Sharing dashboard rebuild

[grassyknoll]

Hello

I had a horrible looking dash. With whole sections peeling off due to water damage.

The veneer was cracked in places and badly stained. Dials hadn't seen 12v since 1984....

I was resigned to replacing it. But came across a product in the states called envirotex

So I stripped the dash. And picked off the varnish... still had some stubbornly stuck to the veneer... so I tried nitromors which was as useless as water (I remember it being painful to get on your skin modern version is utterly useless)

Then dug out ancient hot air gun and a spatula. ... worked perfectly. A couple of hours careful work and the veneer was naked !
But stained... so I got a tin of walnut stain and stained the whole thing.
Still had some cracks and lifted veneer in places so using pva and clamps I carefully stuck the veneer back in place.
Eventually I block sanded with 1000 ...

I wrapped a board in cling film and positioned the dash so that it was level.
Applied one (yes. Only one !) Layer of envirotex and ended up with a near perfect finish !!!!

[Sea Ranch]

Outstanding! Happy for you. Looks like you've just improved the appearance of your car by 1000%.

I will look into that finish. Will be doing mine in a couple years

And welcome to the forum; great first post!

Randy

[RichardHawkins]

I think you have done the right thing. I bought a replacement dash, which looked wonderful, unfortunately all the instruments and switches did not fit. By the time I realised, it was too late to use the old dash. I probably spent more time and effort making it fit than you have re-polishing.

RichardHawkins

[KevJ+2]

Very good job indeed.
I re-veneered my dash but before spraying the polyurathane varnish I did the lettering. Could you have done this before the Envirotex or have you chosen to do without or apply after?
Kev.

[grassyknoll]

Yes !!!
But I thought it would be a disaster. So didn't consider it. It turned out very good and now I don't have labels ! Doh

[Sea Ranch]

The factory's labels were on top of the finish. Yours can be, too. Mine have mostly lasted for 45 years; I'm guessing that will be good enough for your labels, too.

Randy

[KevJ+2]

Randy, mine are lettreset and I can't imagine them lasting 45 minutes on top of the varnish - really flimsy and difficult to press on. Maybe because I put them on the veneer, they might be better on varnish - don't know!
Kev.

[pereirac]

Never heard of envirotex before but the results look amazing. Will try it on my old dashboard ...

I wonder how brittle the finish is? I have had problems with cracks in the varnish at stress points before ...

Carl

[LaikaTheDog]

I will be getting a set of labels or hide a map in the glove box !

re: envirotex clear resin epoxy, I got the 285ml bottles, and I had enough for three dashboards ! so you can get away with the smaller bottles.
The secret , as always, is surface preparation
Then the next secret is...read the instructions !
When it says mix, mix then mix again and pour into another container and mix again.... DO IT
I didn't on my test and ended up with soft unset creases.
And to get rid of bubbles after the first 5 minutes, as it sets, use a blow torch as instructed, its amazing... all the bubbles pop and suddenly you have a near perfect finish, very clever stuff, if only I could do the entire bodyshell.....