Dash refinishing

[andyb]

Decided to have a go at refinishing the dash for the excel it was all cracked first coat its not perfect as there is a little chipping of the Veneer but hey ho it is over 30 years old

[barker_001]

That looks good Andy. What method did you use? Mine are cracked too, but I suspect it is just the lacquer and not the veneer underneath. I would rather not replace the panels since they have a nice grain pattern in the veneer, and are part of the car's character.

[andyb]

The usual place YouTube a chap in Wilshire has a good video used Cellulose sanding sealer and cellulose lacquer all on ebay and in aerosol cans yes my lacquer was cracked just got under it with a stanly knife for the loose stuff and a hot air blower to soften the rest. will post when it is finished prob 8 coats or there abouts.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

When I ran an Elite 501 as my only family car in the early eighties, I hated the fake wood dash. So much so that I soon planned to replace the main centre consol switch panel with black vinyl-covered aluminium. I got as far as drawing the switch positions on a sheet of aluminium then family life got in the way and it never happed.
Fast forward exactly 40 years (!) and I found the said aluminium console panel in the garage last week, still sporting the drawn Elite layout. It's now repurposed as a black vinyl-covered instrument panel in the Clan, replacing the broken, black vinyl-covered, fibreglass original.

Had the Elite sported a proper wood veneered panel like the Excel, I would never had considered replacing it.

So glad you've stayed with the wood panel and wasn't tempted to replace with carbon or whatever`s equivalent these days to my eighties vinyl-covered aluminium panel.

Nice grain in yours too.

[AndrewWebber]

I do agree, compared to my 45 years and counting with a 'real (ply then burr walnut veneer) wood' one in the +2, using the Elite all this week, it does let it down somewhat in what is overwise is quite a nice place to be. How were you going to create the switch 'labels'?

Where I worked this week, in Staffordshire, they have 'adhesive backed thin fake wood plastic material' that still has the relatively straight grain and colour effect used on the Elite but it has much better pattern variation and definition and also has a slightly raised texture to it.....

Andy

[Lotus-e-Clan]

I hadn't thought about labels at that point, probably because the positions were second nature to me. Also, I never gave any consideration to the Elite's originality and how it would affect resale values. I look at it differently now.

Btw. I found the window switches at the top of the console ('76 Elite S1) the best, most natural position for me. A better position than the door position on the Excel that's for sure.

[Pete Boole]

I bought some engineered veneer in ebony a while ago - it's very similar to the plastic in the Elite, but real wood. I was thinking of using it instead of the sticky-back plastic - perhaps with a semi-matt finish using epoxy, or maybe even a high gloss. Needs more thought. Not thought about the labels - any ideas guys? Laser cutting?

Pete

[Lotus-e-Clan]

I like the idea of ebony!

In the guitar world, solid black ebony is now in short supply and so 'streaked' ebony is appearing on even high end guitars, like from Martin. The purists don't like streaked ebony guitar fingerboards. But for a dashboard, streaked ebony would look fantastic. A dark, modern, take on traditional walnut dash veneers.

[Pete Boole]

I like the idea of ebony!

In the guitar world, solid black ebony is now in short supply and so 'streaked' ebony is appearing on even high end guitars, like from Martin. The purists don't like streaked ebony guitar fingerboards. But for a dashboard, streaked ebony would look fantastic. A dark, modern, take on traditional walnut dash veneers.

That's just what it looks like Peter!

Pete