Questions:
- With regards to "restoring" some of the parts, what sources did you use to figure out the dash rebuild and how to paint certain parts like the light bezels, etc?
- Is there any specific type of paint you use? I know you mention filler primer to smooth things out, but are you just talking rustoleum off the shelves of Home Depot? What about the parts that were frame color? Did you get some mopar frame color paint online to paint those parts?
- How did you "restore" those interior panels? Most of mine were in good shape, but they look like they could be brought up to date. What about the seats, what was your source info for building those back up?
Enough questions for now, I have at least 4 years of work to get cracking on if your adventure is any measure.
Hi csilko, I'm sorry, I didn't see your post and your questions. I will try to answer your questions as best I can but most of my stuff was done by trial and error and trust me... there was a lot of error haha.
- With regards to "restoring" some of the parts, what sources did you use to figure out the dash rebuild and how to paint certain parts like the light bezels, etc?
On my dash, all I did was take some acrylic tester paint and paint the needles back to a florescent orange. I used acrylic vs enamel so the brush strokes would be less visible. After the fact, i learned you can use a little thinner on enamel and get the same effect. I had a hard time finding florescent orange in acrylic so I recommend the enamel way. For the decals, I just follow the directions on the decal package. Make sure you tape everything off and paint it flat black and make sure you have all dirt and bumps out. I had to redo mine because I didn't like it. I painted the bezel with chrome spray paint to avoid brush strokes but it was way to hard for the result I got in m opinion. I would buy a chrome paint pen and do it that way. The inside is just a flat black.
- Is there any specific type of paint you use? I know you mention filler primer to smooth things out, but are you just talking rustoleum off the shelves of Home Depot? What about the parts that were frame color? Did you get some mopar frame color paint online to paint those parts?
No, I just played around until I found what I liked best. For the dash frame, I just used a nice satin black automotive paint. Unfortunately I don't have the name of the paint I used. For the filler I just used the stuff from AutoZone items to skim coat the dash frame and smooth out imperfections then I primered. The ash tray was a real bear and took several trys to match. I would bet Mopar frame color would work well.
- How did you "restore" those interior panels? Most of mine were in good shape, but they look like they could be brought up to date. What about the seats, what was your source info for building those back up?
The panels were a lot of fun to do. I removed the old ones from the frame, painted the frames and glued the new ones on. I glues sections at a time to keep them nice and tight to "sloppy" areas. The only real thing to look out for is making sure they are lined up on the metal panel so they are not crooked when they are installed on the car. I would also lightly glue the area around where the cardboard meets the metal so you don't get the line showing through when finished. I bought new fuzzies for the outer window part and riveted them on vs using the factory staples. There was no way I was going to be able to get those through the factory stapled spot so I used rivets in stead. It worked great. Word of warning, not all fuzzies are made equally. I went cheap on those from EBay and the felt didn't last to install nor did the rears fit. I bought new ones from Year One and those do seem to be much nicer and a better fit. Spend the extra, it's worth it.
All my seat stuff was sourced from Year One at the time except for the pads & burlap which I got from EBay/michaels. If I could go back, I would have spent extra for Legendary's stuff. I am not sure if they are one in the same now but mine was sourced from PPG (I think that's the name) and while the quality is more than satisfactory to me, I have seen the Legendary materials in person and it's just that much better. That's just my opinion and experience though. It just seems thicker and the grain looks more authentic in my opinion.
Note on the seats. If you do them, make sure the seams line up on the upper and lower before you hog ring them back. one the 71-72's, the seams are horizontal to vertical and it's very noticeable if you the lines are off. I redid mine 3 times before I was satisfied.
Hopefully this helps and I will be posting more pictures of progress very soon.
