How-To: Removing Wood Grain Dash on FJ80 (1 Viewer)

[vjr021]

vjr021,
from what I can see, I kinda like that little flashlight setup you got on the door. What is that exactly? Did you make it or....? Looks sweet!

I actually got the idea from one of the other guys on the forum. It is the Mag Light clips you can buy for the D cell lights (or C cell).

Look on Amazon.com or where ever they sell Mag lights... The plastic is strong enough under the armrest to hold the screws.

Be careful to to over-tighten the screws, you will strip the plastic. but if done right it's perfect.

I love it!!!!

 

[LC_Nirvana]

Have been debating for 6 months on whether to strip the woodgrain crap off....looks like a another fun OCD project to tackle.

Thanks for sharing - I'll post my before/afters and any other points of enlightenment.

 

[Scalci]

This looks good, it has always irritated me. Does the ones around the aircon also come off like this?

 

[Atticus]

just a word of advise. Some of the wood kits use glue as well as the double sided sticky tape. This is pretty impossible to remove. I have tried finger nail polish remover, goo gone, and some kinda citrus goo remover with the same results. I believe my only option is to buy another wood kit.

It would probably be cheaper and more aesthetically pleasing to buy another plastic piece.

 

[lndcruz]

^yeah, but all the plastic looks like that from the glue. I can't see all those pieces being cheap.

I ended up lightly sanding and using a razor blade to scrape off the glue, then painted all the black pieces with plastic-dip

turned out alright, but if you look hard you can still see the glue residue.

 

[LC_Nirvana]

Many thanks for the info!
So glad I didn't let my fears get the best of me and took the plunge to remove.

My boyfriend and I couldn't stand it any more and he got bored so started picking it off on our vacation. We used a plastic putty knife for the hard areas and aside from some scratches where he got impatient and used a knife, it looks great. No adhesive residue at all which makes me think it was an after market job.

She's WOODGRAIN TRIM FREE!

 

[azTony]

Well this is my 's contribution to the MUD community.

I was removing the woodgrain from around my AC control box today and she asked me "Why don't you use Avon's Skin So Soft to remove the goowey stuff?"

So I tried it and she told me not to use to much and it came right off!! God bless my woman!!

 

[Ayetee]

summer haze

so... ive been taking my vitamin D, and its winter. it now is the best time to remove this crap if its warped. but id like to add on some tips... use a big, big flat head and smooth out the edges so its not sharp. because anything else will cost..and im sure you have a screwdriver and youll feel like an idiot if you spend money on stuff like this.. at least thats what i think. ., dont do this in the summer because i did it all in under and hour, i didnt use and adhesive remover but im sure you can.... but its important to use a big big screw driver and nothing sharp, like a small one... and i have never done this in the summer but im guessing i did it so much faster than normal because of the cold, i used my thumb and pointer to rub off the adhesive. um and actually the black plastic if very very fragile so dont pry but glide the screwdriver in between the crap and a little off the surface of the underneath at least on the black but it turned out great. peace.

 

[rhett325i]

I just finished this project on mine this afternoon, and thought I would add my two cents. Overall super happy with how it turned out.

I used the Harbor Freight "5 Piece Auto Trim and Molding Tool Set" (67021) to remove the wood trim and scrape away the large pieces of leftover double-sided tape. Since the tools are nylon they did not mar or scratch the plastic.

The bulk of the work was removing the rest of the leftover adhesive. I used a combination of Armor All cleaner wipes and red shop towels doused with Simple Green. With a little elbow grease I was able to get the trim completely clean and sticky-free.

Throughout the process it became difficult at times to see if all of the glue was gone. I found that if I wiped the area down with a clean paper towel, any remaining glue would grab some of the paper towel, making it easier to see.

Here is the front passenger door after removing the trim

Here is the same panel during adhesive removal, after wiping it down with a clean paper towel. Much easier to see where all the glue is.

And here is the final result.

 

[schadenfreude]

Has anyone had any experience removing the wood trim on the door cards? I'm wondering how it would go since the trim is stuck to leather (?) versus hard plastic. I think a heat gun would be best, unless someone has a better idea. Thanks for your input.

PS Just bought a 97 triple locked LX450, so I'm back in an 80 again.