Post by Ryan Verthein on Oct 28, 2008 15:21:08 GMT -6
After removing your dash, and removing the gauges AND the black plastic from the back of the outer part to be painted, continue with these basic steps.
I used Airplane Paint remover which can be purchased at Wal-Mart. Other paint removers would also probably work just fine as long as they are for the kind of paint originally used (which I don't know)
other tools needed- Fine Steel wool, a heat gun and/or GOOD hair dryer, masking tape for the edges of the gauges.
I also used some fine steel wool to make the surface a bit more apt to adherence of the paint. Whether or not you need to do that I don't know, but it worked fine for me.
After using that I cleaned it with water, then alcohol, dried it with a hair dryer, then went to paint.
Some things I will note for you to remember that should make the job a little easier and safer, and done right the first time....
1. Use gloves when you're putting on the paint remover. The last thing you need is to be allergic to something, or for that matter, burn your skin. The stuff that I used is STRONG.
2. The tape that I used to go around the silver rings where the gauges are was not a quick task. you have to make sure you;re buying quality tape so there's minimal bleed, and go slowly to make sure it's uniform around the edge.
3. Do the two coats of paint before you begin the heat gun process...because you can't crinkle over crinkle...it just doesn't work. The paint needs a surface that it can slide on while it's crinkling up. I did around 5-10 mins between coats.
4. Don't put heat to one place for more than a few seconds at best. I learned the hard way that the paint boils when you leave heat on it, and you don't want to have to do the whole thing over again. After you start heating the paint(with hair dryer on hottest setting or heat gun on lowest setting, leave the spot you're heating for a second, and go somewhere else, then come back. The paint won't crinkle when you still have the heat on it....I actually found that blowing on the paint (by mouth) helped it to have a nice uniform crinkle.
After drying for a few days, you can reassemble your dash.
This would also be a good time to replace all of your warning/indicator lights (the numbers in the owners manual are still the numbers currently being used) and add a wire to each of the metal housings to help the grounding issues our LM's have. the end, or each end of the string of wire can be tied into a screw hole, or some similar place.
I hope this works for you!
Ryan
I used Airplane Paint remover which can be purchased at Wal-Mart. Other paint removers would also probably work just fine as long as they are for the kind of paint originally used (which I don't know)
other tools needed- Fine Steel wool, a heat gun and/or GOOD hair dryer, masking tape for the edges of the gauges.
I also used some fine steel wool to make the surface a bit more apt to adherence of the paint. Whether or not you need to do that I don't know, but it worked fine for me.
After using that I cleaned it with water, then alcohol, dried it with a hair dryer, then went to paint.
Some things I will note for you to remember that should make the job a little easier and safer, and done right the first time....
1. Use gloves when you're putting on the paint remover. The last thing you need is to be allergic to something, or for that matter, burn your skin. The stuff that I used is STRONG.
2. The tape that I used to go around the silver rings where the gauges are was not a quick task. you have to make sure you;re buying quality tape so there's minimal bleed, and go slowly to make sure it's uniform around the edge.
3. Do the two coats of paint before you begin the heat gun process...because you can't crinkle over crinkle...it just doesn't work. The paint needs a surface that it can slide on while it's crinkling up. I did around 5-10 mins between coats.
4. Don't put heat to one place for more than a few seconds at best. I learned the hard way that the paint boils when you leave heat on it, and you don't want to have to do the whole thing over again. After you start heating the paint(with hair dryer on hottest setting or heat gun on lowest setting, leave the spot you're heating for a second, and go somewhere else, then come back. The paint won't crinkle when you still have the heat on it....I actually found that blowing on the paint (by mouth) helped it to have a nice uniform crinkle.
After drying for a few days, you can reassemble your dash.
This would also be a good time to replace all of your warning/indicator lights (the numbers in the owners manual are still the numbers currently being used) and add a wire to each of the metal housings to help the grounding issues our LM's have. the end, or each end of the string of wire can be tied into a screw hole, or some similar place.
I hope this works for you!
Ryan
