FTO AUSTRALIA

Just wondering if anyone can tell me how i could remove the dash around the aircon and air vents. I would like to remove the whole centre (the bottom half where the gear knob is and also the top half where the aircon is.

Just wanna get them painted in another colour to match my vents etc.

yeah you can, take off the gear surround off. Where the clock and voltmeter is pull that panel back and it should come off.

You can remove the gear surround with flat screw driver but not sharp and carefully lift up all the inside insert-clips around. After that, you will see 2 screws above the stereo head. Remove them. Then you should be able to get the air vent surround (attached with clock & voltmeter)
Hope this may help.

Thanks.

Now that i can take it off, how do i go about painting them in silver?

The top central dash (clock and volt) has a different texture to the rest of the dash. How would i go about painting these?

ellusion wrote:Thanks.

Now that i can take it off, how do i go about painting them in silver?

The top central dash (clock and volt) has a different texture to the rest of the dash. How would i go about painting these?

i haven't got around to doing this yet, the biggest problem i see is that the top part is a rubber compound, and it flexes so the paint may crack... i know FOULZ had this problem and he was using acrylic paint.

Would we have to use any sort of undercoat? I was advise by a bodykit store to use plastic primer underneath before the paint job. He told me to rub back the primer to make it smooth and the better the rubbing back, the better the finish will be after the paint is applied.

I have no idea what plastic primer is and the guys at repco have no idea how to go about painting the interior.

why not just spend 100 bcuks and get a pro to do it, saves a lot of hassle if you dont exactly know what your doing

$100? if its that cheap i'll definately get it done. I mean it costs around $30 plus to buy the stuff yourself...Thanks...

I have another idea...

How about powder-coating my interior pieces? In silver powdercoat.

I'll do my air vents and all that too. How much would that cost and is this even possible?

It costs around $80 to powdercoat a set of rims so i'm hoping the price isn't too high for some pieces of plastic.

I thought powder-coating requires that the powder is melted onto the surface, i.e. a lot of heat

to buy the paints and undercoats. $30

to buy the 4 pizzas and coke to sustain you over a whole weekend spent to get the job done right. $50

to find the paint fades and cracks after 2 weeks...pricless.

to get it dne right the first time. $100 and about 2 hours i would belive.

Where would i get the paint job done? At a panel beater? Or at some interior trimming place?

Do it yourself. I've never tried it on a car interior but I assume vinyl dye would be your best bet (comes in a spraypaint can). You don't need to prime it, just clean the surface and spray it on. It doesn't cover the surface but rather seeps into the open pores in the plastic, so you won't ever get cracking and if you scratch it lightly it will only reveal more of the dyed plastic. You'll keep the orignal texture this way.

where do u get vinyl dye from?

FTOluv wrote:where do u get vinyl dye from?

Vinyl dye are everywhere Mil, Autobarn, Supercheap, Repco.........etc.

Do keep in mind some vinyl dye will make the plastic harder, therefore it’s easier to crack. So pick the vinyl dye that have sun/heat resistant & stretchable as plastic expand during the heat & in summer it can go up to 80-90 degree in side a car.

thanks Kev

btw, can vinyl dye be used on plastics?