Does anyone have any good console repair/painting threads saved? *Saddle Pics*

[tylerk]

I searched but couldn't find one that was a step-by-step per say. I just got my Saddle paint from Herb's and was going to start working on the small crack on the upper back top plate sometime today.

[Dino]

There may be a thread or two on the subject but I can walk you through it if you want. 

Please post a few pics of the damage if you can.

Basically if it's a straight, clean crack you can use a good cyano glue or you can plastic weld if it's more severe.  The one hurdle for most people is maintaining or restoring the grain pattern.  If it's a clean break then a little bit of the superglue will make an almost invisible repair.  If the glue spills a bit onto the grain or if you can still see the old break then one option is to use a tiny amount of plastic filler (bondo is fine).  Simply put a few small dabs on the repaired crack and before it dries get a toothpick and criss cross the bondo over the crack, kinda following the grain pattern.  Don't go nuts here.  Once the bondo dries gently sand it and finish up the grain with a small blade or small screwdriver to etch the grain in the bondo.  A bit of primer will finish it.

You can also skip the bondo and put a dust coat or two of primer of the crack and see if it's enough to prep the surface.

[keenkeener]

I have had good luck using fiberglass against the backside of the console while clamping the piece so that the crack closes. It gives the piece more strength in that area too.

[tylerk]

Thank you so much for the info! My Dad has the camera at work so it will be later tonight before I can post pictures. It's a clean crack and doesn't appear to go all the way through to the backside so your suggestion will help greatly.

I went ahead out of boredom and sprayed the good portion with Herb's '69 Saddle, and just wanted to brag on this company. I've heard for years that if you could mix SEM's Camel and Saddle tan paints that it'd give you the perfect match, and that is exactly what Herb's offers. Exact match for a factory saddle console that I have a few broken pieces of. I have samples of Herb's Saddle vs. SEM's Camel and Saddle that I'll post along with pictures of the damage later tonight. Thanks so much again for your help.

[tylerk]

The pictures don't really do the colors justice, I'm gonna retake them outside tomorrow and see if they look any better. I sprayed over the crack with the tan so it'd show up better and it's a little worse than I was expecting, there are actually two, one running about halfway up the top piece and the other is on the other side of the hump. Gonna try working on it tomorrow.

On my chrome trim and chrome console lights - would it be easier to buy repops or to send these pieces out to be rechromed? And if sending them out is the better option, do you guys suggest anyone?

[Dino]

It's always a good idea to lightly spray the damaged area to get a better look at things.  I use cheap, easy clean off primer though.  I don't think you want to waste too much of the good stuff on it!

I have not used any repops for the console so hopefully someone else knows more about this.  In general I try to use as much of the original stuff as possible because most of the time the quality is much better than the repops, but it's not set in stone.  No clue on where to go for chrome though.

I look forward to seeing some of those pics, I still want to do my interior in saddle.

[440]

I'm in the same boat. Seems taking photos of saddle tan is harder then one would think. I've tried taking photos of my interior but no matter what the color just looks off in photos.... Because there is a slight shade variation (especially with flash) they go from looking a pinky color to brown. Once it's all together and installed it should look different.  

Looking forward to seeing tylerks photos

[tylerk]

Here are some comparison pictures, as best as I could get them inside anyhow. It's raining here today so the nice sunshiney pics will have to wait for tomorrow, maybe. The pictures just don't do the color difference justice, I took some showing Herb's color alongside the sample sheet I got from Legendary and in all lights it is dead on. This paint is good stuff, I'd suggest it to anyone.











The picture below, I tried showing the difference between SEM's Camel and Saddle. The picture just doesn't do it justice, it's actually what I'd consider to be a mixture of the two. Almost dead on to an original console I've seen.



The last pic isn't clear at all, but is of the bottom of the console box. The plastic is popped upward; I was planning on using a heat gun to push it back down like I did with the plastic I-piece on my grill center. We'll see how it goes...

[Dino]

That looks really great!  Got a link for Herb's?

Yep, gently heat up that part and push it back into place.  Make sure you have something underneath the cracks to keep it flat.  You don't have to clamp it down or anything, the plastic will stay in place when it cools down so if you have a compressor with an airgun or even a can of air it'll speed things up for you.  Once everything is back in place get the super glue and finish it off.

[tylerk]

Yes sir! www.herbsparts.com

Thank you for the information! I'm gonna tackle that hopefully in the next night or two. As you know one small project always has another waiting right afterwards, so I'm trying to play it safe because I know once I get the console fixed I'll be itching to get to work on the plates and shifter. Money, money, money. Boo.

It's been crappy outside the last few days, I'll try to shoot some better pictures and get them loaded.

[Dino]

Thanks for the link!   

So you used saddle #1194?  Did you use an adhesion promoter as well or will you be using one on door panels or other vinyl parts?

[tylerk]

Yes, it was 1194! That'd probably been some good info for you lol.
I didn't use an adhesion promotor, I never used it with SEM paints and
didn't on this piece either. I'm probably going to order a new dash pad and
door pads instead of painting the ones I have as my fronts are shot and
I've been told it'd be heck to match painted originals versus the new fronts
I'm looking at getting.

Are there any hard plastic parts I'm needing this medium color for???

[Dino]

Yeah it's tough to match colors, especially if you need to duplicate the marbling effect that saddle has.

I think you may want to do the headliner and window trim in that color as well but it depends on the shade of the headliner itself.  I'm not sure if it's like the console or if it's darker like the dash.