Removed my sticky parts and dash today and found some suprises.

If you are very careful, the switches can be done intact as long as you mask off the labels and contacts when stripping and painting.

 

How about the vents, do you guys have any tips on painting inside the slats of the vents and around the ridges of the dials?

I was going to use plastidip type spray paint, is there anything else that can be recommended? I'm not looking for perfection but want to get them to a ~9/10 if possible?

 

Some people clean the vents and are happy to leave them raw plastic. You can paint them the same as the other parts on the hvac area. The switches are not easy. They are easy to take apart and hard to put back together. If you decide to take the switches apart, do it in a small pail or box and as you pry them on each side, keep them parallel to the ground or one of the end springs will fly away and you will need a forensics team to find them. When putting them back together use a utility knife blade on one side while the other is already part way in. The good thing about pulling the switches apart is that they clean up easy as the label can be popped out from the inside. Do only one switch at a time as there are small differences in the casings of some of the switches and if you get them mixed up, they wont work properly. Also if you force the little springs too much with re-installing them, they can break. (wish I knew where to buy those little springs). After reading this you will probably be afraid to take them apart and you are right. They can be done while together using a Q-tip and taking your time.
Do not use plasti dip. Us Krylon for plastic(satin black) and if you find it too shiny(each batch seems to be a little different than the last one) give it a quick shot over just once with Tremclad flat black . And remember to use greased lightning to strip the parts. Soak each part for 5 to 10 minutes and then rub them clean with a cloth. You will have to repeat until done. The hvac pieces, door switch holders and your steering column upper and lower pieces all have small weak areas or tabs that can break very easily. DO NOT put any pressure on those areas when rubbing them clean. The ash-tray is the easiest because its metal. Remove and don't lose the little nuts that hold the flags. Then use paint stripper. The paint will bubble and almost fall off in 1 minute. Clean it well with mineral spirits and paint. You should primer or use the black Tremclad which has primer in it and then finish it with the Krylon satin black. If you want to match the hvac sticker from Recambi perfectly then again you may need to over spray the krylon with just one shot or 2 of the tremco flat. Some will even give it a quick shot first with Tremclad textured paint(but very slightly inbetween the 2 other paints to get it to look and feel like the hvac panel. Sounds anal but while your at it, why not get it to look perfect? Get yourself a piece of scrap plastic and practice and you will get it as close to perfect as anyone can.
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If you do use Plasti-Dip, you should get some Plasti-Dip primer. If you don't, the Pasti-Dip will be much more likely to peel off.

You can pull the central vents apart a little. Shown here. Be careful not to lose the little top-hat shaped bushings at the pivot points. I recommend not taking this part vents out until they are on a clean work bench. (that way you won't lose the bushings).
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I have to do the center vent. For whatever reason the po did the sides but not the center

I have pulled on it a bit but can't seem to see how it comes out. I see you took the vents out and left the frame in. Did you take the frame out? If so how? Is this the preferred way to do it, vents furst then frame?

Thank you

 

Fantastic info here! I'm in the middle of refurbishing all these parts now and it is great to see how others have done it. This, along with the other threads, make it fun knowing how good it is going to look.

Rick

 

Bob, Taking the vents out requires releasing the tabs. I was lucky in the sense that most of mine were (and are still not) snapped into the tabs and I can just pull them out. To release the tabs, you need to slip a thin blade in between the vent and the dash which is tricky without hurting the dash leather. It helps to look at some photos like this one to at least know where the tabs are. If you can pull the center out first, it should make getting the frame out much easier.

 

Also, I found that if you get off this thread and back to the main 355 forum do a "search this forum" and type treedee. He has some great step by step stuff for this...

 

ok folks. It can be done by a novice... I spent a few hours with a razor blade, easy off oven cleaner, towels, fingernails, beer,(3 or more) music. So, onto the next phase. Painting...
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No need to take switches or vents apart to refinish them properly.

 

Do you have any suggestions and tips on how to paint the plastic with the vent pieces in place? I'd think you want the paint to go everywhere which would imply you need to reposition the vent slats in all possible combinations.

Otherwise how do you make sure it all looks even when having them back on the car and in sunlight, etc. (i.e. looking *into* the vents).

 

I am in the process of finding out. That's my other concern. I'm not a great painter. But, I know it can be done...there's some help with this on here. I will keep you posted. I just don't have 45 dollars a switch to throw at the car. :>)

 

$45 a switch, where did you find that deal? ...actually it's funny, I'm looking for a right side window switch for the door and they seem to be in high demand as the only ones I can find are north of $100...

 

dAMN, THAT gauge pod is scuffed. I think it can be brought back to life though. Throw some easy off on it and see how badly the plastic is damaged...

 

lol

 

One thing to remember is if you use Easy off. You had better get all the parts completely clean or the paint may wrinkle when you spray it. I can see that your parts Steve are not completely clean(that's if you are going to paint those switch bezels). Ive used easy off and it makes for a much harder job than using Greased lightning. Also using any type of blade on the flat or rounded areas are going to leave some sort of scratch that cant be hidden by the paint. The only place to use a blade or knife is in the corners or squared edges. A tooth brush works right if done at the right time after soaking for 5 minutes.

 

Indeed you have to be very careful with the exacto knife....it's tempting to use in the stubborn areas because your patience wears out cause the stuff just DOESN'T WANNA COME OFF!!!

If you go at it slowly, you can use it. I was putting easy-off with q-tip, cleaning it off with another qtip with brake fluid, then using fine steel wool, exacto and then back again.

It was a nightmare for the switched because I kept using another qtip on the "marking" with alcolhol to make sure no easy off got in there during the process because I feared damaging the marking.

Working the switched without dissasembling is long and tedious but it can be done (I was too scared too take them apart)

Once I got everything off, they looked good but a little dull so I used krylon clear coat to give them a refreshed look and a shine (they came out looking new and 2 years later they're holding up well)

Did you try the clear coat yet Steve?

 

Yuuuup, not easy at all. I did make a tool that made it a snap

www.ferrarichat.com/forum/141812848-post14.html

 

Yeah I remember seeing that but only after I was finished....nice ingenuity!!!

 

Thank you for the picture of the tool. I'm at the stage of cleaning my parts and I'm going to take the switches apart to make cleaning and refinishing easier. Now I know how to put them back together!

Rick

 

So, what caused this? Even though I had a smooth plastic surface. This cratered while most of the rest didn't. Explanation? Thanks...
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That's very strange...I guess your best bet is to sand it down then use a highly texturized flat paint to blend it in so it doesn't show

 

WAY to thick when you sprayed