with red paint on items up to 30 feet from where I painted. Granted it was just dust, and it wiped right off with a rag, but the stuff that landed on carpet, that had to be removed with a rug shampooer. The black paint and the clear coat paint never went farhter than 5 feet. So If you use this paint, do it outside, or cover EVERYTHING...including carpet!

The Black paint was "KRYLON Gloss black" It went on nice, and left a great looking glossy surface. The paint was a tad thin, but it didn't run like the red paint did, and it didn't "dust" like the red paint did. It also didn't have the Overspray problem of the clear coat.

The Clear Coat was "Painters Touch by Rust-oleum" Only problem here, other than paint incompatability, was that if you paint a large piece, or if you paint 2 pieces close together, the overspray from the clear, "dulls" the part you already clear coated. So you have to be really carefull about the overspray with this stuff. Also, it takes a fairly thick coat of the clear coat to make it shiney. If you just coat it lightly, it makes even glossy paint look matte. You need to lay it on thick, and make sure you get it on thick EVERYWHERE. I have a couple of pices that didn't get enough clear coat in some spots and they now look like a matte finish because of it.

I also had some Gloss Black "Painters Touch by Rust-Oleum", but that stuff was incompatable with the clear coat paint of the same brand/type. It "alligatored" or cracked along the whole surface as soon as I clear coated it.

So for some damn reason, the Krylon and VHT paint worked great with the Painters Touch Clear, but the Painters Touch Black, didn't work with the Painters touch clear. Don't ask me why. Some pieces I painted the same day at the same time, just different brands of paint reacted badly.

That is why I say be VERY careful, always test your paints before using them. Buy one can of each type of paint, then use a pastic cup as your test piece. Do the whole 9 yards with the cup. The washing, the rinsing, the primer..etc...etc..etc.. DO NOT ASSUME that because the paint is the same brand, by the same company, it will work. That was the mistake I made.

I put down 4 coats of primer, 5 coats of black, 7 coats of red, and 3 coats of clear. For the most part, It looks damn good. That is another reason it too soo much paint. So many coats.

 

If you want to see a silver dash with a red Tib, I'll post pictures of mine when I finish it Saturday afternoon and I'll put them up Saturday Night.

 

J@WS 01, that could work, if it looks good we can paint on Sunday. I wanna paint, please, please, can I, can I?

 

i had decide on silver and it look great, thought it was a bad match but loog good.

Many thanks to the team who helped out"
Hyundave, KayJai and Ken Bradley.