woodgrain... yay or nay?

[rob020]

hey all,

thinking about peeling the woodgrain off the dash in the sedan but cant make up my mind... what do you guys think??
mainly cos my glovebox is scratched and i think it might look cleaner/tidier...


cheers,
robn

[EVL076]

i peel mine off as soon as i get a galant

i dont like it, it looks so much better with out it

[A112H]

Yeah, I am with EVL076 on this one. I haven't pealed it of mine as yet because I am looking for a pov pack dash without woodgrain. If I haven't found one by the time I am looking like finishing it the woodgrain will be gone

[75wagon]

I prefer the look of the wood grain to none. But what I'm going to do (been saying this for too long now) is add extra gauges where the original radio position is and then cut proper veneer (not the cheap vinyl crap that is there now) and replace it and on the console to. I'm hoping to be able to match the colour to my steering wheel. Maybe soon
I've got a plain one here, I wonder if it's worth the postage doing a swap, probably not, I've got a few wood grain ones...

Dave...

[astronturbo77]

i pulled the wood grain off my lancer dash, and painted the glovebox and dash cluster body colour.

[shuggy]

im a woodgrain man, but that goes with my chrome bumper and round headlight obsession - love the classic look

[camB]

But what I'm going to do (been saying this for too long now) is add extra gauges where the original radio position is and then cut proper veneer (not the cheap vinyl crap that is there now) and replace it and on the console to. I'm hoping to be able to match the colour to my steering wheel.

Don't know if I should be putting this out there... but I have a vacuum forming bag for veneering. I use it mainly for flat work in my furniture, but it pulls down to both convex and concave formers if they're fairly shallow bends. Real timber veneer shits all over vinyl and you can get beautiful grain in veneer which would otherwise be unavailable as solid timber.

I'm not sure what or where your veneer goes, but I think I should probably have a look.

[75wagon]

I'm not sure what or where your veneer goes, but I think I should probably have a look.

Here is where it goes, on the instrument panel fascia and the console.
What you've suggested shouldn't be necessary as the panels are flat, and only need to be cut out and glued.
I will spend the time needed and make a computer generated template when I do it (as I'm a signwriter). I can then just cut it out on my vinyl cutter, so it means I will be able to cut these out in any colour available (this includes chrome ).
I would use these templates to mark out the veneer for where to cut. They would work very well as they wouldn't move once applied to the veneer, so there shouldn't be any stuff ups.
I've also thought about making carbon fibre panels (for the less old school look), I'd have to look into this though.


Dave...

[A112H]

Hey Dave, just keeping with the 70's Valiant theme could you print one in "fish scale" for the dash and console???

[77galantv6]

i might have to come round dave and get you to make me some stuff up....

maybe some sports pac stripes too

[camB]

Looks "flat", yes?
With timber veneer you won't get a very good finish unless you can apply enough even pressure. Now even if we could get your dash off and pop it into the vacuum press, it would collapse under the pressure, so the veneer would need to be glued to a substrate which could then be used. With epoxy you could glue to metal sheet, or with plain old PVA to a ply backing.

[rob020]

dont you galant people get woodgrain on your glovebox?? i dont even remember if my ga had veneer or not...

[A112H]

Nah, no plastic wood crap on the glovebox, just the facia and the console

[75wagon]

Looks "flat", yes?
With timber veneer you won't get a very good finish unless you can apply enough even pressure. Now even if we could get your dash off and pop it into the vacuum press, it would collapse under the pressure, so the veneer would need to be glued to a substrate which could then be used. With epoxy you could glue to metal sheet, or with plain old PVA to a ply backing.

What if I did as you suggested and glued the veneer to a ply back? How thin can you get ply? I don't want it to be thick, I don't want to see the wood grain thicker then the sides of the gauge surrounds..

Dave...

[camB]

Well, you can get 1.5mm or 2mm ply. Is that too thick?
The veneer is only 0.5 or 0.6mm on top of that.
I'll have a hunt around over the weekend and send you a test strip if you like?

[75wagon]

I just measure the thickness of the gauge surrounds, they are 4mm proud of the fascia.
I really need it to be as thin as possible.

I was originally thinking of bonding it to the fascia with contact adhesive would this not be successful?
I would have to apply the finish to the veneer panel before it was fitted (would be too difficult afterwards).
The other thing I had planned for it was to buy a book of transfer silver and re-silver the gauge surrounds and other parts of the panel that originally were silver.
I'm trying really hard to make it look more classy, but at the same time trying to keep it looking like it is original.

Dave...

[camB]

Yep, finish can be applied before installation - I'd recommend that.
The veneer is just too thin to apply with contact cement - you'll end up with ripples all over it, and probably end up with the veneer cracking as you try to smooth them out.

As I said, ply comes pretty thin, but will be more stable than the half mm thick veneer due to its structure. I think you would be more successful contact adhesiving the veneered ply panel on. Or, the veneer could be stuck to a metal panel with epoxy.

Pity about keeping it original... I've got some fantastic grain patterns on veneers.
If you PM me an address I'll post you a sample of the veneer and what it would look like bonded to a thin piece of ply.
Cheers,
Cam

[75wagon]

I actually want to match then closest to the grain and colour of my steering wheel.
So it wont be original, just matching... or close as

Dave...

[pistorf]

[quote="75wagon"] How thin can you get ply? I don't want it to be thick,
MrPly and wood has birch aircraft ply in 0.4mm ,.05mm ,1.6mm.
You can also get Hoop ply down to 1.6mm as well.
I reckon some carbon vinyl would look pretty trick on a GD dash Dave
As for adhesive,there is a glue that we used for gluing Stainless Steel bench tops to MDF . I can't remember the name of it,but once it was on there,the only way to remove the MDF was to burn it off.

[75wagon]

I reckon some carbon vinyl would look pretty trick on a GD dash Dave

I agree. But I've been told you can't get it anymore (at least from my supplier).
I have looked into air brushed imitation carbon fibre. Looks pretty simple and effective, just not the look I'm going for with mine.
Even a thin sheet of aluminium polished up would look great I think.
If I made up these self adhesive templates, anything that is flat and thin is a possibility.
All you'd have to do is stick on the template, cut out the voids, remove the template and stick whatever you've used on. Simple really...

Thanks pistorf for the tips on where to get thin ply from...

Dave...

[rob020]

ive always wanted to peel the vinyl off, but thought other people might see it as unnecesary vandalism, but seeing as it seems to be the thing to do, im peelin it off

i like the checkerplate, i think it might be abit too... hardcore... for my tastes though