Leon,
I painted the door panels and trim myself. It took some little preping to get the look you see in the pic. First I used a solvent based cleaner to remove all the grime and grease on the panels. You can buy solvent based cleaner at any parts store. They are similiar to carb and engine cleaners just not as harsh. You don't want to disolve the plastic.
After the solvent cleaning, I used some dish washer soap to finish the cleaning the panels. The panels have the origininal texture except the top portion. The panels were uneven and brittle so I used some sandpaper to smooth just the top portion. After cleaning the parts you want dry them well. I did it over night. Next I used a platic based gray primer. This primer will not stick well to areas not properly cleaned. Each part was primered with two coats. Each coat allowed to dry one full day. Next came the paint. Each part was sprayed lightly for the first coat and let dry. Sequencial coats were also thin. If you over spray the paint starts to run and ruins the overal finish. Some of the interior pieces are actually metal. These are prepared the same way but more care must taken when painting. Paint did not stick to them very well. A second cleaning and several coats the metal pieces matched the plastic very well. The paint I used is also vinyl. I used Plasticoat primer and paint. I only found these two products at Pep Boys and Parts America. Other places carried different brands. If you stay with the same manufacturer for the primer and paint you should not have any problems.
The same proceedure was used for my new dash, except the solvent cleaning. The primer portion took more coats since the dash was black.
The original brown "carpet" portion of the door panels were also replaced. Since I used gray paint, I went down to the local stereo place and bought some speaker box fabric. I trimmed a small piece to fit the panel and then used some glue to hold it firmly in place. I have not replaced the door pockets and propably will not. Replacements are pricy too, but speakers may look better there or some other "bow tie" emblem.
Paint the screws too or they will look really ugly. All I need now is the door handle strap.
I'll be taking pictures this weekend to post on my web site.
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Gerardo
1983 Custom Truck
TX Plates: "BAD BOW"
http://www.geocities.com/abetterchemist/
[This message has been edited by gchemist (edited 02-01-2001).]