The black paint on my shift lever from an 84 that I will be swapping in an 87 sometime needs to be redone. How should I go about this so that it will look stock again?? I've been told to remove all the paint, sand it 600 dry/wet, then paint and do that process a few times, then paint a last time. I sprayed it with the paint still on just to see and it wouldn't stick. Then I sanded it with 400 dry a little then sprayed it with semi-gloss enamel again and it didn't wanna stick either.

How do I do this correctly?!

 

sand it with 600 grit, the try some self etching primer, you know, primer that has an acid in it to eat into the metal so paint will stick very nicly.

Here is a link for a can of it, i am sure you could go to NAPA that supplies their Martain Senior Paint products and find some.

http://www.autotoolmart.com/cgi-bin/...54103579568.7c

after you spray the etch on there, wait for it to flash off, give it like 15 min or something. Then when you spary on the color, first give it a light dusting coat(tack coat), let that flash off for like 15 min, and then put on a regular coat, remember light coats that have a chance to dry before you put on more, will dry harder and last longer then heavy coats. So l would say keep the coats light and let them flash off b/c the shifter is a high wear area for paint.

 

It will eat into the metal?? Don't know if I like the sound of that.

Has any1 actually repainted theirs before and had it come out like stock?? I don't want to mess this up.

 

Calm down! It "eats" in to a degree that you can't detect by eye. I just rubbed mine down very lightly with 400 dry, sprayed a light coat of standard metal primer, and than a couple of coats of gloss black enamel. Not sure why the stick on the auto should show paint wear, given that it never actually gets handled in the normal day to day routine.

 

got pics?

 

No1 else has done this??

 

Is the 400 grit too much?? Should I use 600 instead??

 

the 400 is not too coarse. But like the other guy said, you need to use a self-etching primer first. Especially if you sanded it down to the metal. Self-etching primers prevent rust-just paint alone doesnt.

 

Is it worth it to wet sand??

 

you are talkn about the stick part that you move back in forth right? doesn't that rub on that plastic part that moves with teh stick, you know covers the slot the stick rides in.....ne one know what i am talkn about. yeah, i would just use the etch primer, i light coat, not heavy, it is good stuff, and a few light layers of black semi-gloss paint. you could even clear it if you light.....

 

Yes thats what I mean. I think if I cleared it instead of just painting you'd see scratches in the clear after a while instead of paint sctratches.

 

You mean something along these lines?

i know bad picture, once i go buy a new set of batteries ill take a pic of just the ****.

I sanded, sprayed and did several thick coats of clear on it.

 

Did it wear anymore?? What exact steps did you do??

 

first off i cleaned the beast off with some enamle reducer. then i sanded with 400, 600, then 1000 grit. washed it off again. then sprayed grey sandable primer, through on several coates of that. then sanded again with 1000 grit. Several coats of dupont black truck spray paint. let dry completly. then i sprayed a light coat of clear, let that tack up then sprayed a heavier coat. i did this about 6 times. if you go slow and are careful youll have no runs and the **** will shine liek the outsides paint. leme see if i got a better pic.

 

lol ill post an upclose once i go shopping and get those damn lithium batteries.

 

OK, thanks.