I have an 84 Tbird that I'm going to repaint... The roof, hood and trunk need help, because the clear coat has worn off and it has damaged the base coat. But, the clearcoat and basecoat on the sides of the car are still in very good shape. I'm thinking of trying to just paint the roof, hood and trunk, and then try to do some clearcoat blending... I'll be using the same color as the original paint that's on the car now...
I'm assuming that I can sand off the remaining clearcoat on the roof, hood and trunk; prep the old base coat; respray new base coat over the old base coat; and then spray the clearcoat. For a partial paint job like this, would I want an enamel paint or urethane paint? What products would be best for repainting a mid-80s Ford so it would look somewhat original? Mid-80's Fords had a clearcoat that wasn't as "glossy" compared to newer cars. Is there a clearcoat/basecoat system that anyone could recommend? Thanks!
I'm trying to remove the buttstuffog instrument cluster on a 1984 TBird to replace some cluster lamps. I have the shop manual and it said to remove six screws around the cluster to remover it. When I removed the dash trim to get to the instrument cluster there were only four screw holes for mounting the instrument cluster. Two of the mounting screws were still present at the top of the cluster, but the lower screws were missing. The car has been in the family since new, so I know this is the first time the instrument cluster has been accessed. I removed the two screws at the top, but only the left side of the cluster would move. The right side where the speedometer is located is stuck. The shop manual said to simply remove the screws and pull out the cluster and then disconnect the speedometer cable. I looked under the dash and it looks like it would be extremely difficult to remove the speedometer cable when the instrument cluster is in its installed position. Any clues on what I might be doing wrong??? Thanks!
