I stripped the console shift plate on my 71 then washed it with joy diswash soap and painted it with rustoleum semigloss black. major fisheyes so I removed that paint then wiped it down with prep-sol solvent, painted it again. same thing more fisheyes does the metal have to be primed? what do I need to clean it with? maybe use a faster drying paint?

 

Wipe it down with Prep-sol again, using paper towels. I like Krylon semi-flat. Mist on the first coat. Make sure the shifter plate and the paint are both at least 75 degrees.

 

It would definately help to prime it before painting. If you are having that much trouble, I would do this:

Strip it
wash it
clean with wax & grease remover (or diluted rubbing alcohol, or windex)
prime it
sand it
clean with windex
paint it

If you still have fisheye - THROW IT AWAY!

 

Black paint should be "Satin" Finish.

 

I used paper towels. it is in the 50's now. may just wait for a sunny afternoon.

 

Good......paint can react badly when cold. G/L

 

 

Thanks C3. I learned the hard way!

 

The fish eyes are probably from years of vinyl protectant. Armor all is really hard to remove.

 

Roger Roger on the temp being too cold, will cause fisheye effect. You really want about 60minimum, 65-70 preferred. (Btw, the other recommendation on Krylon is good stuff, over the years, without exception, Ive grown to hate rustoleum........never lays well, takes a century to dry).

btw...... equally as bad is to let the item outside in the direct sunlight where the temp gets a bit hotter than you might think...... then it looks like its 100years old.

(Plus it always helps to make the 1st coat a light dusting till almost tack dry before the final or next so it has something to adhear to).

HAVE FUN....

BobR

 

This is how I do my plates.
The 1st thing I do is take the heater control, boot and ash tray housing off the plate. Then I spray the ash tray door and plate with carb cleaner. That gets the gunk off and any loose paint. A good cleaning with soap and water after that. This is important! The plate MUST be clean before you paint it. I run some pin stripe tape around the outer chrome edge. As for the inner chrome edges, they get painted over. They are just to thin to tape off. Blue painters tape over the “cross flags” and trim with a SHARP hobby knife. 2 light coats of flat black spray paint. Then 3 light coats of satin black spray paint. Don’t try to do it in 1 coat. It looks like crap. Take your time with the coats. Let it dry 1 full day. Scrap the paint off the chrome edges and letters with the hobby knife. Yes it takes some time, but it’s the only way I found that works and looks original. This takes some practice, but after doing about 20 of these it seems easy to me. The cross flags I paint with a tooth pick and model paint. I do the red and white. Let it dry for a day and scrap the chrome edges with the hobby knife. After that I do the black on the flag. Same thing. Let dry for a day and scrape the chrome edges. Take your time and use some cheap magnifying glasses if that helps. I hope this helps anyone trying to do it your self. Just remember. If you don’t like the way it turns out. Just clean it and start over on it. It’s just paint.