dworsman

I'll be pulling out the instrument cluster out of my '61. By all the threads I've read Jason is the best bet on refurbishing the instruments themselves but is there anyone who can strip and paint the housing?

Thanks, Dave

JOliver

Dave,
a local body shop should be able to do it no problem specially if the car is being painted.


Jason

Oriondriver

Anyone strip and paint their own?

Scott

AZDoug

Yup.

Twice. Both turned out just as good as pro.

Chemical strip, wet sand to bare metal with 400 grit.

Paint with rattle can of your choice, though I suggest a can with one of the fan spray nozzles, let dry, bake in over at 250 degrees for a few hours, and optionally put another coat of clear over the color coat for a deep gloss look.

I never saw the need for a primer in this application as you are painting pot metal, not steel,and it isn't a weather exposed application

Doug

Oriondriver

Interesting... makes me feel better... I have mine stripped down to the bare metal and sanded... was going to primer this weekend... might think twice about it after reading your post... I bought custom paint spray cans with the fan spray nozzles.. hoping they arrive today actually... one question... what is the baking in the oven part?

Thanks
Scott

AZDoug

Prime if you want, then wet sand again, but with maybe 600 grit. Should give you a real nice gloss.

The baking is said to help the paint flow a bit, depending on the paint, evening out small imperfections that may exist.

Bake after the paint cures. It also helps drive out any remaining VOCs that may be still in the paint if you want to get the dash back in the same day.

Doug