Evening fellas. Today I acquired a very early gmt400 for a parts truck. It is an 87. I have my 93 all torn apart and trying to repair everything. One of the things I'm working with now is the dash. The one in the 93 is gray and it's all beat up, big pieces of plastic missing. The 87 has an immaculate dash, however it's also tan. Is there any way I can paint the tan dash to match my factory gray color? What do you guys use? What are your thoughts on how to prep?
Pre 95 dash color match
- Thread starter Jebadiah
- Start date
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someotherguy
Truly Awesome
No such thing as an '87 GMT400. If you're calling it an '87 because it was built in '87, then what you have is an '88 - check the 10th digit of the VIN for accurate year model. J=88, K=89, L=90..
You can certainly paint that dash to go in your '93, but what you'll find is 88-91, the area behind the gauge cluster where the cluster connector goes is different. There's a few ways you can hack around this but that's the one big difference in those dashboards. You already have that one so it's probably best to proceed with it, but if you didn't have one at all, my suggestion would be look for 92-94 instead as they are the same as your 93.
SEM makes good quality paints for interior parts, go to their site and do some reading. They have good instructions on cleaning the parts ahead of time to remove any dirt but most importantly any grease/oils/etc. that would prevent good adhesion. Read, re-read, and follow the directions to the letter.
Richard
You can certainly paint that dash to go in your '93, but what you'll find is 88-91, the area behind the gauge cluster where the cluster connector goes is different. There's a few ways you can hack around this but that's the one big difference in those dashboards. You already have that one so it's probably best to proceed with it, but if you didn't have one at all, my suggestion would be look for 92-94 instead as they are the same as your 93.
SEM makes good quality paints for interior parts, go to their site and do some reading. They have good instructions on cleaning the parts ahead of time to remove any dirt but most importantly any grease/oils/etc. that would prevent good adhesion. Read, re-read, and follow the directions to the letter.
Richard
Yes you are correct, I was referring to the door tag build date. I was planning on swapping to the moon gauge cluster anyway, so could I just splice the 88 connector into the 93 harness? Are all the color codes the same? I know that if the 93 was still tbi it wouldn't start with the old style cluster, not worried about that because the computer is totally cut out, just need gauges to function as normal. Any Idea what paint will match and where to find?
someotherguy
Truly Awesome
No. Service manuals can be found linked on this site free to download so you can compare wiring if needed.
Huh? 1988-1995 are all TBI. Why would the moonie cluster keep the 93 engine from starting?
SEM can be found many places. Which color is closest to 1993 interior gray, not sure. I can say their "medium gray" is pretty close, but seems a tiny bit lighter than the "13I" which is GM's code for that gray interior trim color.
Richard
Sorry, this is a very late reply. I should have mentioned that my 93 is carb swapped. I had a 91 that I was working with different gauge clusters before. I found that with no cluster or a pre 91 cluster it would not start. If I put the original cluster or one from another 91 in it would start. I figure there must be some sort of wiring that passes through there that won't allow it to run unless the right year cluster was installed. I only figured the 93 would do this as well. Could've just been something screwy with that truck top, I don't know. I appreciate your help though and I have the dash painted and installed with a functional moonie cluster thanks to your guidance.
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