Tony

I always hated that "UNLEADED FUEL ONLY" sticker!!!


I had the pod..cluster etc all out fixing numerous gremlins and decided to tackle the clear finish today.
Like many, mine had a lot of fine scratches in it but also had a couple of prominent spots...not sure what caused them but they are gone now as is the sticker.


pictures do not do the finish justice compared to what it used to look like.Very pleased!


I used the stuff below and a dremel with a buffer wheel initially. Let the wheel and the compound do the job as you make circular motions. I then followed up with a very soft rag with plenty of the compound on it. Again, rubbing in circular motions. Finished up basically hand buffing it.

Question i have now is...how hard is it to separate the clear face from the "black" instrument cluster?

I ask as i would like to respray the black paint on the cluster itself. Mine has turned almost a brown/grey color when viewed in bright light and you can see numerous faint white spots on it. I can live with it as you really have to be in the right light, but since im this far.....

If you ever have the pod out, i would highly recommend trying it.

BigAl1

I did this on mine with the clear lens off the housing - it is glued around the perimeter with something like silicone. I used a razor blade to cut through the glue all around, then pry off very carefully with a wide, thin blade. I then found the "black" surround between gauges is sort of a sticky surface that can be easily marked with fingers! I didn't find an easy way to refinish this, so left it as is. The lens I just glued back on with a small bead of urethane adhesive.

Tony

Thanks.
I have a spare cluster to practice on so i will probably go ahead and try to get it apart. To come this far and do what i have done and then leave the black finish the way it is would bug me.

NoVector

FWIW, while you're in there, I'd inspect the odometer gear and replace it if needed.

The clear plastic cover does seperate easy - I was going through the CF phase of my life ~10 years ago and did this...

Dean_Fuller

Wow...that all can out looking great! Well done.

RKD in OKC

I've used this stuff with great results on clear plastic, plastic, and metals...
Got some from a local detailer to clean my Club Sport Wheels after the car wash killied the anodized finish.

Sea Power Metal Polish

Tony

got the clear plastic off. Just took my time, but pretty easy. Ive secured it back on with some clear "liquid nails" from Loctite of all things!

I resprayed the black and it looks 1000 times better! Rustoleum flat black for use on plastic. The ! ,turn signal and highbeam icons came out easily and were just as easily reattached with some Zap along the edge. In hind sight you can actually cut small pieces of paper and slide it between the black display and the icon keeping it from being sprayed.

the second picture is the before shot and you can see what appear to be white spots or something all over the black background...

911 Crazy

Looks brand new!

Mrmerlin

Tony that looks great, The paint was a great idea.
if you wanna finish it off mix up some florescent orange and red paint and lightly touch up the the pointers/needles and the warning areas on the gauges and the tach

928 at last

Tony,
Just a thought, but I'd put a couple of coats of good wax on the clear just for extra protection from here on in.....
Where you live, a UV block product might be a good idea to preserve the efforts...

RKD in OKC

Be careful just about anything you put on the clear plastic as a "protective" coating will be more likely to attract more dust and eventually fog the plastic.

Tony

I had thought about that but i know myself.
Ive spent many years building plastic models and i can still F them up by trying to add something that i probably don't need to....i felt that this was the case here as well. I left well enough alone. The needles, warning areas all match. they are faded,but they match and importantly they are all balanced, calibrated and work.


I tell ya what when i get this all back together and it works with the LEDs it will be short of a miracle. Every time i touch this "cluster" i feel like i'm trying to disarm a bomb or something. Its that delicate, that old and that important!

Learning a he!! of a lot though and the visual impact should be well worth it!

underdog928

Tony, well done. The pod looks great! If I ever take mine out again, this is definitely something to do.

Question for you: Did you do anything to the light channels (or whatever they are called) that light the front of the cluster from the three lights from behind? I replaced the lights with LEDs thinking that would brighten up the cluster, but it's still really dim. I did bypass the dimmer control.

This is something I recommend you verify before putting it all back together.

Mike Frye

Very nice. A great idea. I think I'm due to dive back in again to clean up connections so I'll definitely give this a shot.

Mrmerlin

I have done two sets of the needles and warning spot touchups,
if the paint is thinned then it goes on smooth and one stroke is enough to recoat the needles .
The hardest part was mixing the red with the orange to get the right color mix,
I did more than a few test parts till I was happy.
Really though most wouldnt notice the fresh color as the rest of the parts look great.