Looks like we have a stretch of days coming up where the weather will be less than perfect for driving the Stang combined with a long weekend.

I am thinking of stripping pretty much everything off of my dash and repainting it. For the most part the dash is "ok". Most of the scratches are in the logical place near the ignition, basically due to people missing with the key.

My thought is I certainly need to scrub it down with some sort of degrease type cleaner since it is almost certain to have a build up of grease from folks touching it and more than likely someone has gotten armor all on it at some point in the past.

Should I degrease the dash with simple green or even rubbing alcohol and then maybe give it a very light sanding before I repaint?

 

The grease is one thing, but silicone is almost impossible to remove. I had to repaint my son's glove box door three times due to fisheyes caused by silicone (I suspect Armorall).

Degrease before and after sanding. Start with simple green, but I've found that laquer thinner and a red scotchbrite pad with a couple of scrub/wipe/rinse cylces works best. Then sand it down to ensure a smooth surface, particularly where the scratches are. Wipe it down with Prepsall and then a tack cloth, prime it, and then top coat. A rattle can will work, but a catylized paint is harder and more resistant to scratching and cleaning products.

 

I hate silicon! Your neibour can spray Armorall or simular products and it can drift and cause fisheyes. Follow "fakesnakes" advice with the degreaser and prepsol. Be careful with the tack cloth as they can smear their waxey like substance on the cleaned metal and cause a streak in the paint. I only barely let them touch the surface and never press down while rubbing. Most of the time I use a slighty dirty tack cloth or rub it on something else thats a little dusty before using it on the car.

 

I bought some degreaser from walmart for like $7 in the automotive dept and I used semi-gloss black krylon spray paint. It came out very nicely except when I forgot to line up the glove box when putting it back on and tried to shut it... you can figure out what happened. Make sure you dont forget to do that kind of stuff when reinstalling! I made sure I took time with the cluster but didnt think about the glove box

 

Pictures look pretty good after a good coat of paint.

I have been thinking about doing this for a bit but the weather has been great for driving (for the most part) and it seems like it is going to be a bit of work. I have had just about everything off the dash at one time or another. Not one of those things that seems "hard" just a bit time consuming in having to take most everything off then put it back on.

I took my glove box door off a few weeks back and refinished it. Getting it lined back up when putting it back on was "fun" so I could see where if you were in a hurry you could have easily messed something up.

 

It took me about a week and 1/2 for everything because I had to run new radio wires so while I had the panels off I just decided to paint the dash. After I got a couple of good coats on I let the car sit for 2-3 days to let everything cure. The top coat will feel dry but the other coats you put on before will need more time to harden.

 

all i can say is armor all is the devils work

 

From what i found on painted dash mothers waterless wash and then maybe wax it works great.

 

I need to work on my radio set up but that is a good ways down the priority list for me right now.

My sheet metal is all solid now that the new floor pans are in. When I took it to my buddy's resto shop I had him go through the underside with a critical eye checking frame, torque boxes, etc, etc. Also managed to replace the seriously rusted exhaust that was under there as a part of the floor pan work.

I do still need to do the fender apron under the battery when I finally get around to the engine bay. Starting to slowly acquire a few misc. engine parts for when that day finally gets here.

Paint is a good solid 10 footer, but at least I recently had the top and rear painted to get rid of the rust in the drip rails since finding a donor roof didn't sound to cool to me.

Interior is pretty much done minus refinish on the dash for the few scratches and that is more labor than money so figured that was a good next step.

You are smarter than I am in letting the paint cure really well. I got in a hurry when I refinished my glove box door. I rushed it a bit when the paint seemed dry. It looked nice and got it back on ok but the down side is I got it on and adjusted then noticed the several large finger prints in the middle of the door. So back off it came for a "re-do"...live and learn as they say, LOL!

 

Well the good news is that I managed to get everything stripped off the dash tonight and the bad news is I manged to get everything stripped off the dash tonight....bad news in the sense that is only the first step and started thinking maybe the dash didn't really look that bad after all, LOL!

The in-laws are staying with us tonight and after diner, the boys opening some of their presents, etc we got the boys off to bed and then I was really wanting the "me time" in the garage so went ahead and got started to take advantage of the two long weekends when the dojo is closed anyway so my Saturday mornings when I would usually be in class are free.

It really only took me about an hour and a half or so to get everything off.

I have to admit I was a little intimidated when I first looked behind the gauge housing wondering if I would be able to get all the wires back where they belong. But then the idea hit me to use a sharpie and label "1,2,3, etc" all the places a wire goes and then I put a piece of tape with the matching number on the wires one by one as I unplugged them.

Also put everything in bags with labels such as glove box or dash pad, etc. I didn't figure I really "need" to take the dash pad off but I had messed mine up a while back and had found another on e-bay for $75 and have been putting off installing the new pad so what better time then as part of this job.

Hope to find some time tomorrow evening after all the "family stuff" to start scrubbing it down and prepping it for paint.

Starting to seem like this is going to be a chore but hoping it will look nice when done.

I'll try to snap some pictures along the way and post them.