I read a well written article on the best way to paint a gauge pod. It included the sanding, the number of coats, all of that stuff. I can't seem to find that information any longer. Yeah, I'm sure I could do an good job without needing instructions, but it is nice to have a plan. Does anybody know the article I am talking about?

 

Do you want the pod to come out smooth or do you want the texture on it?

If you want the texture, hit it with a coat of primer, let that dry, then blast it with a couple of layers of paint and then a coupe of layers of clear coat.

If you want it smooth, go and buy some stuff called glazing putty from wally world. Spread that all over the pod. Once that dries, wet sand it with I believe it's 800 grit paper. Dry it off and check for smoothness. If there's still a couple of rough spots, hit it again with the spot putty. Once it's smooth, spray a coat of primer on it and let it dry. Wet sand with 1000 grit. Repeat 3x. After the 3rd wet sand, primer it and let it stay a little rough. Let the primer dry for at least 24 hours. Once it's dry, spray it with about 4-6 LIGHT coats of color. Wait about an hour between coats. After the last coat, wait 24 hours. Once dry, apply 4-6 coats of clear coat. On the last coat of clear, wet sand it with 2000 grit until you get all of the ripples out of the paint. You'll know what I'm talking about when you start sanding. Once you've sanded it down, polish it up with meguiar's scratch x remover to a brilliant shine. Then apply a coat of wax to seal the deal. And once that's all done, you get something that looks like this,

 

Dodge dealer has spray cans to match interior for about 6 bucks. Take the pod out of the box and spray it. Looks just like the original A-pillar plastic cover. Or are you building a show car?

 

I found the write-up at dieselmanor.com.