More Problems

[josh_hartman]

Today i went and bought some black paint. i pulled the center off the dash out and started painting and for somereason it went all funny and i just made it worse from there on. Its an S1 forte and i want to put a series 2 dash center on there. has anyone here done this conversion as the wiring is different for the heater controls? The reason why i want black is because im buying black leather seats and upgrading it all over time

[Auuteage]

What seats you getting and where from? Im looking for a similar thing to suit a AU2 ute... thanks.

[KOUPE76]

Originally Posted by Auuteage

What seats you getting and where from? Im looking for a similar thing to suit a AU2 ute... thanks.

pm sent

[josh_hartman]

waiting for some seats to come up a bit later on though. im doing one thing at a time and i really need help with this au2 dash in an au1. i will still try it but any help would be great

[XR Rob]

It's too late to say now, so I should probably just keep quiet, but I've found painting things in the cabin of a car - any car - to generally be a bad idea. When I was in the MX-5 club, the guys with the older cars would try and spray the A/C surrounds in silver, and other such interior touch ups, and from what I can see, it's a really, really hard thing to get right because you need to find the right paint for the plastic and, unless you're a dab hand at painting, it always tends to come out looking a bit crap, anyway. Sorry, but if I had known you were trying to do this, I would have said something before you started.

[JefXR8]

Interior parts always have silicone and so on from people using silicone sprays and so on to shine there dash up.
Before paining anything inside the car clean it many times with prepsol,then it needs to be scuffed up and plastic primered before painting.

[josh_hartman]

this is what i managed to do. heres the photo if it works

[josh_hartman]

i stuffed it rite up but managed to get something for now untill i get a new one. im never doing this again lol

[Norton]

Originally Posted by josh_hartman

i stuffed it rite up but managed to get something for now untill i get a new one. im never doing this again lol

I have painted a few interiors in my time...

Best method is to use prepsol or even metho to clean off any residual on the plastic parts, then use a plastic dye not paint.

Paint will give you a bad finish, the plastic dye works really well, you just need to apply several light coats.

I painted a mates dash almost 2 years ago (Tan to Black) and it still looks great.

Hope this helps.

Regards

[JefXR8]

Paint wont give a bad finish if its done right,and you only need to give it 2-3 coats.

[Eu-GenixX]

i painted dash parts in my wife's mirage....

used vinyl pay... just did about 5 or 6 coats.. each one really light...

do one coat.. let it dry for 20 mins or so.. then did another coat... they came up really well..

[JC]

It's not the paints fault, or the plastic. Most of painting anything is about preparation. You need to thoroughly wash the parts in warm soapy water, then dry. The use Prepsol, and dry it off. The prepsol it again. Then plastic primer. Maybe 2 coats. Then normal primer/surfacer, then colour coat (2 or three light coats is better than one heavy one), and finally, clear coat or 6. It should take all day to do, at least, if done properly. I did say it was fiddly!

Best way to find out what's need to convert from AU1 to AU2 fascia is to get hold of an AU2 fascia, and have a look at the differences, and work out the rewiring/rerunning vacuum lines for heater controls as necessary. One thing that's different for a start is that AU1 has dual mode A/C switch, whereas AU2 has one switch only. That's enough to put me off!

[XR6-VCT-2000]

As Norton mentioned , plastic dye looks heaps better and last longer than any painjob will on a dash ;). I've used the plastic dye myself in the past too , great stuff , gives a really profesional factory finish look too , cheers.

[JefXR8]

Originally Posted by XR6-VCT-2000

As Norton mentioned , plastic dye looks heaps better and last longer than any painjob will on a dash ;).

If YOU say so

[JC]

Originally Posted by XR6-VCT-2000

As Norton mentioned , plastic dye looks heaps better and last longer than any painjob will on a dash ;). I've used the plastic dye myself in the past too , great stuff , gives a really profesional factory finish look too , cheers.

I've got dyed bits peeling on mine after less than 12 months, but painted bits that have stayed painted with no chips, cracks or anything, so i disagree. Using Dye may be easier (though the part still needs to be very clean), but I reckon the extra effort with paint gets a better result. Though I do agree that Dye does look more factory than paint - but seeing most of us change as many factory bits as possible, I'm not sure looking factory is actually such a good thing.

[JefXR8]

Spot on JC,altho i disagree about the factory looking bit,i have additives to put in the paint to give it silk and satin looks the same as genuine,but normal 2pack painted stuff in cars looks great.