Austin Vert's Floor Console Resto Saga.

[Austin Vert]

I sure hope my hundred dollar dash comes out that nice. I drove 400 miles this morning to get it and I could not be happier. No cracks, clock lens clean. I will study this to make sure I get the stripping right because it looks to me like someone sprayed at some point in the past. Hope the plastichrome is still there so I don't have to mess with it.

What finish is the paint, satin?

Hi Ralph,

I love your forum name rottenralph, it amuses me greatly. Anyway Ralph, i can offer you some sound advice on your console enquiry.Sounds like you got a decent console to start off with, that's great.

OK, Now the original plastic finish on the consoles had a grain pattern on the surface. That gives a nice appearence to the console. If your console has been resprayed in the past by somebody, what paint they used plays a big part as to how easily that paint will come off. In your case, the paint that was put on could be in good condition maybe, and looks OK. If it does, then do an adhesion test by getting a couple of strips of 3/4 inch masking tape, and lay them on the surface, pressing down hard on them. Grab the end of the tape, and rip it off very fast off the surface. If the tape pulls away any paint in that process, then you have poor ahesion, and it would be best to remove that said paint and refinish. If the paint sticks, then all you need to do is give the existing finish a nice light dry sand down with 800 wet & dry sandpaper, just to give a gentle smoothing effect, and get some adhesion happening as well.Be carefull though, if the paint used was a quick dry enamel, because it will be very solvent sensitive, and you will get reaction and paint problems when you try to refinish it. If it was refinished in Lacquer, that should present no problems in that regard.

However, if you decide to remove the paint that was put on, be very careful. The original plastic factory finish is solvent sensitive, and can get ruined in the paint removal process if your not careful. There are special dedicated plastic paint strippers on the market, but be careful when you use them as they still could cause a reation with the original plastic finish. (start melting it) Don't use conventional paint strippers, as they will stuff up the original finish. In my case, i removed the crap paint by using an auto product called 2 pak reducer. That reducer can be bought from auto paint supply shops. Don't use auto thinners as thinners will effect the original finish. Reducer is less stringent and won't attack the original surface as thinners or acetones will. So saturate a white cotton rag with reducer,( no dripping off rag) and progressively work your way around the console section by section, and wash/wipe off the paint. Change your rags often to achieve best results. Don't let excess reducer run down the suface or pool in any places as well. This process should remove the paint and take you down to the original suface without stuffing up the grain of the original finish.

Once you have removed the old paint you wanted to, let the original surface dry for an hour or so, and then dry scuff the surface down with 800 wet & dry sandpaper to smooth off. You should be ready to repray the console after this basic process. Primers are not necessary, unless you're hell bent on using them. Remember, the more paint you spray on, the more you will start hiding the original grain pattern effect. I choose a good quality auto acrylic lacquer in satin black to refinish. I bought a tin, reduced it with good lacquer thinners, 60% paint and 40% thinners, and sprayed it through a spraygun. Aerosol spraytins can be used, but i don't like them as they don't contain the correct thickness of paint (too thin) and require too many coats to get a good film thickness build. You can use flat black, but i find the satin gives a nice soft classy look to the finished job. It comes alive better than flat black. So that's what i did on mine to refinish the console to a great looking standard. My plastychrome was stuffed, and i ended up paying around $145.00 for a new part where the clock sits in. However, the black finish on that new part is playing up already, as the paint is starting to come off in little spots, and i'll have to touch the part up with satin black very soon. Bummer!!

So, hope it all goes well for you.

Regards Greg.

 

[rottenralph]

Thanks for your reply. I will check it out and get a plan together. My car is having its sick engine checked out right now so I have a week to do it. I have all the dash center pieces as well. The P.O. put in the guage pack in the middle and probably realized he needed a wiring loom to complete so none f the gauges seems to work. I am going to know gauges like the car started life and will leave well hidden temp guage where it is. Here is what I am starting with.

 

[piper62j]

No education is without cost.

Great job!!!

 

[Austin Vert]

My pleasure Ralph, and best of luck.

Thanks Piper, yes. i suppose that is true, but it still hurts in the wallet.

Cheers,

Greg.

 

[73StangCoupe]

I sure hope my hundred dollar dash comes out that nice. I drove 400 miles this morning to get it and I could not be happier. No cracks, clock lens clean. I will study this to make sure I get the stripping right because it looks to me like someone sprayed at some point in the past. Hope the plastichrome is still there so I don't have to mess with it.

What finish is the paint, satin?

Hi Ralph,

I love your forum name rottenralph, it amuses me greatly. Anyway Ralph, i can offer you some sound advice on your console enquiry.Sounds like you got a decent console to start off with, that's great.

OK, Now the original plastic finish on the consoles had a grain pattern on the surface. That gives a nice appearence to the console. If your console has been resprayed in the past by somebody, what paint they used plays a big part as to how easily that paint will come off. In your case, the paint that was put on could be in good condition maybe, and looks OK. If it does, then do an adhesion test by getting a couple of strips of 3/4 inch masking tape, and lay them on the surface, pressing down hard on them. Grab the end of the tape, and rip it off very fast off the surface. If the tape pulls away any paint in that process, then you have poor ahesion, and it would be best to remove that said paint and refinish. If the paint sticks, then all you need to do is give the existing finish a nice light dry sand down with 800 wet & dry sandpaper, just to give a gentle smoothing effect, and get some adhesion happening as well.Be carefull though, if the paint used was a quick dry enamel, because it will be very solvent sensitive, and you will get reaction and paint problems when you try to refinish it. If it was refinished in Lacquer, that should present no problems in that regard.

However, if you decide to remove the paint that was put on, be very careful. The original plastic factory finish is solvent sensitive, and can get ruined in the paint removal process if your not careful. There are special dedicated plastic paint strippers on the market, but be careful when you use them as they still could cause a reation with the original plastic finish. (start melting it) Don't use conventional paint strippers, as they will stuff up the original finish. In my case, i removed the crap paint by using an auto product called 2 pak reducer. That reducer can be bought from auto paint supply shops. Don't use auto thinners as thinners will effect the original finish. Reducer is less stringent and won't attack the original surface as thinners or acetones will. So saturate a white cotton rag with reducer,( no dripping off rag) and progressively work your way around the console section by section, and wash/wipe off the paint. Change your rags often to achieve best results. Don't let excess reducer run down the suface or pool in any places as well. This process should remove the paint and take you down to the original suface without stuffing up the grain of the original finish.

Once you have removed the old paint you wanted to, let the original surface dry for an hour or so, and then dry scuff the surface down with 800 wet & dry sandpaper to smooth off. You should be ready to repray the console after this basic process. Primers are not necessary, unless you're hell bent on using them. Remember, the more paint you spray on, the more you will start hiding the original grain pattern effect. I choose a good quality auto acrylic lacquer in satin black to refinish. I bought a tin, reduced it with good lacquer thinners, 60% paint and 40% thinners, and sprayed it through a spraygun. Aerosol spraytins can be used, but i don't like them as they don't contain the correct thickness of paint (too thin) and require too many coats to get a good film thickness build. You can use flat black, but i find the satin gives a nice soft classy look to the finished job. It comes alive better than flat black. So that's what i did on mine to refinish the console to a great looking standard. My plastychrome was stuffed, and i ended up paying around $145.00 for a new part where the clock sits in. However, the black finish on that new part is playing up already, as the paint is starting to come off in little spots, and i'll have to touch the part up with satin black very soon. Bummer!!

So, hope it all goes well for you.

Regards Greg.

Awesome write up Austin!!

I will definitely be taking your advice on this as I'll be taking my console out to refurbish and sell. I bought this paint from NPD:

http://www.npdlink.com/store/products/mustang_interior_paint_spray_65_73_black-141634-2979.html

Would this paint work? I plan on repainting my console and my center bezel once I get everything removed. It really does get pretty hot here in July and August, too hot for me to be out in the garage messing with the car. I can only imaging how hot your summers are. Anyway, please let me know and thanks for all the great advice you give to all the forum members.

 

[rottenralph]

Already done with round one. Looks a whole lot better.

 

[Austin Vert]

Hi 73 Stang,

Thank you for your kind words and thanks, and feedback. I really appreciate it.Yes, our summers we get here in Queensland can be pretty hot and humid as well, given the fact that we have a tropical climate where i live.

I looked up your paint you intend to use from your link. I do have problems with you using this product per say. Firstly, i mentioned that when you come to respay the floor console, aerosol tins are not the best way to go, because the paint is much too thin. (mostly made up of solvents and little paint) If you have not got any spraypainting equipment, i guess you would have little choice but to use spray cans as such. Altough, i would recommend you use an aerosol tin to spray your center dash bezel, as it fits the bill very well for that particular application.Refinishing the console with Lacquer from a paint tin is the best option for the finished job looking great.

Looking at that product, i know SEM products are very good quality, and the description says this finish is year correct for our Mustangs, but i have a feeling this paint may have a slight metallic appearence to it. The dash panels, and/or the frame have a slight metallic effect to them from original.This could warrant more investigation to verify what was what. To the best of my knowledge, the center floor console did not, as it was finished in a straight low satin black color. So make sure this product is straight satin black and contains no metallic in it. For your center dash bezel, using the metallic black could be an option, but my new dress dash panels i recently bought, were finished in a straight satin camera black and look fantastic.That is the way i would go, straight satin black.

So best of luck with your project, and i hope it all goes well for you.

Greg.


Hey Ralph, the job looks pretty good so far. Tell me, what paint did you end up using to spray the console, and did you end up stripping the old paint off as such?

Also, trying to copy the appearence of the original chrome type trim finish is near impossible, so i bought a new console panel section and it looks a million bucks. Keep up the good work,

Greg.

 

[1972MustangSVH]

Austin Vert <---- Life saver, I'm getting the things together to do mine and was trying to figure out almost everything you covered.

Have any tips for fixing cracks?

 

[Austin Vert]

Austin Vert <---- Life saver, I'm getting the things together to do mine and was trying to figure out almost everything you covered.

Have any tips for fixing cracks?

Hi 1972 Mustang,

Thanks for your kind words, and am glad to be of help to you. Yes, i can offer some good advice on crack repair and refinishing. You can take a DIY approach, or get a plastic repair company to do the job which involves plastic welding and/or refinishing. The cost should not be over expensive, and they can simulate the original grain texture in the repaired areas as well. They can then refinish for you or you can do that yourself with the satin black acrylic lacquer.

If you decide to repair the cracks yourself, you can go about it in a few ways. Repairing a crack that has not gone all the way through the thickness of the plastic involves a certain proceedure, just as repairing a crack that has gone all the way through requires a different approach.For surface cracks, you can just form or shape a V in the plastic along the actual crack line itself. This can be done in two ways. First, get a hot soldering iron and gently run the tip along tha crack line, melting the plastic as you go. Don't go through the thickness of the plastic wall when doing this. Or, get some 80 grit dry sandpaper, fold it over a couple of times, and then carefully sand a small depth V along the crack line.

Once that's done, back fill and slightly overfill the V groove with 2 Pak wiping putty or Bondo. Then dry sand the filler back down gently with rubbing block and 120 grade dry paper till level and flat. Now start refinishing the damaged area with a good quality lacquer spray putty primer combo paint (aerosol can or out of the tin). When dry, block putty down with 400grade wet and dry paper either dry or wet.(wet's easier to sand)

You are now ready for the satin black lacquer topcoats to finish off. If you are using lacquer from the paint tin, mix a brew up that's slightly thicker than a 60% thinner and 40% paint mix. The trick of simulating a textured grain finish like the original is to apply a few medium wet coats at a very low air pressure, (around 5 to 20 PSI at the gun head) around the repair area, loosing the textured finish out into the surrounding areas as you go. Let each coat dry before applying the next. This technique lets the thicker paint come out of the gun in a type of spatter coat, which will mostly disguise the repair to the crack. Thin the paint to a 60/40 ratio to refinish the rest of the console.Using a pressure pak spraycan of putty primer can work also for the texture coat, but not quite as good a finish as using a spraygun would do using thickened satin black lacquer.

Repairing cracks all the way through, requires you to rienforce the plastic wall behind the crack first. This can be done in a few ways too. Some guys like to apply a fiberglass repair sheet to the back of the cracked wall first. You can also glue a thin piece of metal or plastic sheeting to the backside wall behind the crack with epoxy glue or Sikaflex adhesive, or even bondo as an option. Some guys sand down the back wall behind the crack,with 80grit dry paper, and then apply a nice thick spread of overlayed bondo.When the back is finished, you can use the same front face V grooving and filling techniques as mentioned above. Refinishing is the same proceedure as well.

So there are a few ideas and approaches to crack repairs.Hope that helps,

Greg.

 

[73StangCoupe]

Hi 73 Stang,

I looked up your paint you intend to use from your link. I do have problems with you using this product per say. Firstly, i mentioned that when you come to respay the floor console, aerosol tins are not the best way to go, because the paint is much too thin. (mostly made up of solvents and little paint) If you have not got any spraypainting equipment, i guess you would have little choice but to use spray cans as such. Altough, i would recommend you use an aerosol tin to spray your center dash bezel, as it fits the bill very well for that particular application.Refinishing the console with Lacquer from a paint tin is the best option for the finished job looking great.

Looking at that product, i know SEM products are very good quality, and the description says this finish is year correct for our Mustangs, but i have a feeling this paint may have a slight metallic appearence to it. The dash panels, and/or the frame have a slight metallic effect to them from original.This could warrant more investigation to verify what was what. To the best of my knowledge, the center floor console did not, as it was finished in a straight low satin black color. So make sure this product is straight satin black and contains no metallic in it. For your center dash bezel, using the metallic black could be an option, but my new dress dash panels i recently bought, were finished in a straight satin camera black and look fantastic.That is the way i would go, straight satin black.

So best of luck with your project, and i hope it all goes well for you.

Greg.

Hey Again Greg,

I know it's been a while, but just so I'm clear on my paint choices:

This for repainting the center console:

http://www.npdlink.com/store/products/interior_paint_spray_lacquer-107659-1.html

This for repainting my center dash bezel:

http://www.npdlink.com/store/products/mustang_interior_paint_spray_65_73_black-141634-2979.html

I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to get this project started.

Thanks again... Pete

 

[Austin Vert]

Hi Pete,

The NPD satin black non metallic would be OK TO USE ON THE CONSOLE,although i have not personally used that particular product as such to give you an accurate reccomendation.

The other SEM product as i said before, may or may not contain metallic.For finishing the center gauge bezel, i would stick to using the NPD black lacquer as well as the floor console. You won't be disappointed.

Lastly, if you have no other choice but to use spraycans, well so be it, but they won't give you the best quality refinish job as paint out of a tin would and shot through a spraygun. Any how, let me know how you get on and all the best with your projrect.

Greg.

 

[73StangCoupe]

Hi Pete,

The NPD satin black non metallic would be OK TO USE ON THE CONSOLE,although i have not personally used that particular product as such to give you an accurate reccomendation.

The other SEM product as i said before, may or may not contain metallic.For finishing the center gauge bezel, i would stick to using the NPD black lacquer as well as the floor console. You won't be disappointed.

Lastly, if you have no other choice but to use spraycans, well so be it, but they won't give you the best quality refinish job as paint out of a tin would and shot through a spraygun. Any how, let me know how you get on and all the best with your projrect.

Greg.

Thanks Greg,

Sorry to be beating this dead horse, but I really just want the best product I can get in a rattle can. I wouldn't even know where to start in trying to find someone around here to respray my interior parts professionally, and no telling what they would charge. Since mailing them to you for a respray would not be feasible due to the shipping charges, I guess I'll get a few cans of the NPD lacquer and have a go at it!!

I'll post some pictures when I'm done. Thanks again and take care... Pete

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

That was a nice job on the console. If you want a sticker shock get a quote to plate the chrome again. Not too many places can do plastic and we all know the instrument cluster, center dash, console and right dash all have the little bit of chrome showing to set it off. The quote I got just for the speedo / tach part was $450.00 so you would need to do that for 4 pieces. I told them they were crazy and did not do it. Going to research on if you can buy pieces of the material that they do car wraps with. I saw several in China and the entire car looked like chrome. It is some kind of plastic wrap don't know where to look for it. Just a thought when all the shiny stuff is gone from cleaning the interior too much. You have to go easy on that stuff.

David

 

[OMS]

That was a nice job on the console. If you want a sticker shock get a quote to plate the chrome again. Not too many places can do plastic and we all know the instrument cluster, center dash, console and right dash all have the little bit of chrome showing to set it off. The quote I got just for the speedo / tach part was $450.00 so you would need to do that for 4 pieces. I told them they were crazy and did not do it. Going to research on if you can buy pieces of the material that they do car wraps with. I saw several in China and the entire car looked like chrome. It is some kind of plastic wrap don't know where to look for it. Just a thought when all the shiny stuff is gone from cleaning the interior too much. You have to go easy on that stuff.

David

3 pc dash bezels 189.95

Center guage bezel 189.95 [ out of stock at this time ]

console plate 149.95

530.00 + some shipping for all new parts

Don

 

[Austin Vert]

That was a nice job on the console. If you want a sticker shock get a quote to plate the chrome again. Not too many places can do plastic and we all know the instrument cluster, center dash, console and right dash all have the little bit of chrome showing to set it off. The quote I got just for the speedo / tach part was $450.00 so you would need to do that for 4 pieces. I told them they were crazy and did not do it. Going to research on if you can buy pieces of the material that they do car wraps with. I saw several in China and the entire car looked like chrome. It is some kind of plastic wrap don't know where to look for it. Just a thought when all the shiny stuff is gone from cleaning the interior too much. You have to go easy on that stuff.

David

Hi David,

Great to have you on board in the forum. Thanks for your kind words and feedback. Yes, i have not researched any plastic chrome companies around the world or locally, but i am aware that this process is not cheap.

I believe that when any one piece is done, the whole piece is chromed, then black paint is sprayed on the remaining areas to finish off.

I folked out the money, and bought all new dash and console pieces for my '73 Vert. I felt it was worth the money in my case. And yes, plastic chrome is very delicate, and needs babying to make sure it lasts, that's for sure.

Cheers,

Greg.

 

[71mach1lady]

Here are some options but we too opted for the new parts

http://www.thehogring.com/2012/10/16/6-ways-to-transform-plastic-into-chrome/