How to strip the cluster

[varlo]

Hi guys Im just curious if anyone has come up with a method or way to strip all of the paint/woodgrain crap on my spare gauge cluster. I want to strip it and black it out so the white gauges with my new LED's will really "pop" . Im not sure what way to go about this.

Thanks for any help.
-Joe

 

[66Dvert]

I used oven cleaner(Easy Off brand)but it'll take off EVERYTHING chrome paint woodgrain vinyl ect. another user (THANKS Waggin ) on here said it worked good for dash details for pre plating I had a spare aand tried and it worked just dandy. I did real good cleanup after soaking with the oven cleaner and then washed it with soapy water to get off all the oven cleaner and sent it out to get redone , make sure the lens is off it will discolor clear plastic. came out great, now if I can only remember where I packed it away I'd be ok

 

[friesza]

I went another way as someone else said to do...I used Super Clean..the stuff that comes in a purple gallon jug....soak overnight and parts are stripped down to the white plastic....worked great and I didnt have to worry about leaving the oven cleaner on to long and possibly ruining the part....I by the way am going the way of making it look like carbon fiber... to match the fast lane west dash panel....
http://fastlanewest.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=21_206_48_56&products_id=335

 

[varlo]

I went another way as someone else said to do...I used Super Clean..the stuff that comes in a purple gallon jug....soak overnight and parts are stripped down to the white plastic....worked great and I didnt have to worry about leaving the oven cleaner on to long and possibly ruining the part....I by the way am going the way of making it look like carbon fiber... to match the fast lane west dash panel....
http://fastlanewest.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=21_206_48_56&products_id=335

Hey I went and bought the superclean stuff. What kind of container did you place the cluster in when you applied this stuff? Also how did you apply it. I cant find anything large enough to put this cluster into and not sure if I can fill it enough to cover the whole thing. Any ideas? Also how long did you let it soak? Just let it sit overnight?

 

[friesza]

I used one of those containers you can get at wal mart or target...the ones with a lid that you can store stuff in....I soaked parts overnight and the stuff just came right off....here is a pic of the glovebox panel after about 6 hours of soaking...

 

[varlo]

did you mix it with water as well? How much of this stuff did you have to buy? Im probably gunna do this tomorrow so I want to do it once and do it right.

 

[friesza]

I just bought a gallon...barely covered my parts..diluting would probably work...but just a guess....I just used it straight up...kinda wish I would have bought the second gallon...but didnt...and after I used it I strained it through cheese cloth back into the jug and is almost completely like unused...so I can use it for other things:toothy3:

 

[RedFish]

Just for the sake of saying... No need to soak all the part at once. Soak slightly over half then rinse well and flip the part. My soak tank is upright 8 inch PVC pipe. 2 rallye bezels fit down in it along with the length of 4 inch PVC that gets the smaller pieces. I could spend more on chemical and totally cover the parts but no need. I lift the parts out , rinse, flip, back in , without ever getting chemical on my hands.

 

[MoParking]

So, did the woodgrain texture come out completely?
I just sanded and tried repainting my glove box cover (73 Dart) and though the woodgrain color is gone, the woodgrain texture is still there. Looks bad (in a bad way)!

I used one of those containers you can get at wal mart or target...the ones with a lid that you can store stuff in....I soaked parts overnight and the stuff just came right off....here is a pic of the glovebox panel after about 6 hours of soaking...

 

[varlo]

Its been soaking since 2pm yesterday. It has taken all the black paint off and silver chrome around the edge as well. I have been going out every few hours and hitting the woodgrain with a brush, seems to be coming off slowly, I will update hopefully tomorow.

-Joe

 

[RedFish]

So, did the woodgrain texture come out completely?
I just sanded and tried repainting my glove box cover (73 Dart) and though the woodgrain color is gone, the woodgrain texture is still there. Looks bad (in a bad way)!

The wood grain is cast in the plastic. I've never tryed to make it disappear but if I did try... After chemical strip I would pull a very tight coat of 3M body putty over it to fill then follow with a high build primer. If the piece will have the chrome re-plated that will need to be done before anything else.

 

[varlo]

Well its been a while that this cluster has soaked, ive removed a little bit to get it to this point with the backside of the plastic brush. Just needed a little elbow grease. This stuff did a great job. Its some tough stuff tho wear heavy duty plastic gloves while dealing with it. Im waiting for my whiteface gauges to get here. Then I will paint and install. Should look a lot better than what it was.

-Joe

 

[evil 340]

NICE YA-ALL. think this would work on a plastic grille? i need to strip my 72 demon grille. i like the pvc pipe idea.
just for everyones future reference.....i used this stuff awhile back on all my body plugs and original(oversprayed) door and trunk rubbers. it worked awesome. made all those things look brand spankin new with nothing more than a rinse.

 

[cudaboy 67]

hello, good thread, im about to pick up a complete 68 cuda dash,woodgrain etc, has anyone stripped one of these and painted themslves rather than send away for rechrome? ive seen pics of one with fresh chrome and black where woodgrain was......looks awesome!!! spray chrome in a can anyone?

 

[evil 340]

cudaboy....i went that way once,but i wasn t happy with it. the paint looked good, but scuffed and scratched too easy. i clear coated it and it looked like charcoal paint then. i m sure there s a way to do it, but i d go the plating route.