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Spitfire 75 spitfire wood dash

Zer

Jedi Trainee
Offline
Well I bought some veneer last week and with the help of a buddy we are in the middle of re-doing it. We used a heating gun to pull off the old stuff ( and a small blade ) We are looking for some STA-PUT It is really good stuff from what I hear. So as soon as we get it we will lay our the vaneer and cut and glue I think the whole thing will take about 2Hrs ( not including the staining ) then it is time to put all the stuff back together, new interior is waiting.
 

MDCanaday

Jedi Knight
Offline
Be very sure to use the UV resistant ureathane when you put on the finish, some were not ment to be outside with the top down at 70mph.........
MD(mad dog)
 
OP
Z

Zer

Jedi Trainee
Offline
Just wondering if anybody has tried to redo the chrome trim on the dash gauges???? Looking for what to use and what is the procedure????? Thanks folks for any info.
 

TR250

Freshman Member
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It may not be wisdom, but here's my two cents: Chome is chome, not paint. You either need to send them out, buy new, or just accept less than perfect.
 

Bugeye58

Yoda
Offline
Z, I used Happich Simi-Chrome polish on the GT6 chrome bezels, and it worked nicely.
The only viable alternative, if you can't find new replacements, would be to remove them and have them restored at a plating shop. Kind of pricey I would imagine.
Jeff
 

screenprinter

Jedi Trainee
Offline
May be a bit late to post on this thread, but here goes:
2 hrs. seems a bit optimistic an estimate - when I did the panels for my GT6+ it took me four hours just to carefully cut the guage holes, switch holes etc. out from the back of the panel with an x-acto knife. Even with new blades evry few cuts I found that the veneer likes to shred when you cut across the grain. Judicious sanding with very fine paper helped but it still looked a bit rough. The panels were okay, but after spending so long on the GT6 I opted for replacement panels. In my case I was fortunate enough to know a guy whose dad was a master kitchen cabinet maker. He took the old panels and duplicated them exactly in solid Honduras Mahoganey - Three or four coats of a marine sealer called Awlgrip, Allgrip, something like that, with wet sanding in between coats produced breathtaking results. I think he charged me about $100.00 - Which is still less than what Victoria and Moss get for their production line versions.

I might mention that for TR6's and other autos where the dash panel is one big piece solid wood is not really a good choice - The british bodies ( Particularly Convertibles) tend to twist a bit when you go on down the road, a thing known as "Scuttle Shake" and if the panel is screwed in too tightly it tends to break along the grain. I guess the way to attack one piece dash panels is to construct the panel out of premium grade plywood ( Which won't break when twisted ) and go the veneer route. That brings us full circle - I guess my summary would be: as Clint once said: "A man's Gotta know his limitations." - I'm a whole lot better at welding and turning wrenches than fine woodworking - so I opted to let a pro do this critical piece for me.
 
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