Re: Interior swap, last question I promise!

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: Jeff, : T.L. is right. I would be easier to paint the dash you have, because you won't be able to reinstall your glovebox (and related panels) on the older one. I did it, and was successful, but it took a lot of work and patience. Below are a couple of posts that I wrote for similar situations that other users here have wanted info for in the past. Maybe you can get something out of it... You're already ahead of the game though, because you have the interior from the donor car. : There are several things you can do to change the color of your interior, and it depends on how much you want to spend (time AND money), and how fancy you want to get. The easiest way would be to find a car that has an interior the color you like (or at least can live with) and swap it piece by piece into your car. This is straightforward but would take some time. Seats and trim would be easy, but you'd have to remove the dash and headliner (no small task) and you also have to change the doors since they're painted to match. Now the probability of finding a perfect interior in the color you like is slim. The other thing you could do is to paint the one you have. Again, you'd have to essentially gut the entire interior. The doors would have to be removed and masked, and you'd also have to mask around the windshield pillars and the piece behind the rear package tray next to the back window. Proper surface preparation before painting is essential to insure good adhesion of the paint to the plastic and metal parts. You'd have to have a new headliner installed, and the seats reupholstered to match. The carpet is easy - Auto Custom Carpets has whatever flavor you want for about a hundred bucks. The steering wheel would have to be replaced. If your seatbelts were also color-keyed, they have to go too. Your best bet is to look in a bone yard for them. Many cars came with plain black ones, and they should be easy enough to find in decent condition. Gee, puke green doesn't seem all that bad now, does it! : Chaning the dash… : I recently did the same thing to my 72 Maverick. It was one of the hardest, most time consuming projects that I can think of, but it can be done. I used a small block of wood shaped like a wedge to hold the windshield gasket out of the way and I used a very thin wrench to remove the screws. I think there are 6 total, but I got lucky - the factory only installed 4 on my car... It's also helpful to have a buddy hold a light for you. As far as re-installing the new dash, I used slightly larger sheet metal screws and installed them up from underneath the dash, as I thought putting them back in from the top would be next to impossible. I know it isn't really the right thing to do, but it worked and no one will ever see it. : Just some thoughts... Good luck! : : : Sorry, but I got another one. : : my car has this sickly green interior and I would like : : to swap out a black one. The question is the donor car : : is an early model (see the picture of the black dash in : : the interiors sections), while mine is a '75. Is this : : trade doable??? i.e. will the two dashes mount the : : same???

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