Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

I'm curious, is there a way of painting or staining my dark blue interior some other color, such as light grey?

I dont much care for the 80's auto interior stylings, (carpet trim around plastics)

I'm thinking of taking the carpet panels off my doors and replacing them with something different, but I'd like to take my armrest, panels, and speaker covers and make them another color. If I do this, I'll be doing the entire car. but its a start. lol

For some pieces,you can easily dye the plastic.I did the dash,glovebox door and handle,and the console itself.After two years it still looks great and accepts vinyl treatment easily.For stuff that your feet may come in contact with a lot,I'd try to find replacement parts in the color you are wanting.Dye on plastic can only take so much abuse.

is this dye a spray on thing, could I mask off my windshield and just spray the dash, or would I have to take it out?

I'm half temted to just go to the local salvage yard and see if maybe one of his many birds/cats would have a usable interior.

another question, what years/models would have compatable interiors with my 86 TC?

alot of interior parts are the same from 85-88 cougar/birds. Almost everything behind the doors is different between cats and birds, as well as 83-86 and 87-88 bodystyles. I've heard that the 87-88 door panels could be swapped with 83-86's, but all the 83-84 interiors I have seen are totally different from 85-86.

85 up definitely got the better interior setup if you ask me.

It's not too hard to take the dash cover off, Just a few screws.

When you say dash cover, to most of us..well, there is no "dash cover" per-se.
The dash is basically all one solid piece...perhaps you mean the trim or bezel that surrounds the gauges and radio & hvac controls?

I've never painted a dash, but I'd imagine to do the best job, it would be best to take it out.

FWIW, if you can find a good, crack-free dash in the color you are looking for, by all means grab it! They're getting scarcer by the day.
Kind of a pita to get them out without damage though. Just take your time, and if you're lucky enough to find a Sport or TC, grab the cluster even if you don't need it, someone will want it lol.

The dye can be bought at any parts store.Vinyl dye.Don't do carpet,it's not worth the time,and for what you'd pay in dye,you can buy new carpet (that's what I did).I pulled the dash,but,if you're removing everything else anyway,it could be masked off well with patience.

You still need to prep it, no matter whether you spray it in the car or out.

You'll do a better job with it out.

Obviously you'll then need to take car reinstalling it (just like any freshly "painted" part)

I just redyed my whole interior.  I bought the "dye" from SEM in Pa.  Very good product in my opinion.  They have one product for hard plastics and another for soft vinyl plus cleaners, preps and adhesion promoters.  They shipped the order the same day. Plus they have bumper paint, trim paint etc.  Good stuff.

They have most standard colors in stock and will customize colors and computer match them.  The custom colors are quite expensive.  The dye I bought for my Cougar was $10.05 per can and it goes a long way.  I bought six cans and I still have 1.5 left after spraying the whole interior of my wagon.

http://www.vinylprosem.com/

Before:

After:

And yes the top of the dash is removable on your car.  Care is required but there are screws under the front speaker covers and around the instrument panel and above the glove box.  The Haynes manual shows where.  Just keep in mind the old plastic parts are fragile.  The carpet on the doors can be painted with the SEM paint and they include instructions on the web site.

Not on an '86, the dash is all one piece. :D