A bit of S12 dash painting (pics)

[cls12vg30]

Hey guys, I finally did a little painting of a couple interior pieces, it's taken awhile to get the paint and try to find days warm enough to paint. As you may know, I've gone with an orange-highlight them in my black interior, inspired by the orange guages. So of course the shifter knob is orange billet aluminum, the shifter boot and steering wheel cover are both black with orange stitching. I wanted to do some dash painting, but I didn't want regular orange. To get a metallic orange look, I used regular silver krylon, and then over that I used this:It's transparent orange paint meant for painting light bulbs.Here are the results so far, I apologize for the night-time shot:You can't really tell from the pic, but the pieces really have a metallic shimmer to them, I'm really pleased with the outcome. Here you can see the lighter, and also the illuminated orange fan-control toggle switch I put in and the foglight pull switch, which is original. You can also see my engine fan indicator light, the orange LED on the right edge of the clock trim panel. While the switch lights up whenever you turn it on, that LED is wired directly into the fan circuits, so it confirms that the fans are actually running, whether the switch is on or not. The clock doesn't light up because it's out of a MkI (84-86) 200SX and the wiring doesn't quite match up. My original dash clock quit, I'm working on getting a working MkII (87-88) dash clock.The switches are actually lit, in that last pic, but the flash dulls them a bit. Here's a shot with no flash of the switches:And another no-flash pic of the whole dash with everything turned on:That little green "19" on the right is the CB. I wish it had an orange readout, but oh well.People comment about all the stuff that is lit up on my dash at night. I tell them it's an '80s car so it has a lot of gadgets. None of those lights are extraneous either, they all actually do something. (slight nudge to neon-loving ricers)And yes I'm hoping for a better digicam for Christmas. So far I've only painted the clock trim and the shifter trim pieces and the lighter. I'll probably do a couple more, and the lighter needs to be redone, but at $30 for a rather small can this transparent orange paint needs to be conserved. I'm thinking of doing the trim panel around the stereo and also the front surfaces of the ashtray, and that will probably be it. I want it to be kind of subtle, after all.

[Altiman94]

I've never been a fan of painting interiors. For some reason I just like to leave mine the color it came.

[UncleBen]

yea man what made you decide the paint the interior on such an awesome classic?! I love that s12!!!!!!

[flyfishz]

thinking outside the box... ok to be different... looks like you did a good quality job

[Hellion240sx]

not bad, i want to do my interior blue with orange

[chmercer]

akk please dont

[ShadowKnight006]

I think it looks good, reminds me of my old 87 prelude's interior. I am going to make the interior of my 240 red and black schemed, once its running of course.

[Hellion240sx]

me chmercer??? like a dark blue with shmmm i dont know what orange yet. those are my favorite two colors. my car is going to be painted a sapphire blue with silver flakes in it. it will look blue in the day and black at night. paint from jag xk8 or xj8. its toite

[cls12vg30]

Those are my two favorite colors too Hellion. What made me decide to paint the interior? Well as I mentioned the gauges, dash markings, foglight switch, etc. were all orange originally. A couple summers ago I decided I wanted a new shifter knob, and went with orange on that to match rather than some other color. At the same time I got the shifter boot with the orange stitching. Later I found the steering wheel cover to match, and it continued on from there, adding little things like the black-and-orange air freshener on the dash, orange caribiner w/ compass hanging off the lighter, just to add some dash to the black interior, and I got to like the contrast of the orange on the black better and better. I discovered that while shifters, pedals, wheels, and all sorts of accessories in red, blue, and yellow, it was hard to find stuff in orange, and that challenge got me more interested.(I also heard a study where they asked people what their favorite color was, and orange came in last, so I liked it even more.)I also feel the S12 is a classic, and for that reason all the pieces that I've painted or will paint are pieces for which I have original replacements. The clock trim and shifter trim pieces that are in the pics are not the original ones, I got them off various junked S12's. The originals are in my house, unpainted, in case the paint didn't come out well or I didn't like it, or I someday want to change it back to the original look.

[Altiman94]

I like having my shifter stock and all the panels in my entire to also be the stock color. I feel like it came that way, so it should stay that way.

[Dattebayo]

Sounds like hellion described a blue and orange disco LOL.Hey put in a disco ball and put in orange shag carpet on the dashbaord too. that would be toite. HAHA:)

[Hellion240sx]

LOL disco ball. hmmm one on the rear view mirror and one of thosew motorized ones on top the napkin dipenser ( thats what i call the thing, i dont know the name of it, anyone know? like the elbow rest would be if it were higher?) i keep my napkins in there in case of a spill or something. and there out of view too.

[cls12vg30]

It's an '80s car, not a '70s car! If I wanted to go with the total period theme I would convert it to digital dash (available on earlier S12's), install a voice module (ditto), start painting in neon green, and blast Duran Duran everywhere I went. Oh and a Reagan for President bumper sticker.

[Mr1der]

It's an '80s car, not a '70s car! If I wanted to go with the total period theme I would convert it to digital dash (available on earlier S12's), install a voice module (ditto), start painting in neon green, and blast Duran Duran everywhere I went. Oh and a Reagan for President bumper sticker.

and why haven't you done this?!:D

[cls12vg30]

Actually, there's been quite a bit of discussion on Club S12 about converting analog gauged cars to digital and vice versa. It's a very complex and difficult task, no one has successfully done it yet. Some guys are still working on it, but I like my gauges as they are. I've driven an S12 with the digital dash, it's pretty trick (the tach is a row of LED's along the bottom, green in the normal range then yellow then red at the redline), but I don't have that much interest in putting one in my car. The S12 digi-dashes have green displays, and that would totally ruin my orange thing!As for the voice module, that's also difficult to install in a car that didn't come with it. I'm not real interested in it, it's a cool conversation piece but not worth all that it would take.Neon green........no comment.Duran Duran....actually I do occasionally do that part. I have a whole mp3 CD chock full of '80s music, I throw that in once in awhile.

[Dattebayo]

The reagan sticker is too far though, you lost my support on that one. Hey and what do you mean about 70's anyway? Disco's were still popular around the early 80's. If you dont believe me take a look at "ET". Sweet funky lord.

[Hellion240sx]

when i hear music...look out weekends cuz hear i come....cybertron clearaaand egyptian lover adidas run dmceric b rakim dont sweat the techniqueand more just cant remem

[lookatme!]

I think that looks awesome! So different than matte paint. May I ask where you came across the orange? I want the same effect, just *not* in orange.

[flipittothewall]

To each his own personal tastes. Some like it, some don't, but it's what pleases the owner that matters. I personally prefer an almost entirely black interior, no bells whistles or flashing lights.

[cls12vg30]

The transparent orange paint came from http://www.xtremewhite.com. Beware, it's pricey. That's part of the reason I'm only doing small pieces, the stuff is just too expensive to do too much.And do NOT get me started on a political discussion, 2BN. (Yes, I consider Ronald Reagan to be a great man, and G.W. Bush to be the greatest President since Reagan. So that tells you exactly where I stand.)

[Dattebayo]

you r SaaaaaaaaaaaadLY MISTAKEN. only the greatest debt starter since my MOM with her last credit card...

[Hellion240sx]

yeah i think imma fiberglass then paint. just the hard part is F***** with fiberglass. im thinking how many lbs. does the 92 dashboard weight???

[cls12vg30]

If you wanna talk about debt go talk to the Democrats about their precious money-bleeding un-Constitutional social programs. National defense is one of the few things the federal government SHOULD and is technically ALLOWED to spend money on. It's all the other crap they (the federal government) has gotten their filthy claws into over the past 50 years that they have no business doing that is the problem. And that includes this heinous Medicare bill that G.W. just signed. I'm totally against it. I'm not a blind Bush-follower. I'm not even truly a Republican, it's the Libertarian Party that comes closest to my political ideals. And in another time in history I might not call G.W. a great President. But in this time, the right man is in that office. Times like this call for a stiff backbone and decisive action, which is what we've gotten, and which we would not have gotten from Gore. Well maybe the stiff part......

[lookatme!]

Holy CRAP... when you said pricey, I was figuring on...hmmm... maybe $15-20. My eyeballs almost popped out whn I saw the actual price! hmmm... think I'll start saving, and by the time I have a job, I might be able to afford it

[cls12vg30]

well $29.95 isn't THAT far off $15-20....but that is for a SMALL can. I was kind of pissed at how small it was. yeah, I don't recommend this type of paint for someone painting large areas, unless you've got deep pockets.