I saw Tommy's (WAZZSUP) hood liner paint job at the Mopar Nationals and a couple of other forum members have done it as well. I thought it looked great, while still being subtle. After a little research on how to paint felt and fabrics, I took my extremely-manly self to Jo-Ann's Fabrics for the necessary supplies. (Definition of dichotomy: An SRT-10 in the parking lot of a fabric store. LOL) I needed some fabric paint, but not the kind that puffs up. Just straight, flat when dry, paint. The brand I'm using is called Jacquard. It can be cleaned up with soap and water. I had decided to do the hood liner using the same color combination as the hood bulge emblem- "VIPER" in silver; "POWERED" in red. So, I picked up three jars of the Jacquard fabric paint: #588 black for the basecoat, #563 metallic silver and #107 ruby red for the main coat, two small brushes (not shown). Back at the house, I contemplated painting it while the liner was installed. This thought quickly faded. The liner had to come out. I fashioned a 'puller' from a coat hanger and used it to remove the 12 retainer buttons that mount the liner to the hood. I lift the edge of the button with my fingernail, then slip the puller under it. Once underneath, I rotate the puller 360 degrees to make sure I'm pulling on button and not on the liner. A firm pull with this tool and the buttons came right out. A few snapped off, and those are fun to dig out, so be careful when you pull on them. I thought I'd be able to re-use the buttons for re-attachment, but decided that they can't be that expensive and went to the dealership to replace all of them. (I'm saving the old ones for emergencies). Part Name: 51-K-6 Retainer Part #6504135 They were $0.85/ea. at my dealership. The puller, a removed retainer button (L), and a new retainer button (R): I first brushed the felt with a chip brush (paint brush) to remove any stray particiles or dust. I applied, CAREFULLY, the black basecoat inside each letter on the liner. I tried to keep it inside the lines, but because of the nature and shape of the material, a perfectly straight edge is almost impossible. Each coat of paint requires 24 hours of dry time. Liner with dry black basecoat: I'm heading to the shop now to apply the silver and the red. More pics when I'm finished and it's drying. ----------------------- Ok, the first coat is on and drying. The red REALLY soaked in (it might need 3 coats). Please remember that this is BEFORE any toothpick painting or any clean-up. It's pretty rough right now, but this pic should give you a general idea. 1st Coat: (the "w" looks kinda weird because that's where the bend is in the liner) I'm not sure if I'll be able to 'smooth out' the surfaces of the letters. I'm checking into that now. Maybe a Scotchbrite pad (light). More pics after the 2nd coat tomorrow night. -------------------------- The 2nd coat is on. I'm not pleased with how bumpy the faces of the "VIPER" letters are. I'm trying to figure out how to smooth them out without shredding the felt on the liner. The second coat of red REALLY helped and now it looks gloss red. I'm pleased with that section. I did a little bit of cleanup around the edges, but it's still kinda rough. Without a hard mask of the edges, the material won't let you do a perfectly straight line. From 2' away you can't tell, but when I have my nose to the felt, I can see it (drives me nuts). Another tip: Change your lighting as you paint. Due to the embossing, you sometimes can't see where an edge starts or finishes. If you move the liner around, you'll be able to see those edges more clearly. BTW- the jars of fabric paint were $1.50 ea. ----------------------- Third coat went on last night. The silver is a bit smoother. It looks kinda like brushed aluminum now. The red has just the right amount of gloss, and the color is pretty much a perfect match. To clean up some of the edges, I used a 1" foam brush wetted with luke warm water. I went slow and cleaned the brush often. That seemed to help smooth out some of the edges. I'm going to do one last coat this afternoon on both the silver and the red. I think this is as smooth as I'm going to get it. I'm sure there are pros out there that can get a mirror finish on hoodliners, and they're welcome to stop by and show me how it's done. LOL I'll get some pics up after this final coat. I'll get some shots of it re-installed as well. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. About a $15-20 project (excluding labor time. LOL). --------------------------- Here's a pic of the liner after it's final coats: Done screwing with it. The silver might show up white on your monitor, but I assure you it's really silver. Sorry about the tripod legs in the shot; my camera's pictures look like Rorschach tests unless it's mounted on a tripod. It will dry for the next 24 hours (I might give it some heat gun help later...heh heh), then will be re-installed under the hood. ©2006 Kevan J. Geier All Rights Reserved
wow, this looks really nice in the pics!!!! i know how hard it is to try and keep the lines straight when you can't tape and the media you are working with is felt!!! nice work!!!
Nice job on the paint! Nothing to do in Ohio this time of year with the weather, so why the hell not do up the SRT10!:rock:
Wow that looks really good. Nice job!!! I may follow your advice on this, thanks for sharing!!! Chase
