dash panel

[gilley]

i got a couple questions..

can i paint my instrument panel and if so with what kind of paint..??
and also my 71 grill is starting to fade and is it also possible to paint and if so what kind of paint for it?? thanks

[dan42]

You can paint it, but in my opinion they don't look very good. I would order a repro or find a clean used one on the parts board. I have one that has the choke delete, and I'm just gonna leave it a little rough because they are hard to find and I want it to look original.

[ray_mcavoy]

Hi gilley,

I had the instrument panel out of my 72 to swap in a tach/vac cluster I got from an old farm truck. The chrome finish was nearly all worn off so I decided to try my hand at painting it to make it look a little better. I don't really care for the look of those "chrome" spray paints so I used some Plasti-Kote argent silver wheel paint instead. And some of their trim black to freshen up the black part. Doesn't look as nice & shiny as a new one, but I think it looks better than the old worn chrome did.

Not the best pic (camera auto-focused on the steering wheel), but here's what it looks like:


I used the same silver wheel paint to freshen up the faded plastic grille too but I don't have a pic of that yet.

On both pieces, I gave them a thorough cleaning to remove any dirt and/or oily residue and used a combination of fine (400 grit) sandpaper and Scotchbrite pads to scuff the surface so the paint would stick.

[kev2809]

do you have any close up pics of just the bezel...without the steering wheel hogging all the camera space? lol

lookin to freshen mine up instead of buying a new one...urs looks like it turned out pretty nice.

[ray_mcavoy]

Hi Kev,

I snapped a few more pics with the camera in closer to avoid the steering wheel this time.





I think it came out fairly decent for a spray can job. Masking was the hardest part and I did end up with a few slightly rough edges as you can see in these close-up pics.

[notsolo]

Originally Posted by ray_mcavoy

Hi Kev,

I snapped a few more pics with the camera in closer to avoid the steering wheel this time.





I think it came out fairly decent for a spray can job. Masking was the hardest part and I did end up with a few slightly rough edges as you can see in these close-up pics.

Nicely none.... I hope mine turns out that good.

[gilley]

wow that looks nice! thanks for the pics.. i think im just gonna look for a nicer one

[kev2809]

definitely looks amazing! im gonna have to try this as soon as i order a new instrument lens!

[melks]

looks great...i gotta imagine painting a 71 grille would be a bit of a pain just because of the mesh like composition...i remember painting a set of grilles for my fathers 70 camaro (which is plastic mesh like similar to the 71/72 C10 front grilles) i opted to start painting from the back side first then moved my way around to the front changing up the angle i was spraying from very frequently just to insure i got paint on all the sides and surfaces of the grille. Turned out great.

[ray_mcavoy]

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

Melks, Yeah, the grille was kind of a pain to prep/paint inside all the little square parts of the mesh. I used the same technique as you described (starting on the back and spraying at various angles) to get good coverage. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as the grille that I painted for my 77 Nova though. That one had some peeling "chrome" that I had to remove first and the square grid pattern is even smaller.

Kev, If your existing lens isn't cracked and the silkscreening on the back is still decent, you might want to try cleaning it up with some plastic polish. That's what I did with the lens shown in my pics. It was pretty dull/hazy looking before.