Thread: How do I paint my dash?

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Matt---You paint the dash the same way porcupines make love------very very carefully. I have done this a fiew times, with good success. Remove everything that is easy to remove like seats, carpet and seatbelts if you have them. Leave the headliner alone, They are a bitch to put back in right, remove all the garnish moldings around the side windows if they are the type with screws holding them on(they can be set up on sawhorses and painted outside the car). Forget about the grease--it just makes an ugly messs----Spend a great deal of time masking everything including the gauges---remember that masking tape comes in a variety of widths to make your job easier. Either mask off the sidewindows, or, if the exterior of your car has yet to be painted, just roll them down and mask off the slot at the top of the doors. Buy some "prep-sol" or its equivalent and wipe down all the surfaces that you want to paint before sanding---that way, if there is any silicone contamination (from hand creams, etc,) on the surfaces you won't be forcing it into the micro crevasses created when you sand. Sand everything with 320 grit paper, dry sanding is fine, water just makes a big mess inside. You don't have to remove all the paint--just sand enough to remove the shine or gloss from surfaces to be sprayed. Wipe again with "prep-sol" before you spray your paint. Time and preperation are what really make the difference here, as in any paint job. You can use a rattle can, or if you have it one of the door jamb touch up guns with the half pint cup works well. I have even used a full size production spray gun, but you don't have as much room to manouver it inside a car.

Originally posted by DennyW
If you do use rattle can paint. Theres one that actually uses a fan type pray tip. Instead of a round circle. Can't remember the brand right off, but they work really well.

Dupli Color brand, the nozzle also uses less preassure to open than a regular, I use Dupli color paints often.

Originally posted by csf03716
hey matt did ya finish your daily driver yet?....................the Fal-coon?.............

The Falcon's road ready, I just have to get it registered & inspected. I'm not working on the '51 Chevy right now ( it's in storage for the winter ) but, I figured that, being this old thread had new replies on it, I would post on it because I'm still not compleatly shure on how but with the new helpful replys, I'm shure I can figure out how.

While we're talking about paint. I finally put my Camaro steering column back together with help from Brian Rupnow and the local AUTO ZONE sales clerk. I sanded the surface rust off the steel part of the column and scuffed up the blue-grey paint (?) on the top hub and then sparyed it with rattle-can Rustoleum black. The bottom of the column where the steel is looks like new with a glossy black finish, but the top part remained a dull black even after three coats. Maybe the temperature in the garage was too cold?? But no, the steel turned out fine. Further the blue-grey part seemed to not wet with the spray enamel. What sort of paint do I need to get a glossy finish on the top part of the column?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Honestly, I would not suggest rattle can. I had part of my dash sprayed in rattle can for one show season. It is possible to get it to look just as good as "real" paint, but the only problem is that it fades VERY fast, especially on a dash that is almost always exposed to the sun. So if you want, the rattle can way can be done, but i really think you will regret it within a year when the paint is a different color than the rest of the car. So speding the couple extra dollars and taking the extra time is very well worth it, and besides that all the "color-matched" rattle can does not mix at all with "real" (lol) paint, so if you would end up respraying it in the future, ALL the rattle can paint will have to be stripped, and trust me, thats not fun on a dash!
Goodluck!

Originally posted by Don Shillady
While we're talking about paint. I finally put my Camaro steering column back together with help from Brian Rupnow and the local AUTO ZONE sales clerk. I sanded the surface rust off the steel part of the column and scuffed up the blue-grey paint (?) on the top hub and then sparyed it with rattle-can Rustoleum black. The bottom of the column where the steel is looks like new with a glossy black finish, but the top part remained a dull black even after three coats. Maybe the temperature in the garage was too cold?? But no, the steel turned out fine. Further the blue-grey part seemed to not wet with the spray enamel. What sort of paint do I need to get a glossy finish on the top part of the column?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Sand down the place where the paint did not gloss to bare metal then, respray. For even, easy controlled coats with a rattle can, I use a cangun, it works well for controllability.