What paint and items do I need to redo the dash and door panels?

[nickjones810]

Starting to clean up the interior, ripped out the dash and seats for a good cleaning. Ive seen a lot of people repair dashes differently and was wondering whats going to give it the least cheesy look? My c10 is a 77 and I believe everything to be a factory color...what brand paint would match this? Ive been hearing SEM is the way to go, but I dont want my seat or visors to not match the new paint..

[nickjones810]

Some pics before I started wiping them down and sanding and the bench, what should I use to get it looking new again? The seats in great condition so thats one of the reasons Id like to keep the factory colors on the interior.

[76LongBox]

I just redid the interior in my 76 Sierra Classic with SEM Blue Mist, and it looks really nice (at least to me).  Check out my post (page 2) for some pics:

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=28954.0

My interior was originally blue with wood grain.  I had picked up a NOS GM Dashpad several years ago on Ebay, but it was not the "right" color blue.  My interior guy painted all of my interior parts - kick panels, door panels, trim, and dash pad - with the SEM, and I did some additional touch-up after getting it back from him. 

[BlackTomC]

Nick,

How'd the repairs go? Curious to see how they went and how you accomplished them. I'll be cleaning up and painting mine here soon within the next few days. Changing the interior color of my Suburban from beige (crap brown) to Charcoal

[fxrsrider]

as far as matching is concerned, the best way is to try and find the GM color codes that were originally used.  Then you can go to any auto/industrial paint mixer like Finish Master, Inc. who will mix the exact paint for you.  The trick is finding the codes, or at the very least, the official GM paint color name.  If you have original interior color plastic, fabric, and/or painted parts that you don't plan on refinishing, I would still expect a slight difference in hue or contrast based on fading that likely has occurred over the years.

[87_Rado]

I'm interested in seeing the results as well and I'm curious as to which route you ended up choosing because I'm going to be making the same decision soon. I'm gonna be painting my truck and interior completly soon and I'm so undecided on which color route to go with. I like charcoal as someone said above but Im also very partial to my original gm blue. I heard great things about the krylon fusion as a cheaper method to go and they have some great colors choices, my pops sprayed his 85's whole interior with it and it came out great. Good luck with your paint I hope to see pics soon! 

[78 Chevyrado]

even with the OE paint codes, your seat and visors will be faded and not be the OE color anyway.  you'll need to do a color match like the home center paint matching, or be happy with a three tone interior, which isn.t so bad.

This is my interior, the plastic n vinyl parts are one color, the carpet is another, and the seats and visors are a third color.



Color match as close as you can, no out of the box color will match your seats and visors perfectly like new.  they're too faded, even if they don't appear faded, they are.

[LTZ C20]

Chevyrado is correct. I just got as close as I could when I bought interior paint. My is three shades different also, but it looks pretty good, the different shades give contrast and depth. Newer cars are generally 3 or 4 colors on the inside also, makes them feel more spacious and open. Here's mine.

This is the new dash in OE color code.


Here is after the trim pieces on the pillars and headliner edges were repainted.


The center console and carpet are yet to be replaced and repainted so ignore those two things and the headliner will one day be the same as the dash.

[RAD77C10]

I like that center console!

[LTZ C20]

I like that center console!

I custom modified a suburban/blazer console. Mounted backwards with the hinge for the lid removed, latch still works. Here's a better shot of it. I think I did a build post on it.

[LTZ C20]

I can't find the post. Maybe I made one, maybe I didn't. Don't remember.

[78 Chevyrado]

I like that a lot.  good thinking man!  I wish Ida had that in my 87...  thats so cool! 

[LTZ C20]

I like that a lot.  good thinking man!  I wish Ida had that in my 87...  thats so cool!

It has served me very well. There are a few things I would do a little different if I do it again but other then that it was incredibly easy and cheap. Got a perfectly good one from a wrecking yard.

[RAD77C10]

I'll need to check around here! That's on my list! Nice job!

[LTZ C20]

I'll need to check around here! That's on my list! Nice job!

Check them out! Thanks.