I've been looking around this section and saw a lot of people's custom painted interiors that I really liked! That got me thinking about painting mine. I'm in the middle of school and didn't have time to get to it. I was expecting some headers to be delievered last week and I set aside Saturday to install them. Well, the headers didn't come, so I started to paint my interior with my time that I sat aside.
I first went and got some primer, then some black and silver paint. I was kinda mad that my headers didn't come so I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't get vinel paint. I awesome got this crappy rough black, not shinny. I primered them, then painted sliver. then taped off the silver and painted the rest black. Then took off the tape and the paint came off to... Well... I still had tons of paint left over and I didn't want to start over with different paint. So I painted it again, then put clear paint over it... Then taped, painted, detaped and took the paint off again.... Not my panels look like crap... I can't retouch them... I'm pissed that my headers didn't come.... I'm ready to just dump paint thinner on them... Or just drive my fat a** off a cliff... (that's a little extreme) But... Anyways... if anyone of you read this, um. what ya think about it?

SA

First of all, take a step back and relax :) Whenever you paint something, leave plenty of dry time before you even handle it or do anything with it. ESP don't put any tape on freshly painted surfaces even if it feels dry to the touch. I usually wait at least a few hours to handle and do things with the part, and i like to let it fully cure over night. Another tip, CLEAN every part very very well with soap and water. Dry really good. This will help adheasion of the paint. Plastic doesn't need primer either, unless you are using actual car paint. Spray very THIN layers of paint, if it chips off, you sprayed too close/too much. A thin layer for full color change is all you need. Dont load it up. I have had to touch up some spots on my car, but for the most part, its help up pretty good so far..

I 2nd all that, I'm in the middle of doing my interior also... don't rush anything & take your time. I've been leaving my stuff out 2 cure @least 24 hours if not longer. I figure 1 week of an ugly interior will make the next x months/years better =)

A friend of mine is also doing his interior w/ me, he started putting everything in just a couple hours later like U, he had a good bit of paint scratched off from stupid stuff... eg.) the center console kickboards from the glovebox & dash.

- J

Some notes on how I did my interior.....

This was copied from a private message sent to a user on 2gnt message boards. (http://www.2gnt.com/forum.html)

I used Duplicolor spray vinylpaint all over the entire car. Left everything in it while I was painting, except for what u see in white, i took out. I also took out the rear 1/4 panels cuz I didnt wanna spray on the triangle windows. I didnt sand OR prime either.

Its been holding up fine, looks stock. However, I do have a few chip places but I will fix those soon at a later date. All I advise is that you tape your windeshield up REAL good and dont forget to tape up your vin # metal plate either ;)

Now, for the doors and dash itself i covered the steering wheel with a tshirt, and removed the gauge bezel and gauges (unplugged the whole thing) and stuck little bent pieces of cardboard over the a/c controls and radio.

Spray FAR AWAY! U use a lot of paint this way, but fuck it, it will be even, and that's what counts. If you spray 2 feet away, to where a fine mist covers the areas gradually, that is how you do it properly. If you spray too close, ie., 6 inches to a foot away, you will have horrible flaking and bubbles, etc., very uneven and it will look hideious. It will take about 4 cans for the dash. 3 cans per door. 2 cans per 1/4 panel in the back. 3 cans for the center console piece. (sorry, which i also took out.)

All screws or pieces pop out with a flathead and few screws are easy to find are phillips head screws. I attacked this project very vaguely and knew nothing when I was getting started. It's very easy to find all screws to take out in order to pop other pieces out. The sunroof control slides back and then pops out, for examnple.

You just have to play the game and solve the little puzzles to how pieces get removed. The seatbelts are tricky, for removing the rear 1/4 panel. You have to pop the cover off with a flathead at the bottom right or bottom left of each top piece. I then had to use vice-grips to get the loc-tite bolts off to eventually remove the upper seatbelts.

For the carpet I left the seats in (i know, R I C E hehe) and sprayed the carpet twice with black Duplicolor spray. (Dont forget to vacuum hehe) and It's held up nice. Its starting to turn grey a lil where my feet always are...after putting some black rit dye over this "semi-black" carpet it should stay for good. hope all this helps you out in your conquest to a custom interior.

Oh also be sure to wipe everything down with antibacterial cleaner ( i used some lysol antibacterial spray bottle cleaner and a brillo sponge to get it all nice and clean. Note i said sponge, and not an actual brillo pad with steel wool. Note furthermore that I also have had several car washes and used armor-all over the entire dash and doors and it shines it up NICE and dont chip the paint either....





;-)

whew!

-myke 4-16-2002