dying a seat and dash pad

[Kurt Combs]

I have a nice used dash pad I purchased from a member here awhile back and I bought a 1985 seat at Pick-n-Pull today. The seat is a slightly faded blue, but in decent shape for the $25 I paid for it and the dash pad is pretty nice, but dark green if I remember correctly. I am planning on dying the vinyl sides and the fabric inserts of the seats black. I thought while I was at it I might as well dye the dash pad, which I will install later. The seat is an easy install, the dash pad is a major deal and includes painting the interior, so the pad has to wait. Anyone have ideas about dying the dash pad and seat? Brands of dye and success rates on similar projects?

Second thing I am wondering about is the seat track and the release lever that allows the seat to move back and forth. On the seat I have now the lever sticks out the side of the seat right on top of my gas tank selection switch. This makes it really hard to change tanks when driving. The seat I bought today has the lever coming out the front of the seat, which I really like. At this point, if I can't disassemble the track and mix and match parts, I am going to have to cut and weld the new lever to the old track. Anyone ever disassemble the tracks to mix parts?

[hazelnut]

Kurt, Ive only changed interior color once, And that was about 25 years ago. I bought the die from the auto body supply i use here. I pulled the vinyl interior out and give everything a good cleaning then wiped everything down with a oil&wax remover. Mixed up the die and sprayed it on with my spray gun like i was painting a car. From what i remember it was a lot thinner than paint so had to do thinner coats. Turned out like i wanted and i kept the truck for about 3-4 years and never had a problem with it. Still looked good when i sold it.
To find out about the seat tracks you should do a search. Fordman was always answering someone question's about it so im sure you could find what your looking for since he don't post to much now.

[70-360fe]

Been thinking about dyeing my seats and this is the best vid I found on you tube. It's for leather but I'm guessing the method would be the same for vinyl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycZhJTSr ... re=related

[Kurt Combs]

I sprayed everything today and reinstalled the bottom cushion's seat cover. I think I am going to cut the seat release lever off the new seat's tracks and weld it to the track in the truck now. I will of course cut the existing lever off. This will allow easy access to my tank switch by relocating the level to the front of the seat, and I will move the jack handle that is in the same area, removing another obstacle. My plan is to install the seat next weekend, if all goes well.