Will 79 Spirit AMX dash pieces fit an 81 SX/4?

[priya]

I'm hoping to change my SX/4's black dash pieces to the silver ones found in the 79 Spirit AMX or 78 Gremlin GT:


They appear identical to the SX/4 ones but hubby is skeptical that looks alone will determine swappability, especially after I found the interior "A" pillar trim from an Eagle wagon doesn't fit the same as the original SX/4 "A" pillar trim.  I read that Eagle dashes could be swapped into early Gremlins which had a completely different style, but hubby figures that doesn't necessarily mean much.  I've found a person with the Spirit AMX silver  dash pieces I want but he doesn't want to sell just the silver pieces preferring to sell the entire dash assembly complete.  Hubby figures the entire assembly might be necessary to make the silver pieces fit and the safe way is to buy the entire assembly.  As this seller is over 1000 miles away in the States I'm thinking shipping is going to be a killer for the entire assembly.  I know another seller with just the silver bezels that go around the instrument cluster and glove box but without the glove box door and heater/radio bezel.  If the silver pieces alone will swap into the SX/4 dash assembly I was thinking I could buy those from him and hopefully just the glove box door and heater/radio bezel from the other guy and save on initial purchase and shipping.  Do any of you know if the silver pieces from a Spirit AMX (around instrument cluster/wiper/headlight switches, radio/heater bezel, glove box door, glove box surround) swap directly into the SX/4 dash assembly, or if the entire dash assembly does and is necessary to do the silver pieces swap?

[thereverendbill]

i do know that an SX/4 dash will swap into an eagle because a member here has done it.  I have seen the dash of a 79 and 80 spirit first hand and they look identical to the dash of an SX/4.

what i would try to do is just take the wood grain pieces and trace them on a piece of aluminum then do all of your cutouts and adhere them, that way there is no question about fit.
A surplus place I frequent quite often has aluminum panels with a sticky back that are used for just that purpose, but i have no idea who makes the pieces I just know that they have them and they don't sell (they have been sitting in the same spot since i started going there over a year ago)   

[mojobean]

YES! they will fit just fine. I did this with my 81 sx/4.

[priya]

what i would try to do is just take the wood grain pieces and trace them on a piece of aluminum then do all of your cutouts and adhere them, that way there is no question about fit.
A surplus place I frequent quite often has aluminum panels with a sticky back that are used for just that purpose, but i have no idea who makes the pieces I just know that they have them and they don't sell (they have been sitting in the same spot since i started going there over a year ago)   

I thought about doing that, but the silver goes on the round parts of the wiper and headlight switches and I wouldn't be able to form that with aluminum panels.  As well, there are a couple of folds in the middle of the panels that would be difficult to get in exactly the right places to provide a good fit so for the time being I've ruled this approach out.

[priya]

YES! they will fit just fine. I did this with my 81 sx/4.

Great!  Thanks Mojobean.  Did you swap the entire dash assembly from a Spirit AMX or just insert the silver bezels in your existing SX/4 dash assembly?  Also, the AMX dash assembly the guy sent me the pictures of has some brown areas in the silver, are the silver areas actual metal, or are they painted on? 

My husband says for the price I should just paint my existing black pieces silver, but I don't think that would look right as my pieces have a pebbled texture.  Does the silver area on yours have a flat or "brushed" texture or by any chance is it pebbled as well?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm nervous about spending maybe $100 for shipping, $40 for "brokerage fees" and then maybe $100 -$200 for the entire dash assembly.

[priya]

Hey Mojobean,  I just noticed your really cool door panels, they look like blue with black which I assume you did yourself - that's impressive!

[priya]

Here's a picture of the staining I'm wondering about.  I don't want to buy this if I can't fix this:

[mojobean]

the silver on mine is essentially just like the woodgrain, but silver.. and kinda has just a flat finish. its painted that way i'm fairly certain. you can swap the silver bits for the woodgrain, but with the way they attach (those odd little plastic pegs that are pretty hard to get to) its a bit of a bear. you can pop it off.. if careful, but not sure how you'd go about attaching the silver in its place. I'm going to be working on mine this afternoon and will take a better look, but i'm fairly certain the radio pod is slightly different than the plastic parts. more of a brushed alum overlay albeit really thin. as far as the parts around the headlight/washer knobs.. you'd be better off just purchasing that whole instrument bezel section instead of trying to pry off woodgrain and replacing. I'll get back to you in a few hours with more input

[priya]

Thanks a lot Mojobean, I really appreciate it.

[mojobean]

Okay. It appears that the silver plastic is painted on. here are the best closeups i could manage, but if you look close (don't forget these are clickypics, and i think you can actually make them even bigger) the edges of my glovebox have slight worn spots where the silver has rubbed off and it seems to be woodgrain underneath.


it can also be scratched:


and for the radio pod:

it is an overlay, and does have reflective capabilities.. but i also believe it has a clear coating over it so as far as staining.. you may or may not be able to clean/polish it off without scratching. I would say your best bet would be to just cover it over with something similar.. i'm sure somewhere someone makes a sticker type thing that resembles brushed alum. It is about 1/16th thick. it can also be scratched up which is why i think it has a coating. you can also dent it, and break it (i have a small piece missing as you can see in the photo.. my fault for pulling on it for the pic)
hope this is helpful.

oh.. and you mentioned my door panels.. yes i did them myself with SEM. I did them up black where the blue was faded or browned. They look so much nicer. I also did up the armrests to match.

[priya]

Big help Mojobean, thanks a million and eggs to you!

[mojobean]

No problem, glad to help.