I just refinished the dash/center console/door handle surrounds on my 95 RT10. It was a relatively simple job, requiring lots of patience. I kept the original medium quartz / satin black color scheme and added a full set of chrome guage bezel rings. Best point of contact for technical guidance and the correct factory urethane paint is Jon B. at PartsRack.
Carefully remove the center console / dash and door handle surrounds in this order. All are held on with phillips head screws, velcro and metal force fit clips. Remove the headlight control stalk by reaching up under the dash and depressing the metal button/detent on top of the rheostat controller that the stalk goes into and gently pulling the stalk out of the rheostat. Be patient - the stalk will come out = not easy to pul out - but it will detach.
EZ Off foamy oven cleaner did a great job dissolving the old paint and primer off the plastic. Carefully mask off the black painted areas around each bezel and center console radio/climate control areas (this is the tedious part - but worth it as I did not have to repaint the black areas). I used common auto paint masking tape (blue or green color) and an x-acto knife to position/trim the tape (patience grasshopper). I then taped a small plastic cup over each of the center gauge holes for extra protection. Spray oven cleaner on - wait 5 mins and scrub off with a tooth brush (use the wife's = she may never notice
and a green scratch pad. Rinse with water and repeat the process, if neccesary. Allow the parts to air dry and thoroughly wife them down with a good quality paint degreaser/prep solution and a white rag. Lightly sand the areas to painted with 800+ grit sandpaper. This promotes primer and paint adhesion. Wipe the parts again with degreaser. By this time the masking tape will likely be in nasty condition. Remove old masking tape and remassk the black areas. Take your time and do a perfect masking job. Wipe areas to be painted with degeaser (again). Spray primer on. I used a good quality high build white primer designed for plastic. Apply 2-3 thin coats of primer and allow to thoroughly dry. We sand the primer using 1200 + grit auto body paper. Wipe parts again with degreaser. Check your masking tape and remask as neccessary. Paint all parts using several light coats of paint. I used the factory spec med quartz urethane paint = perfect finish. allow paint to dry and conduct touch ups as required. Carefully remove the masking tape to reveal the satin black trim areas. stand back and admire the fruits of your labor !!!! Appply masking tape to the edge area around that rests areound the steering column and and edge areas you beleive you may scratch while reinstalling the plastic pieces. Reinstall the dash, door handle surrounds and center console in this order.
The chrome bezel rings are easy to install as they a precisely machined and used adhesive strips = fit perfectly and look great.
Call Jon B. for tech support and paint, trim rings etc.
Good luck
