Rep Power: 182

Okay...
So as you can see, I was blessed with the pukey "Ivory" interior on my '05. I don't mind the tan, in fact it's kinda luxurious looking but the brown dashboard seems out of place! It's like I'm riding in a S'more!

Before I ask my little question, I want to make it clear that I don't want to spend upwards of $500 for a full black interior swap, nor do I have the time or know-how to handle a project that immense.

My question is... what if I just swapped the dash and upper door panels with black? It would certainly look better than brown, but still not perfect. Is it very difficult to replace a dash like this? Is it also possible that I could paint my existing one and not have to scrap another junker civic for it?

I've searched many forums for Civic interior swaps and found little helpful information, so if someone can point me in the right direction and give me an idea of what I'm getting my hands dirty with... it's much appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 314

It's a little more complicated than you think. The dash is essentially two large pieces. The front panel that wraps around the steering wheel. The upper panel that wraps around the passenger air bag. It's a pretty big job to remove them both.

Here is an idea of how the pieces are split up:

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...STRUMENT+PANEL

To replace the front panel is pretty easy. The back panel (which is the upper part) is the actual dashboard itself and looks like the steering wheel has to come off.

 
Rep Power: 285

It's possible to paint interior plastics, but the strange sort of soft plastics Honda used on our dashboards do not respond well to paint. Your best bet is to swap to another another colour dash, it's a fair bit of work, but manageable if you go slow.

 
Rep Power: 314

You shouldn't actually paint interior dash. You dye them with special spray paint. I learned the hard way when I was 17 not to use the wrong paint. If done properly, a dyed dash can look the same as OEM. However it's time consuming and you shouldn't do it with it inside the car. So you should still remove the dash.

[autostream]http://autostream.com/ibcivicforums/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1216& transactionid=1333075224-1732385193&posted_by=BlueEM2_www.civicforums.com&y outube_video_id=2mMYl2sW0Zw[/autostream]

 
Rep Power: 182

Fair enough.
At this point it seems easier just to buy a Jaguar XFR

 
Rep Power: 314

Hahahaha... It would take more hours of work to buy a jaguar than it would to dye your interior

 
Rep Power: 0

no just dye the bottom half so you dont have to take it out. just tape it off really really reallly good. especially the door jams.take out the door panels, rear panels, deck, and carpet. dye and reinstall. boom two-tone

 
Rep Power: 314

The overspray from the dye is unreal...

 
Rep Power: 0

what overspray?

 
Rep Power: 182

Hmmm... interesting. I'll look into the possibility of dyes for my dashboard. I'd be plenty happy with just turning that brown clump of poo into a sleek black dash and leaving the luxurious beige down below, haha

 
Rep Power: 314

Hmm.. if he does it, he will find out