Matt O.

Guys, this may seem stupid, but hear me out...

You know how some people will pay a few hundred dollars for the "brushed aluminum" and "carbon fiber" dash kits? Well, I've seen them for 1200 for the new 911, brushed aluminum.

My idea: take out all those pieces and spray paint it with aluminum color. Sprayed on aluminum/chrome looks like brushed aluminum because it's not shiny. What do you guys think? Think it would look good? I may give it a shot. You could probably just pull out those pieces from the dash, then spray them, stick them back in...

Let me know. Stupid? Let the thread begin.

-Matt

Bob S. 1984 Silver

Matt:

No idea is really stupid until it has been proven not to work. Personally, I would try to get my hands on a test bezel for practice. If it works, then you can use the part you painted. If not, you don't have to go hunting for a replacement for the part that got screwed up. I would suggest a clear satin finish overspray of lacquer or urethane for durability.

BTW...I really dislike the brown/yellow dials in my '84. Of all the things I can do, there is one I have never mastered. How does one remove the needles from the speedo and tach? Everything should be so impervious to loosening!!!

Bob S. (rather have white on black..either way...)

Matt O.

Good idea. I'm going to go to the junkyard and pick up a few parts that I can use. Hold them up, see what they look like, etc.

Thanks!

-Matt

Cobbs

Yeah,
I think carbon fiber is a little played out by the rice boys anyway. I mean seriously. The reason behind having carbon fiber is to reduce the weight of your car. Who gives a sh*t if you save 4oz of weight on your dashboard by using it??? The funny thing is the multi hundred dollar carbon fiber interiors on the inside and the Original equiptment heavy steel hoods on the outside. Ok so it looks cool I guess...

Tabor

Some new Accura's come from the factory like this. Personally, I will leave mine stock.

jim968

I think some of the "rice" carbon fiber or carbon fiber "look" trim kits just stick on over the original parts.... now that's a _real_ weight savings!

Matt, to address your original qestion, I think a lot of "how will it look?" depends on the color of your dash above & below the trim strip. On black, it should look good. On my medium gray, it's not gonna look as good as the original black.

Jim, still debating a black dye job on the upper dash & door panels...

Mike 89 NA

JIm,

If you are going to dye your panels I suggest giving colorplus.com a try. I bought their Porsche black to dye my A pillars and headliner. My 89 came with a blue interior and I wanted to install the black interior I got from a 968. The stuff is amazing and works on vinyl or leather. Color match is perfect. I'm looking at dying the faded rear hatch carpet now. The 968 hatch carpet didn't fit! Too bad too since it is perfect!

Mike

Perry 951

I am going to do the brushed aluminum look, either a kit or myself. I have a thing for it. Just love the look.

I am not sure how the paint will work, but you could do it easy with some good paint, a thin wire brush, then a lot of urethane to give it a good thick gloss. I has thought about it, but think I will do the stick on version. This way, if I want to go back to black, I can peel it off, clean off the glue, and be nack in buisness.

Dave

I'm not too sure about the "brushed" part if done with paint, wouldn't it just be aluminum? For the paint part, a "cold galvinizing" spray might give the most aluminum-like appearance' OR there is adhesive backed aluminum (thick foil) to be found at some auto parts stores. I had some a few (10!) years ago to do some rudimentry rust repair on an old POS Suburban. Maybe if you can find some of this stuff, a little time with an exacto knife and a brass brush could yield decent results.

Dave

Oh yeah, Tabor, I think it's a factory option now for Porsche too!

Tabor

Dave, When I said "it" I meant painted plastic. I personally think it makes the interior look cheap. I would hold out for actual brushed aluminum.

PS- Subaru paints thier plastic silver as well.

daly944

I ordered tons of brushed aluminum pieces for my 1987 944na from www.prestigeparts.co.uk They should come in in about a week, and I'll post pics after I install. With shipping it all came to 650bucks, i got 2 day shipping. I'm also installing the blue lights in the dash.

Matt O.

DALY(!!)

Are those the kind you stick on with glue?

If so, I HIGHLY recommend you return them for a full refund ASAP.

If they are completely new panels, then maybe the extra cost is worth it ($650????)...

But if they are the sticky kind, those folks just ripped you off - BIG TIME.

You can get the complete brushed aluminum look, 10 pieces total, from companies such as http://www.wooddash.com for only about $145 or so. Ironically, the exact same set that Performance sells for $600+...

What else did you order that came out to $650???

At $650, you're a 5th of the way to a supercharge...food for thought.

Let us know. Someone else chime in here if you think I'm right. It's just that $650 sounds awfully expensive...

-Matt

Tabor

Maybe not when it comes with a new leather parking brake handle. Their stuff looks real good. Most of it is real SS/aluminum.

daly944

All of the pieces are the stock pieces gone through a silver anodizing process, which is they coat it with aluminum colored paint stuff that won't scratch off. I got the speaker grills, door lock pins, main dash strip, silver guages, pedals, electric window surround, door handle backplates and handles, 944 silver script door sills, area around shifter, and some other crap I can't remember. I have a momo aluminum combat shifter. I'll post pics. It should all look great with my aluminum cd player and shifter.