I was so interested i decided to just print it all off :-) Thanks this should help a great deal in my efforts to redo my interior. If anyone knows how to work with fiberglass please feel free to post easy steps to experiment with so i can work on that for my car it would be appreciated.
<br>

"Nobody can catch a cavalier, they pass it before the race begins."

hey, Im reading JBO and notice alot of these FAQs. I agree with the post two back that this should be a webpage nicely organized with clickable links. But then I was thinking why only have this FAQ on a page. I want to create a whole website full of these useful FAQs. I would like your permission to copy your FAQ onto this website(its not created yet). You will get credit and I will send you a copy before it goes live so you can make sure you like the layout and the infomation and all. If you would agree to this I would be very thankful as Im sure the j-body community would too.

For the record, Dave & co. are already working on something similar... I don't know any of the details about it though so you're better off talking to him.


- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

Cadenhead: My grandpa has a hookup on fiberglass and carbon fiber (basically I get to use the stuff for free). I'll have a good writeup on it by the end of the year.

(fixing sticky again) <br>


- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

Looking for a power lead for lighting in your door panels? Look no further...

Steve wrote:

Hey guys,

I was playing around inside my doors and have some new info for you.

On the 03-04 Cavs, you can wire LEDs using the leads in your power door locks.

Wire your Ground to the White Door Lock Wire

Wire your hot to your Orange Door Lock Wire

Not only does this light the LED, but they blink when you lock and unlock the doors! Adding an optional switch should be no prob.

I had asked Raptor about this recently but just now got down to posting which wires to use for which. Hope this helps somebody out there!

-Steve

<br>


- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

Quote:

How do we take care of the damn squeaking that we ALL get between the front dash panel and the windshield?

Raptor (or anyone...).... Any news on how to fix this yet? Thanks!

Raptor wrote:

just fixing this.

Scott: fiberglass is about the only thing you can do to your dash to make it nice and smooth here... It's vinyl so you can't sand it like other stuff.

Let me help you out on this topic.

As you might know Jermain, I have tried spray paint (cheap wal mart stuff) Krylic Fusion (supposedly an interior paint) and as well as full Auto Body paint. (same tuff you use on the doors/roof/hood/etc parts of your car)

All of these methods were tried on un-sanded vinyl dashes for the reason when priming and sanding the vinyl would just bunch up and ruin the whole project.

Now when using cheap spray paint I should of known what was going to happen. It’s cheap, nothing cheap for paint id going to work.

For the Krylic Fusion, held good and looked okay but nothing special, and yes there was texture. I hated it and it looked offal.

Now for auto paint, good auto paint. This is the stuff when you go get your actual exterior of your car painted they use. Exactly the same. If anyone wants the exact products there were: PPGs k-38 primmer with PPGs 201 catalyst and PPGs 885 reducer. DPLF90 sealer. DBC Black base with 885 reducer. And PPGs 2042 clear with PPGs DX61 catalyst. So with the texture there it looked like crap. A lot of orange peel and just the fact that the texture was there killed it all.

At this point I gave up. For a while at least.

About a month I was painting an ABS plastic front fascia and we used PPGs k-38 high fill primer like always but we added a flex agent. I had never used this before and wanted to see how it would help if we flexed the plastic later. So everything worked out great. We could bend it, flex it, anything. Nothing happened to the paint. Now a couple days ago we were taking it off the car and the first time we bent it crack crack crack. The whole paint job practically fell off. We were all thinking what the heck. We talked with PPG and they informed us that it only lasts one week. Just for assembly. So we did not know this.

Even though that didn’t work out I found out something that would help me with my vinyl dash.

Ever seen this stuff???



We were talking with the guys from PPG and they told us about their newest product called SX1057 2k flexible sealer primer.

We sprayed it on a 8x11 piece of printer paper. Let it dry for 1 week. We then folded the paper in half, and put a crease into the paper. We opened it up and NOTHING. no cracks or anything. We then tried to rip the paper, and that’s what happened, the paper ripped but the primer did nothing. WOW right.

So I thought why can’t we do this with our vinyl dashes???

I did it.

Because this is a high fill primer you have the capability to spray several coats on the dash and then sand it all down so you get the FULL smooth and glass look.\

After that I had to test it out so my friend and I both grabbed an end and started to twist, and whoa I wasn’t thinking about that. We cracked the dash, but the primer was still holding it together.

So I now know this stuff is for real.

We did it again and this time we didn’t test it out, we knew it was for real.

After that we sprayed out DBC base, which was a special mix with black base with red pearl. We then clear coated it with PPGs glamour shine 2055 clear coat. 3 coats.

WOW. I could not believe it.

Jermain, I know you were at the BBQ but I did not have the dash there. I will be doing another one this week or next and I will have pictures for everyone.

Hope this gave some more insight on the whole Interior painting topic.

<br>



My Cardomain Site

And just to add for anyone who is just going to skip this and fiberglass...

I think you saw my fiberglass dash at the BBQ Jermain. It’s a real pain, if your good with fiberglass go for it. I know that I have been using fiberglass for about a year or so and I gave up on it. I sold it for 10 bucks to Rob from J-BOM. Its not worth all the work and hassle and time.

If you look at one compared to the other, you may have to pay some money for the painting but it will look better, you will be able to take it out, and put back in whenever you want with ease of knowing it will not crack of brake.

Not to mention that once you fiberglass your dash with probable 30-50 bucks in it, you then need to buy paint.

With the primer you save HOURS of work and spend about 10 bucks more for the paint.





Now one down side if your the kid in high school or someone who doesn’t have that much money to do all this at one time.

I have already talked about how much this was going to cost but I did not talk at all about what you need beyond paint.

1-air compressor
2-paint booth
3-spray gun

Now this may not be a long list but air compressor $400-2400. Paint booth $10,000-100,000. Now this is something that you can rent for like 30 bucks and have access to a compressor as well, or you can make your own with plastic wrap and such for about 50 bucks.

Spray gun, you have hundreds of guns to choose from. Divilbiss, Sata, Sharp, etc. Now these are all high end guns that easily go over 600 dollars. I myself like to paint and know I will use my Sata Jet HVPL for as long as I live. It’s a investment to me. Now I know not that many people are going to be doing this for a living so my suggestion is rent a gun, or find someone with a good one, or have someone else spray it.

Think about it and decide if its something you want to do and want to sprnd both your time and money on.
<br>



My Cardomain Site

^EXCELLENT info. Thanks Josh!

I'll look into that primer. That's very intriguing considering the fact that I don't have all the time in the world to fiberglass, sand, paint, etc my dash. <br>


- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

I was Reading The Faq's About Removing The Rear Deck In Order For Me To Install New Infinities Kappa 6x9. But Im Wondering If Someone Could Post Some Pics To Get A Better Understanding. Ive Done A Web Search And The Only Thing I Found Was To Remove Front Dash To Install The CD Deck, And Front Door Speakers. Also Read Team Forward How To, But I Wish There Was A Visual.


Thanks,
Tadek

i have a 99 sunfire... how do i get the piece of the dash under the steering wheel out... its about the same size as the glove box 'door'.... thanks!! <br>

I believe that that's the dash shell. You'll have to remove the steering wheel and whatnot to remove it. <br>


- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

raptor and silver stallion you guys are the @!#$! i am doing a friends doors right now and i got the answer i needed in olny a couple of mins of reading. THANKS!!!!!!!!

<br>

NAcav1604 wrote:

Raptor wrote:

just fixing this.

Scott: fiberglass is about the only thing you can do to your dash to make it nice and smooth here... It's vinyl so you can't sand it like other stuff.

Let me help you out on this topic.

As you might know Jermain, I have tried spray paint (cheap wal mart stuff) Krylic Fusion (supposedly an interior paint) and as well as full Auto Body paint. (same tuff you use on the doors/roof/hood/etc parts of your car)

All of these methods were tried on un-sanded vinyl dashes for the reason when priming and sanding the vinyl would just bunch up and ruin the whole project.

Now when using cheap spray paint I should of known what was going to happen. It’s cheap, nothing cheap for paint id going to work.

For the Krylic Fusion, held good and looked okay but nothing special, and yes there was texture. I hated it and it looked offal.

Now for auto paint, good auto paint. This is the stuff when you go get your actual exterior of your car painted they use. Exactly the same. If anyone wants the exact products there were: PPGs k-38 primmer with PPGs 201 catalyst and PPGs 885 reducer. DPLF90 sealer. DBC Black base with 885 reducer. And PPGs 2042 clear with PPGs DX61 catalyst. So with the texture there it looked like crap. A lot of orange peel and just the fact that the texture was there killed it all.

At this point I gave up. For a while at least.

About a month I was painting an ABS plastic front fascia and we used PPGs k-38 high fill primer like always but we added a flex agent. I had never used this before and wanted to see how it would help if we flexed the plastic later. So everything worked out great. We could bend it, flex it, anything. Nothing happened to the paint. Now a couple days ago we were taking it off the car and the first time we bent it crack crack crack. The whole paint job practically fell off. We were all thinking what the heck. We talked with PPG and they informed us that it only lasts one week. Just for assembly. So we did not know this.

Even though that didn’t work out I found out something that would help me with my vinyl dash.

Ever seen this stuff???



We were talking with the guys from PPG and they told us about their newest product called SX1057 2k flexible sealer primer.

We sprayed it on a 8x11 piece of printer paper. Let it dry for 1 week. We then folded the paper in half, and put a crease into the paper. We opened it up and NOTHING. no cracks or anything. We then tried to rip the paper, and that’s what happened, the paper ripped but the primer did nothing. WOW right.

So I thought why can’t we do this with our vinyl dashes???

I did it.

Because this is a high fill primer you have the capability to spray several coats on the dash and then sand it all down so you get the FULL smooth and glass look.\

After that I had to test it out so my friend and I both grabbed an end and started to twist, and whoa I wasn’t thinking about that. We cracked the dash, but the primer was still holding it together.

So I now know this stuff is for real.

We did it again and this time we didn’t test it out, we knew it was for real.

After that we sprayed out DBC base, which was a special mix with black base with red pearl. We then clear coated it with PPGs glamour shine 2055 clear coat. 3 coats.

WOW. I could not believe it.

Jermain, I know you were at the BBQ but I did not have the dash there. I will be doing another one this week or next and I will have pictures for everyone.

Hope this gave some more insight on the whole Interior painting topic.

How much does this stuff cost? and did I understand this right spray it on alow it to dry and sand to a smooth finish then paint ? <br>

Yes it is a cavalier deal with it

Diamond Plate interior part's @ www.winksonline.com
<br>

How to Fiberglass and work with carbon fiber forum:

http://www.icancomposites.com/forum/

<br>

Hey, I've been reading this board for slightly over a year now, without posting anything. I've gathered a wealth of information thanks the the great amount of knowledge shared on this site. I've read this FAQ, and I'm about to start painting the interior of my sliver 2000 Sf GT (going with a black/medium grey color scheme if anyone's interested) and there are 2 questions that remain:

1) How do i disconnect the wires that lead to my power locks and my (stock) speakers in the door so that i can completely remove the door pannel (BTW, i've read the write ups at TFM)?

2) I know to use the vinyl dye on the vinyal piece, but is it necessary to sand the plastic pieces? I want to maintain the stock textures. What I'm askin is if it is possible to simply clean and paint the plastic pieces with krylon fusion.

Any help would be greatly appriciated.

If you don't want to sand the plastic, you don't have too. Cleaning it will suffice to save the texture.

As for the wires, you don't have to worry about the speakers. Those are in the door itself, not the door panel. The power lock is a little trickier. You have to remove the door panel, then kind of balance the panel with something while you use both hands to remove the wire harness from the power lock switch itself. It's a simple matter of pulling back the clip and removing the harness. Good luck! <br>


- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

so let me just check this......i want to remove the giant piece of plastic that goes along the whole bottom of the dash, in my cars case it is tan. I must remove the dash pad, stereo surround, glove box, and the stering wheel in order to achive this???

And the airbags, the vent ducts, the HVAC, the stereo itself, the gauge cluster, and any other random items I'm forgetting. <br>


- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

Hey everyone,

I'd like to mention that "just yanking and pulling" will NOT work on 03-03 Cavy's as they have that stupid 'safety' on them (where you have to pull up to put it in reverse). I tried and tried and tried and all I succeeded in doing was tearing the rubber shift knob into three pieces and then having to superglue it back together. While apart though, I noticed a blue coloured cap with a thin piece that the knob seemed moulded to.

Honnestly, if anyone with this type shifter has replaced their shift knob I'd love to know how.. even if it's with another stock one.. I really hate feeling the seams where it got ripped while I drive =(

TIA

anybody knows where to get that flexible primer and how much does it cost?
thanx

<br>

anybody knows where to get that flexible primer and how much does it cost?
thanx <br>

Just wanted to say thanks for this amazing write up. It wasnt until i read this sticky that i realized how easy all of these mods are. I recently finished painting a lot of parts in my car and they have that smooth fiberglass look that i wanted. Thanks again.

I just ripped out the top part of my dash and the face plate. i just realized how much it is gonna suck to tear the rest of the dash off. Is there a way to paint the lower half of the dash without tearing it out?