Ok...the shift indicator plate in my car was all warped due to what seemed to be a cigarette burn from the previous owner. Also the shifter plate was broken so I pulled one out of a junked car along with the plastic indicator plate. For some reason the plate was super faded and no longer had any paint or letters on it. I got an idea to redo it because the junked one I removed was longer because it was an overdirve plate, so I couldn't fit my original 200C non overdrive plate in it. So what I did was remove the remainder of the paint and I polished it up a bit.



Then I bought some small alpha numeric stickers that I thought matched the stock letters the best. This was hard went to 5 different places before I found a decent set. Then I placed them on the underside of the plexiglass plate upside down...this was the hardest part because they had the glue on them...I used some goo gone to get the glue off and make it easier to work with the stickers. I placed them as best as I could in the stock location....this was very very tedious and the part that took me the longest



Then I shot it with a coat of black paint. Let it dry and shot it again. Then I peeled the letters off and I then shot it with white. Followed by black again once the white dried.



I also had to mask off the edge because the edge its suppose to be clear on the bottom. The color on the edge of the plate is reflected to the rest of the plate like fiber optics when the light is turned on...so in 82 it was painted blue and that is what I did again. The blue paint however goes on the top and not the bottom like the black paint though...and on the bottom the edge is masked off to leave it clear on the bottom, this is what creats the effect. The one I picked up was bright orange...like the later Trans Ams have. Here is a final picture. I think it came out pretty good...I think the letters could of been a bit more crisp but I like it.

I added that Firebird in there. I printed it out on regular paper then cut it out with an x-acto knife and placed it upside down just like I did the letters. I'm sure this could of been done by just maybe glueing a printed image on the bottom, but I chose to do it this way. Let me know what you guys think. I don't know if I like the bird or not, I'm thinking of just doing it over without the bird...it was hard doing the letters but I suppose I can do it over. What do you guys think?

I'm also restoring the whole console itself, you can see it in that last picture, but I'll provide more info when I complete it.

 

Good job!

BTW how's highway driving with that 200C? I absolutely hate it. 4300 rpm's at 85 mph. Oh well. I'm still waiting on if they are going to total mine or not.

 

good job,how long did it take?

 

It took me a good while. The plate I painted, even though most the paint was gone, still had the orange edge painted on...and the darn thing just would not come off. I tried acetone and that took forever...but the acetone softened the paint and I removed it with a blade then sanded it down. The letters also took a while, I just couldn't get the things to sit down right....that alone took me a good 30 min or more. I say all in all--about an hour and a half not including dry time.

Yeah the 200C sucks pretty bad =/ I'm hoping to do a whole drivetrain change someday by getting a 350 and 700R4, but that is just a thought right now.

 

Great idea! Looks excellent, I like the Bird. Couple of ideas - use the Bird in place of the number 1, and maybe paint it the same color as the interior or exterior (might be tough with on black on black car tho). What do you think?

 

I don't know about replacing the 1, but the color idea is cool...just so happens I do have a black on black car though =/ Well pretty close anyways, black exterior charcoal interior.

 

looking very good.

BTW if you had printed a color bird, would it have illuminated in color too? or just mostly blue?

 

anyone else have an opinion?

 

Just keep us updated! Lots of pics.

 

yeah man that looks really good i like the bird on there too ....awsome work