New Dash Idea
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 226
Likes: 0
From: San Antonio, TX
you don't want to do this yourself
it looks sweet. but it's toooooooo much work for a driveway project. TRUST ME. I did that with my sport truck. an '03 F150 supercrew. 1st off, you need an oribital sander and a compressor with a large tank. then there are several ways to tackle this.
1) sand down the texture on the plastic pieces smooth with the orbital
2) using finer & finer grit sanding pads and the orbital take out the swirl marks 3) when you get down to about 300 grit use some body filler
4) now hand sand and work your way up to about 600 grit
5) wipe off with a tack cloth (be careful if you use cleaners. make sure they are
for auto body/painting or you could contaminate your painting surface)
6) now use an automotive primer-sealer and lay several coates down
7) start again with the hand sanding using finer & finer grit
8) if your satisfied that your work is perfectly smooth and no low spots...
9) using an HVLP touch up paint gun (automotive paint gun) lay several coates
........ short story long.... you're giving the panel an automotive quality paintjob. why, because if not, all the flaws in your work with show big time when the paint cures an especially if you use a gloss or clear coat. with all the work and materials and time you'd be putting in (not to mention tac times and cure times between coates) you'd be better off going to a paint shop and seeing how much they'd charge you. also, they can match up close (if not exactly) to the mopar paint color.
you can also fiber glass the panel pieces. but it's the same steps as above. my truck was before my digital camera.... no pics.
1) sand down the texture on the plastic pieces smooth with the orbital
2) using finer & finer grit sanding pads and the orbital take out the swirl marks 3) when you get down to about 300 grit use some body filler
4) now hand sand and work your way up to about 600 grit
5) wipe off with a tack cloth (be careful if you use cleaners. make sure they are
for auto body/painting or you could contaminate your painting surface)
6) now use an automotive primer-sealer and lay several coates down
7) start again with the hand sanding using finer & finer grit
8) if your satisfied that your work is perfectly smooth and no low spots...
9) using an HVLP touch up paint gun (automotive paint gun) lay several coates
........ short story long.... you're giving the panel an automotive quality paintjob. why, because if not, all the flaws in your work with show big time when the paint cures an especially if you use a gloss or clear coat. with all the work and materials and time you'd be putting in (not to mention tac times and cure times between coates) you'd be better off going to a paint shop and seeing how much they'd charge you. also, they can match up close (if not exactly) to the mopar paint color.
you can also fiber glass the panel pieces. but it's the same steps as above. my truck was before my digital camera.... no pics.
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 154
Likes: 0
From: san antonio, tx
it looks sweet. but it's toooooooo much work for a driveway project. TRUST ME. I did that with my sport truck. an '03 F150 supercrew. 1st off, you need an oribital sander and a compressor with a large tank. then there are several ways to tackle this.
1) sand down the texture on the plastic pieces smooth with the orbital
2) using finer & finer grit sanding pads and the orbital take out the swirl marks 3) when you get down to about 300 grit use some body filler
4) now hand sand and work your way up to about 600 grit
5) wipe off with a tack cloth (be careful if you use cleaners. make sure they are
for auto body/painting or you could contaminate your painting surface)
6) now use an automotive primer-sealer and lay several coates down
7) start again with the hand sanding using finer & finer grit
8) if your satisfied that your work is perfectly smooth and no low spots...
9) using an HVLP touch up paint gun (automotive paint gun) lay several coates
........ short story long.... you're giving the panel an automotive quality paintjob. why, because if not, all the flaws in your work with show big time when the paint cures an especially if you use a gloss or clear coat. with all the work and materials and time you'd be putting in (not to mention tac times and cure times between coates) you'd be better off going to a paint shop and seeing how much they'd charge you. also, they can match up close (if not exactly) to the mopar paint color.
you can also fiber glass the panel pieces. but it's the same steps as above. my truck was before my digital camera.... no pics.
1) sand down the texture on the plastic pieces smooth with the orbital
2) using finer & finer grit sanding pads and the orbital take out the swirl marks 3) when you get down to about 300 grit use some body filler
4) now hand sand and work your way up to about 600 grit
5) wipe off with a tack cloth (be careful if you use cleaners. make sure they are
for auto body/painting or you could contaminate your painting surface)
6) now use an automotive primer-sealer and lay several coates down
7) start again with the hand sanding using finer & finer grit
8) if your satisfied that your work is perfectly smooth and no low spots...
9) using an HVLP touch up paint gun (automotive paint gun) lay several coates
........ short story long.... you're giving the panel an automotive quality paintjob. why, because if not, all the flaws in your work with show big time when the paint cures an especially if you use a gloss or clear coat. with all the work and materials and time you'd be putting in (not to mention tac times and cure times between coates) you'd be better off going to a paint shop and seeing how much they'd charge you. also, they can match up close (if not exactly) to the mopar paint color.
you can also fiber glass the panel pieces. but it's the same steps as above. my truck was before my digital camera.... no pics.
JK Jedi
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,350
Likes: 2
From: Lacey, WA
I was looking at the can of Dupli-Color HVP103, which is what I used to do my vent rings, it lists "Dashboards, door panels, seats and carpet". If you remove or mask off the parts, then clean/prep the surface well, it should come out ok. I am not sure about body paint, because the paint I bought was specifically for plastic, and body paint is made for metal surfaces.
