Ray (shadowgray396) - repro dash
 

Ray, I painted over the chrome on the four small pods and removed the paint from the lettering so they're now chrome. Looks like I need to wipe down the dash, the marks in the picture's only show up with the flash, probably from the masking tape.

You can't tell I painted the 4 pods and the lettering looks good, much better than you can see in the pictures.

I covered each pod with 2" detail blue masking tape. There are 2 kinds of blue tape, the regular stuff, has a grain like regular masking tape then a detail tape. It's smooth, no grain, and thinner then the regular stuff, that's what I used. Cover each pod then use an Exacto knife to cut a circle between the chrome and the flat grained surface of the dash. Don't try to cut along the edge of the outer circle, the grain is rough and you'll just scratch more black paint off. Once you've removed the cut out circle use finger, finger nail, to roll the tape back to the outer edge. It will stick up a little around the edge, that's ok, just make sure you roll it all the way to the outer edge. Then I masked off the rest of the dash to catch any overspray. Hit it with some adhesion promoter so the paint will stick to the chrome. I used SEM landau black, painted left to right, top to bottom from one side, looking down on the dash. Let it dry a few minutes then did the same from the other side. Then another coat the same way after a few minutes. You really can't tell I sprayed it at all.

For the letters I masked off as close to the letters as I could. For the WIPER WASHER I taped over WASHER and did WIPER, then reversed. There is a gap between the 2 and you don't want to touch the flat surface in between the 2. Take some t-shirt material and pull it tight over you finger. Dampen with lacquer thinner, I dipped it in lacquer thinner then pressed it against a blue paper shop towel to absorb the excess. Too much lacquer thinner and it will go down between the letters and bubble the paint. Take your time and wipe across the letters. It will take several times before the chrome starts to show. Just work slowly and the top of the letters will come clean. Like I said you can't see it in the pictures but the letters look great.

I'll take some closer pics so you can see what it looks like. I thought these would be ok but they don't really show the detail enough.

Hank looks really good. Thanks for letting me know how you did it. I'll get to work on mine now.
Rau

Looks good Hank!
How did you do the chrome around the guage pods?

I really like it . Came out nice.

Brian, it's a reproduction dash. It's completely chromed under the paint like original. The problem with it is the 4 small pods around the speedo, turn indicator, etc. were chrome like the gauge pods. I painted over those. The other problem is the lettering for the wiper/washer and lighter were not chrome, they painted over those. So I removed the paint on the letters to expose the chrome. After fixing those 2 things the only thing that is different is the lettering. The font is a little different and they're not as deep. Nothing you would really notice unless you were looking for it. All and all for a reproduction part it's decent, not exact but pretty good.

Nice job!!

Not quite! The glove box door fit is pretty bad. I'll see what I can do with it after the dash is in, too hard with the dash laying on a table. I don't have AC, I have the filler plate that goes above the heater controls. It's goes in from the back and fits tight against opening. This dash had a tab 1/2" x 3/4" at one corner of the opening. Had to cut that off smooth so the opening was flat all the way around. Then had to open the screw holes up in the plate to center in the opening. Had to open up the hole for the black circle that goes around the e-brake release, not a big thing. Wiper switch sits too low in the opening, not a big thing.

It'll look good, it's just taking a lot of time trying to get everything to fit the way it should.

Thanks. Can see the lettering very well because of the flash but it looks good. Like I said, can't even tell I painted the 4 small pods.

Time to go see how the radio fits.

EDIT: Meant can't see the lettering because of the flash.

Sounds like I might have a few challenges also, I have not tried to put everything in to it yet.
Ray

It's a bit of a challenge in a few areas. Right now I'm trying to get the radio to fit properly. I don't think it's the dash though, had the same issue with the original dash. It's a Ken Harrison cassette radio that's supposed to fit these dashes. The face slides through the dash so there is no movement up or down once it's in. The volume knob post is not centered in the hole in the dash, too high, the tuning post is centered. The fader and balance knobs sit down in the holes, at least they're supposed to. Because the post isn't centered the knob won't fit down in the opening.

It's always something! Good thing I don't have any work to do, the kind you get paid for, or I'd never get this done.

Loosened the volume post and faceplate on the radio to try and get better alignment of the post in the hole. Still no go. The hole in the face of the dash tapers, get's smaller deeper in. The fader and balance knobs were just too big around at the base so I cut off the back edge and got them installed. Here are some better pics of the lettering after removing the paint.

Very nice, The lettering came out great. I will be working on mine this weekend. Gauges look good in it.

It came out beautiful. I'm considering trying that on ours.

Looks great. How do you find the time with all that laundry you have to do :).

It's tough Ray, really tough.

I was finishing up the radio wiring and noticed the heater control, what a mess. Figured I'll never have another chance to clean it up so I pulled the knobs and face plate. Now if I could just find someone who knows how to polish the lens, hint, hint, I'd be in business.

Also have to figure out what to do with the piece that goes behind the lens. It's a sheet of very thin black vinyl on a piece of thin cardboard. The vinyl is dried out and wrinkled. Maybe just paint a piece of cardboard.

Ray,
I was thinking the same thing, it's really nice that Lynda lets him put his dash on top of all the laundry...or he will be in trouble if she sees this picture? It also looks like he just got done ironing but did not put it away yet.

Hank,
It looks great, I can't wait to have you help me on my interior when I redo it...I'll let you do the seats as I know how much fun you had on yours....again the dash looks great and I can't wait to see it.

Believe it or not I have a fix for your black vinyl piece. I made a new one for mine and it came out great.

As for the polishing the lens...stop by and I'll see what I can do.

I found some vinyl and just cut a new one. Looks pretty good. I polished the lens best I could. Problem is the backside has the lettering so you have to stay away from that.

I have to get out there and finish the wires and put the defrost duct back in. It looked nasty too so I pulled it out, washed it and sprayed the part you can through the windshield. I better stop looking for more stuff to clean up or I'll never be done.

You always find more to do, don't you? With the dash it's something I don't every want to take out again, so I need to take care of anything I can while it's out. Like the kick panels and vent pulls. I think they installed the driver's side kick panel first thing on the assembly line then the rest of the car around it. You have to remove the dash, then the e-brake pedal, then the fuse block. I worked around the high-beam switch but it was in the way too.

Almost done, maybe I can get the dash back in tomorrow. Check all the connections, don't want to see any smoke, then we're good to go.

Already got a a can of NOS Lucas smoke. Any smoke leaks in the electrical and I can recharge it. :p

Hey Guys don't be slamming Lucas as they are part of of the company I work for (TRW) and actually you may see that brand over here in the states in a few years. Actually, in 1994 Lucas bought Kelsey-Hayes and when we just getting into changing our name to Lucas TRW came in and bought us. Lucas is still one biggest aftermarket in Europe.

I remember a friend of mine had a Jag EKE and it ended up catching on fire from the Lucas wiring...and that is what everyone remembers so it will take a long time for them to overcome the bad quality over here.

Good deal Ric, I need the fuse block fitting for recharging the smoke, can you help me out?

Ray, got the dash in yesterday but ran into a few more challenges. The mounting posts that hold the heater control, glove box side were too long. The heater control and the filler plate above it did not sit flush on that side. Took a Dremel cutoff wheel and removed about 1/8", that was fun with the dash in the car.

Haven't started it yet but did start checking the gauges. The gas gauge appears to be ok. Amp gauge was working backwards. Pulled the connector out of the back of the gauge pod and swapped the wire. That was also a real challenge with the dash all bolted in. Temp gauge is pegged, not sure what that's about.

Had to stop before I finished checking things out. My son wants to borrow my pickup over Memorial Day weekend. He said he would wash and wax it for me. He used some 3M finish restorer wax on it. What a pain in the ass! My wife, my son and I worked on it for hours last night trying rub all the wax out.

Have to pour the coolant back in then I can fire it up today and finish it up.

[QUOTE=Hank70SS;9811]Ray, got the dash in yesterday but ran into a few more challenges. The mounting posts that hold the heater control, glove box side were too long. The heater control and the filler plate above it did not sit flush on that side. Took a Dremel cutoff wheel and removed about 1/8", that was fun with the dash in the car.

Been having some of the same challenges on my dash. Been cutting and custom fitting on my also. Hope to have my gauges back by next week to finish installing them.

HankSS - Looks great, almost makes me wish that I hadn't held out for an original. The chrome trim looks much better than my experiments with different paint pens. But then I read of your ancillary issues and then I think that maybe I did the right thing. 6 of 1 half dozen of the other I guess.

Could you tell me what you used for the tan color? I've tried 3 different plastic paints and none seem to have the rich color of yours. I did my sweep dash 15 years ago and like the color but don't remember what I used.

Rick, I would have stayed with the original if I could have but it turned out pretty good. The paint came from NPD. They only sell saddle for the 70's. The paint I used is 71 dark saddle, # C-AP5855. It's just about a perfect match to the original dash and kick panels. The saddle, C-AP5856 was correct for the other interior parts too.

If I was going to do the silver on an original dash I would mask off the silver around the gauge area and spray it with a chrome paint. Then use the leafing pen around the pods and on the lettering. The leafing pen works good if you can cover the area in one pass, which you can't do on the wider area that is around the gauge area.