Ok, step 1 of the trim painting is complete. I had a very basic black interior with just a few arctic silver accents (gear lever, brake, door handles). so i got the paint from paintscratch.com and took some bits off. i like the way it turned out and it was easy, but time consuming.

so far i painted the horseshoe, the AC and stereo trim, the storage bins, batwing, hazard & ignition surround, and then I added in some painted gauge rings. makes the car look so much better. combined with the leather restoration i just did this is making it look better than new!

i now have the center console out & sanded and am doing that (the thing around the gearstick and the e-brake).

now i am making the list of other bits to take out (some i know how to remove, some i need help)

• side airvents - know how to get these out
• trim around seat adjustment ***** - do the ***** just pull off?
• trim and lever for seat tilt to access rear seats - do these just pull off?
• trim piece where front seat belts leave the car - looks like i need to undo bottom of belts to remove these - any clever trick?
• front door speaker trim - do i need to remove the door panel?
• rear speaker trim - i know how to remove these
• front dash speaker trim - not sure if i'll do these or not
• dash trim strip - would love to do it and know how but i am too lazy!

cheers, alan

 

Almost everything pops put on tabs , Toyota helped design the interior so when in doubt ... Check for a screw lol

 

I like it. Very tasteful. Why not stop there, live with it for a time and then decide if it's enough or not.

 

I like it. Good job!

 

I managed to get most of the other pieces off - most just popped off like Omar said. the side air vents are going to be tricky though - i got them off, but it doesn't look like you can get the fins and internals separated very easily and taping that cleanly will be a real PITA. I'll see if I can separate without breaking it but I may skip that. Also decided to skip the front door & dash speaker grills for now and see how I like it once it's all back together (am doing rears though, just to see how the grills come out)

cheers, alan

 

The little Fins all come out in one peice they weren't done in this pic , but I do remember I was about to tape them them saw the release for it and they slid out

 

ok - i'll take a look. i got it for the center vents, so was surprised that these were different but mine look like they were clipped together and then heat fused or something to lock them.

also looks like the fins are inserted into the piece i want to paint, so they'll need to come out 1 by 1.

may be a job for the dremel.......

 

Fletch:

Did you take off the horseshoe or paint it on the dash?

 

I took it off. mine's a MkI so the horshoe is in three parts and the top part is a pain to get out as it's part of the frame that holds the radio etc. i believe it may be a little easier on the MkIIs.

But it still comes out reasonably easily and all the switches, vents etc pop out. The power outlet is the hardest thing I had to do but if you look at it closely you can work it out.

I popped off the side horseshoe pieces first, then disconnected the switches from those. Pulled the radio, unscrewed the climate control and then the rest of the horseshoe unscrews. Once it is out you can unclip the blower pieces so you don't have tape all that.

in general, if you can't see a screw it just pops out - i don't recall any hidden screws or really tricky clips, but go easy as there are lots of plastic tabs/clips that can break off easily.

Once out you can sand it properly, and do a good job on the paint. I think it would be practically impossible to do it in the dash and get a good result.

I think it probably took me about an hour to get it out, and about the same to get it back in again. The actual painting took a lot longer as it's a multi-stage process:
- remove the soft touch finish (goof off and power sander attachment on the drill)
- sand smooth with 400 grit
- degrease/dewax
- spray with adhesion promotor
- primer (4 coats) then leave overnight
- wet sand 1000 grit
- base coat (5 coats) then leave overnight
- clear coat (4 coats) then leave 3 days
- cut/polish (to be honest, this didn't make that much difference)
- clean

In the attached photo you can see the horsehoe at the bottom - the main part of the horseshoe is the big bit on the right - there are strips above and below the vent and also at the bottom that i painted silver.

cheers, alan

 

Thanks!

 

Phase 2.....

doing the center console, the seat levers & surrounds, covers where the front seat belts come out, and the clips where the wind guard attaches.

so far i have cleaned/sanded, applied adhesion promoter and primed (x4).
base coat and clear coat should be done by friday, back in the car mon/tuesday.

then i'll see how it looks and decide how far to go in phase 3 (eventually i will have a totally arctic silver car)

cheers, alan

 

OK - phase 2 is now installed. this was doing
- center console
- front seat tip levers and surrounds
- front seat belt surrounds
- wind deflector clip surrounds
obviously the center console is the big one here. completely changes the look of the car inside.

phase 3 is out and i'm starting to prep tomorrow
- side air vents (finally got it all separated with the aid of the dremel)
- rear seat levers and surrounds
- rear seat belt trim
- rear speaker covers
- front seat side trim pieces
- and i'm going to do a silver only hood crest to see how it looks as i have a spare crest

- also finished all the leather/vinyl, dyed the carpet areas that were faded and got all the black trim like new.

still need to respray the rear spoiler, touch up a few scratches on the rear fender and then clean/protect the roof and it's done.

- cheers, alan

 

great work done by you i was aware that you ar4e such a good painter also i would say that you must stick with this combination for quite a while

 

Interior is inished! Just counted up and I painted 49 pieces silver. Along with the leather, vinyl and carpet this looks like new on the inside. Only thing I broke was the adjuster for the passenger seat, so I need to get a new switch.

Now I'm just finishing up the outside; I have repainted the spoiler, touched up the scratches and cleaned/protected the roof. All I have left to do is something with the lights and maybe put a stripe on it.

It's looking pretty good for a neglected 2000 that's been out in the California sunshine most of its life.

 

This looks great! What brand of clear did you use?