Instrument cluster restoration (update w/ pics 5/7)

[Dino]

Thanks guys.  'Next' may be a while, I got a lot more work than I have free time...but uhm I have to go to Ohio from time to time so if I could be ignored by law enforecement maybe we can set something up.   

[mpdlawdog]

I see you are from Ann Arbor so that might be hard to get you through Buckeye country safely .....Actually I have three friends that are big U of M fans (me included)..we have gone to the Big House at least once in the past 7 years!
Nice work on the panels.....thats on my list of stuff I want to do

[Dino]

 

I thought about putting a big block M on the charger but figured I'd have to run from the rivals too much.

I may end up writing a how to from start to finish on bezel/gauge restoration but I'm not sure its something needed.

[Dino]

Well it looks like I'm almost done with the cluster.  Everything is assembled and ready to go back in the car.  One last thing I'll do is go over the white letters again and do any touch ups with an x-acto blade and a toothpick.  I have an 'A' and an 'F' or two that got a bit too much paint.   

I tested my old rheostat which seems to be as dead as they get.  Luckily the '70 rheostat I have seems to work fine so here's hoping.

Pics to follow

[Dino]

And here they are.  Haven't done the touch ups yet or screwed the bezel to the housing.  I tried once more capturing the painted chrome and it does show how similar the reflection is between the paint and the switches.

I'm very happy with how it turned out, it looks better than new and not counting my time but materials only it was about $100-$120 to redo the cluster and 3 bezels.

First pic shows the chrome paint masked so I could redo the black.  I had to do it this way because my experiment painting chrome turned out so well and I didn't want to redo it.  Normally you paint the black first since it's much easier to mask afterwards.  Whichever route you take you will need a seriously sharp x-acto knife and good masking tape, best you can find.

[Dino]

Some more

[Dino]

Last ones for now, more to come when it's all back in the car.

I think there's quite a bit of info in this thread to get you started but at this point feel free to post questions in this thread so we can all help you with your instrument cluster/bezel restoration.

[mpdlawdog]

  Nice work!!!

[tan top]

Nice work!!!

nice job 

[DC_1]

Nice.... Can't believe how well the chrome turned out for paint!

[b5blue]

Were did you get that chrome paint?

[Dino]

Thanks gents!

I got the paint at the local hobby shop, you can find it pretty much anywhere. 

This is what I used:

Alclad gloss black base ALC-304

Alclad II chrome ALC-107

Both were less than $10 each and it's plenty to do all 3 bezels.

You can use any gloss black for base but it MUST be enamel, don't even think about putting anything else down because the chrome will NOT stick!  Testors modelmasters gloss black works fine as well, I have a small spray can of the stuff and the results between that and the alclad black are identical.

The ALC-107 chrome is for an airbrush, you can buy it in spraycan as well but to be honest it will be damn tricky to paint as you need to put a fine mist down over the black, if you spray it like regular paint your chrome will be plain silver.
Again this is not for everyone, I've been painting for a very long time and it's pretty hard to get right but when you do it's friggin' awesome!

[AirborneSilva]

Thanks gents!

I got the paint at the local hobby shop, you can find it pretty much anywhere. 

This is what I used:

Alclad gloss black base ALC-304

Alclad II chrome ALC-107

Both were less than $10 each and it's plenty to do all 3 bezels.

You can use any gloss black for base but it MUST be enamel, don't even think about putting anything else down because the chrome will NOT stick!  Testors modelmasters gloss black works fine as well, I have a small spray can of the stuff and the results between that and the alclad black are identical.

The ALC-107 chrome is for an airbrush, you can buy it in spraycan as well but to be honest it will be damn tricky to paint as you need to put a fine mist down over the black, if you spray it like regular paint your chrome will be plain silver.
Again this is not for everyone, I've been painting for a very long time and it's pretty hard to get right but when you do it's friggin' awesome!

Lookin darn good Dirk, but I think I'll leave things like that to the Pro's (such as yourself) 

[Dino]

Lookin darn good Dirk, but I think I'll leave things like that to the Pro's (such as yourself) 

Nah, if you follow the rules you can do this as well.  The only difficult part is the chrome and fixing cracks and chips.  Painting it black and doing gauges is easy.

Yesterday I cleaned up the white letters with an exacto and of course I had to slip and carve right into the top chrome edge.   

Nobody will be able to tell when it's in the car but damn did this have to happen right before I finished the damn thing!?  I also messed up a switch, see my other thread.   

[montana bird]

Dino, Let me get this strait. you painted the whole bezel with the sem trim paint, Then sanded the chrome area, then used alclad gloss black followed by alclad chrome. Will the lacquer paint eat this plastic. It says the alclad gloss black is Lacquer. Or did you paint it in enamel gloss black then paint chrome on that. I would like to try it i love what you did.

[Dino]

Dino, Let me get this strait. you painted the whole bezel with the sem trim paint, Then sanded the chrome area, then used alclad gloss black followed by alclad chrome. Will the lacquer paint eat this plastic. It says the alclad gloss black is Lacquer. Or did you paint it in enamel gloss black then paint chrome on that. I would like to try it i love what you did.

First of all, Alclad is a bit confusing.  The name of the company is Alclad lacquer or something like that, but the paint is actually enamel.  I know, it's crazy but it's true!  

The chrome will not stick to lacquer at all.  Many people have used Tamiya gloss black lacquer, which is a great product btw, and the chrome never dries, it just won't fully adhere or cure.
Second, many people will say to shoot the gloss black, let it dry overnight and if possible sand and polish it because the better the base, the better the final finish.  There's only one problem with that, the chrome paint doesn't stick to cured, smooth as glass enamel.
This method works on something that you paint and never have to touch again but that won't work for our application becuase the chrome would be rubbed off by the time you had the bezels back in the car.

I actually went backwards with the order of paint as I didn't think the first experiment would turn out so well but here's the way I would do it if I started over.

When your bezels are ready for paint you shoot the SEM trim black, or any flat/satin black of your choice, and let it cure thoroughly.

Mask all the black and sand everything that will end up chrome.  This needs to be absolutely perfect, cut a corner and your chrome will be silver.

In one sitting shoot all the gloss black, again it has to be perfect.  If a fly gets into it, as happened on one of mine, remove all the enamel and start over, don't even think of doing a touch up!

Give it enough time in a nice warm environment (had mine in the sun with 65-70 degrees outside) for at least 20 - 30 minutes.  When you run your finger over the enamel black on the masking paper it needs to be pretty dry, not tacky.
With the airbrush on low pressure evenly mist a very very thin layer of chrome on.  so thin you're not sure anything came out of the airbrush.  The chrome dries almost istantly so when you reach the end go over it again, same technique.  The black gloss will now turn into chrome.

Before you do all the bezels you may want to just do the radio bezel like I did, if it fails it won't take 5 minutes to sand it and start over.  All the gauges is a different story!

With this chrome paint less is more, one mist too many and it'll turn silver so beware.

In the sunlight when it looks like black chrome you pretty much got it.

Also, the chrome leaves dust behind, this is normal so don't panic.  After you're done leave it alone for a little while, take a brand new soft brush and simply brush the dust off.  By the time you have everything assembled you can wipe down the chrome with a cotton cloth and it will actually polish it a bit.  DO NOT USE ANY CLEANING OR POLISH PRODUCTS AS THE CHROME WILL DISAPPEAR!!!!!!

I have handled these parts a lot since I finished and no chrome is wearing off, I've also stuck several different masking tapes on chrome you can't see once installed and left them there for several days and again nothing came off when I removed them, be it slow or fast.

[b5blue]

Dino....your a Master-Masker! What did you use to mask with? 

[montana bird]

Thank you dino. The lacquer  name got the best of me. I understand now.

[AirborneSilva]

Dino....your a Master-Masker! What did you use to mask with? 

Not to mention EXTREMELY patient 

[Dino]

Patience is a must, you can't rush this stuff.

I use frog tape and 3M blue painters tape.  As you can see, the green frog tape is my fave for this job.   

Any painters tape with medium tack will do fine.  I would avoid low tack as you really need a good bond on the corners.  I have a certain way of masking these corners so I'll do a small write up with pics on it but it'll have to wait until next week, this weekend's a bit busy for me.

Apart from tape you'll need an x-acto knife and new blades and a few toothpicks.  Compressed air is a bonus, be it an airgun or a can.

[Dino]

I installed the cluster yesterday but will have to pull it out again, the spare rheostat switch I had is also not doing anything, one of the bulbs on the circuit board is either loose or busted and for some reason the clock no longer works. 

I'm a bit worried about the rheostat but the rest is hopefully an easy fix.

Here's a few pics.

[ODZKing]

Veeerrry nice! 

[Dino]

Once I have the cluster repaired (see my thread in electrical) I'll post some pics of it with the lights on.  These are pics of how it sits now.  I still have to finish the bezel over the glove box and then align the radio plate, it's a bit crooked right now.

I'm very happy with how it turned out, it's so nice to look at a cluster without seeing the paint or chrome peel off.

In the last picture you can see how warped the a/c dash pad is, it's actually coming off the frame creating quite the gap.  That'll be a project for another day though.   

[ODZKing]

It's lookin' very nice.  Arm rest fits right in.  You going to paint that to match?

[Dino]

Thanks Bob!  Yeah the armrest is great!  Thanks again for hooking me up!

Since the interior will not remain green I'm going to leave the armrest as is.  If the interior becomes black then it'll match, if I go the saddle route then I'll dye it.

I also may end up making the armrest pad a bit thicker because right now it's a very nice height, but my seat foam is pretty much non existant so once I have new foam and seat covers, the armrest may be a bit too low.  I may end up matching the height a bit closer to that of the door rest so maybe add an inch with soft foam, I have tons of material at work I can use and even have black leather to recover if I wanted to.  But that can wait, the armrest looks fine as it sits.

Regardless it's the best mod so far, I love that armrest!