I remember seeing a thread around here a while ago about a member who had restored their plastic trim, but I can't find it for the life of me. A link or even a step by step would be awesome, I'd like to tear into my plastic tomorrow since I have a three day weekend.

Can somebody take a picture of their in good condition center console? Mine's not too terribly trashed but the vinyl has separated (?) from the plastic. Any good ideas on how to get it back together? PO had glued it and it looks awful. Also, are there more than two mounting brackets for the console? I can push mine around an awful lot and I feel pretty confident it shouldn't be moving (lol).

Has anybody gotten rid of that grid pattern on the console, radio trim plate, etc.? I'm not really a fan of it, I'd almost prefer "pitted" plastic.

Finally, how difficult is it to tear into the dash? I was hoping to get all my cluster lights replaced this weekend too. Thanks for your help guys

 

My center console moves around alot also. My interior trim in the back has some deep scuffs and i am hoping someone has suggestions about that. As for taking out your gauge cluster that isn't difficult but, there is alot of bulbs. Goodluck.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...ic-carpet.html
Here's the thread your looking for,very educational.
For some reason this thread isn't working. Look up threads posted by HAWK312

 

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Any idea on how many lights are buried in there? Looks to me there's 16 for the gauge cluster (4 per dial) and then the radio/ac light.

 

Your correct there is 16 in the gauge cluster. I am unsure about the a/c controls and radio.

 

I'm having a field day with restoring the plastics in the car. They look practically brand new now but it'll be at least two weeks before it's all done- This paint takes a week to fully harden.

Has anybody had any luck whatsoever with restoring the cluster lenses? Mine is fubar, as I'm sure everyone else's is. I would imagine I could use the same kind of process as restoring a plastic headlight lens, but I'm not sure. Anybody had any experience with it, and if so what were the steps you took? Or does somebody sell JUST the lens (I don't need a cluster, mine works fine)? Thanks for any help.

I'll post before and after pics when I'm done with all my plastics!

 

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What kind or brand of paint did you use that takes two weeks to dry?????

 

The paint I'm using takes seven days to cure, it dries to the touch in an hour. I'm using Krylon Fusion High-Gloss plastic paint, though. I'm impressed with the results already, it looks absolutely fantastic.

It's gonna take two weeks though since I'm limited on areas I can keep the trim in that's safe, I'm doing half my car at a time. Next weekend I'll be able to put in everything I've done thus far, and pull out the unpainted plastics, paint them, and let them cure.

 

 

I'll pick up that box tomorrow and see if I can spiff my lenses up, they're fairly clouded but I'm thinking I used that Turtle Wax kit to restore the lenses on a GP GXP I had.

As an aside I checked out your build thread and ended up spending two hours reading the whole thing. Your car looks immaculate. Fantastic job, I may end up borrowing a few of your ideas!

 

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Dude, I can't thank you enough for the headlight resto kit suggestion. It turned out fantastic. The gauge lens still isn't 100% transparent but it's orders of magnitude better. I will get some pics up this weekend when I get the rest of my plastics put back in. This was a bigger headache than I thought it would be >.<

On another front I was tired of the grid pattern on my center console, I am happy to report I had awesome results with a $10 can of black textured spray paint from Lowe's. It looks and feels much better. I am getting a new radio pod trim plate from third gen ranch in a few days and will be applying the same process to it.

 

Bit of an update.

I have 75% of the plastic finished in my car. For the record I will say this- following the instructions in Hawk312's post on using the adhesion promoter AND using Krylon's Fusion spray paint has resulted in a finish that not only do I find satisfying, but resistant to damage as hell. I wanted to see how good the stuff was, I ended up having to take a razor knife (with pressure) to it to scratch it. I was extremely impressed. This stuff is like enamel. I will get some pictures up most likely after the holidays, I haven't had a chance to breathe let alone finish the rest of the plastic I have sitting in my bonus room.

Tomorrow I will be heading to a fabric shop to get some new fabric for my headliner. I was gonna ditch the thing since the kid I bought the car from had the headliner redone in blue paisley but there's nothing actually wrong with the pad itself other than being worn out where the seatbelts come through. I have a few cans of some awesome spray glue and some fabric glue to boot, and new headliner clips and retainers on the way. Will be working on this next weekend since I will have a five day weekend.

In the process of removing my dash, I cracked the son of a b!tch. It was hard and brittle anyway, so it was only a matter of time before it did it on its own. What options do I have to restore it? Could I just re-cover it in vinyl? Now would be the time to do it, since I'll need some to redo my center console...

I attempted a restoration of the console. While the textured paint idea I had turned out awesome, using black RTV caulk to fill the gaps between the shift plate and the vinyl of the console was less than perfect. So I'm abandoning my old console and moving to plan B- I bought a sheet of 3/4" plywood today and will be custom making my own console using a few parts from the old console (i.e. shift indicator), removing the ashtray, and adding some things- a cupholder, a place to hold my giant phone and most likely an outside temperature display if I can find one I like. I will be making this console out of plywood, filling with a decent foam with some give, covering with vinyl and spraying the textured black paint on it. I've made speaker boxes a million times and am awesome with wood. Can't wait to start.

I suppose it's time I start a build thread, eh? If anyone has suggestions, especially with making my own console please let me know!

 

Here's two before and after pictures I made, if anyone is interested.

 

Put a coat of fiberglass resin on the headliner to give it some more strength. You can even put some fiberglass cloth on the weak areas. You would be surprised how much stronger it will be.

 

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