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Oct 20, 2023 14:18:37 GMT
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Hi everybody. I've got a MINI with a dashboard problem I'm trying to fix. Rover, in their wisdom... built the dash binnacle from timber / lumber / a nice bit of teak by the looks of it! With it now being a 25 year old part moisture has got around from the unsealed rear and penetrated the timber and cracked it... as it inevitably would. Now I have to get the old silver coating off so I can reapply it. I can't find these dashboard parts anywhere so I think I'm stuck refurbishing this one. The coating chips off easily in some places but in all the other areas which are still there in the photo it is well stuck to the timber. Has anybody got any suggestions?  |
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Oct 20, 2023 17:05:08 GMT
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Could you not get it wrapped?
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Oct 20, 2023 20:31:10 GMT
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It's only wood. Could you not make another one?
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Oct 20, 2023 22:05:19 GMT
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When I have refinished veneered dashboards i've just coated them in paint stripper then covered in polythene and using a stanley blade carefully scrapped the old varnish off. This could work here but if the dash is only painted and you want to repaint can you not just sand it down?
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,832
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I'm not sure thats a viable repaint, certainly with the experience I have, For paint/varnish to have a good finish, the substructure needs to be in good condition, I have a feeling that if you peel the paint off the rest of the binnacle you will find more cracks in the wood, which, to me says the wood is not stable, and no matter what you do, I think it will "crack out" very quickly, options might be find a better one or make a new one, minisport offer 3 hole replacements, but not a cheap item, www.minisport.com/pmy527-alloy-charcoal-3-clock-dashboard-with-3-extra-clock-holes-rhd.html |
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Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style.
Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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Oct 21, 2023 10:10:38 GMT
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There's always this which I found - just the 3-dial binnacle. The difficult part would be matching it. But it is less than a full dash. Might be worth giving these guys a call? This Might Be Good |
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Last Edit: Oct 21, 2023 10:11:09 GMT by mrbounce
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Oct 21, 2023 13:26:29 GMT
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It's only wood. Could you not make another one? It looks quite a simple shape but I think actually getting it right would take an awfully long time. I could do it but I think the shorter route is to fix it. My preferred option would have been to buy another... but they're not really out there as far as I can tell. |
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Oct 21, 2023 13:28:23 GMT
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When I have refinished veneered dashboards i've just coated them in paint stripper then covered in polythene and using a stanley blade carefully scrapped the old varnish off. This could work here but if the dash is only painted and you want to repaint can you not just sand it down? under the paint there is some kind of resin which makes the coating about 1mm thick. I think the paint stripper tactic is actually a good suggestion. I'll see how far I get chipping it off dry as paint stripper can impregnate the wood and give trouble during repainting. |
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Oct 21, 2023 13:31:30 GMT
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I think the reason it has cracked was the car was stored with a leaking heater matrix so was damp inside. Plenty of MINIs with the 'sport' dash which isn't cracked so it should be stable enough as long as you keep moisture out of the car. I tried putting it in the dishwasher. No detergent, on the hot setting.  Weirdly it closed up the cracks! I can now flake off more of the paint but I don't know if one cycle in the dishwasher is going to be enough. Not sure how many times I can get away with it!  |
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Oct 21, 2023 15:40:05 GMT
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I think the reason it has cracked was the car was stored with a leaking heater matrix so was damp inside. Plenty of MINIs with the 'sport' dash which isn't cracked so it should be stable enough as long as you keep moisture out of the car. I tried putting it in the dishwasher. No detergent, on the hot setting. Weirdly it closed up the cracks! I can now flake off more of the paint but I don't know if one cycle in the dishwasher is going to be enough. Not sure how many times I can get away with it! Just be careful because the wood will soak up the moisture like a sponge and then if you don't give it enough time to dry out it might cause the paint to fail. |
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Oct 21, 2023 15:45:51 GMT
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I think it's all coming off.
I'm also starting to think the resin which is under the paint is PVA glue. So maybe the right way to refinish it is to lather on the PVA, sand it smooth and then paint.
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Oct 21, 2023 18:41:43 GMT
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you could cover it in fibrrglass tissue then prime with a couple of coats of epoxy and flat that back smooth.
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you could cover it in fibrrglass tissue then prime with a couple of coats of epoxy and flat that back smooth. I would have to learn that process. Not done fibre glass before. Doesn't fibre glass require fine surface filling afterwards? |
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tissue leaves a orange peel like surface, a couple of coats of thick primer flatted back are usualy enough to smooth it, its how I fix cracks on fiberglass cars.
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Last Edit: Oct 22, 2023 21:28:11 GMT by kevins
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Oct 22, 2023 13:40:16 GMT
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The glue that was on the surface might actually be a cyanoacrylate glue. aka superglue. It smells sweet. So might not be PVA.
Anyone know what product they might have used which is available in generous quantities they could have spread all over the surface of this piece?
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Oct 23, 2023 10:57:14 GMT
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I think I've figured out what they actually would have used but would still appreciate a second opinion if it seems incorrect!
Gelcoat seems to be the thing. It's linked to fibreglass technology in the sense that it seems to be used for lining moulds and also potentially as a top coat over fished fibreglass pieces... I'm not familiar with fibreglassing.
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Oct 23, 2023 11:06:23 GMT
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Now I've mostly chipped off the coating it looks like this. Whilst the dishwasher seems to have promoted loosening of the coating I think it also bent it. Hence the gaps closing up! So I'm going to have to either sand it or try and steam it back flat again. Another run in the dishwasher with some clamps on it to try and bend it back!  |
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Oct 23, 2023 11:22:46 GMT
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The reason the cracks have closed up is because you've re-hydrated it by putting it in the humid/wet atmosphere of the dishwasher. If you leave it to dry they may well open up again.
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Last Edit: Oct 23, 2023 11:24:02 GMT by colnerov
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Oct 23, 2023 12:11:57 GMT
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I think due to positioning within the dishwasher. I think the rails were touching the top and bottom of the piece so it has sagged in the middle.
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It had another run in the dishwasher but that seemed to make no difference. It's been sitting around for 2 or 3 weeks and hasn't changed shape again. The 'flatness' of it is reasonable so I'm pressing on. Lightly sanded it with the disc sander to get the hairy roughness off it. I bought some white gelcoat. Went for white as I think that would be a better colour to go under silver paint although I don't think it's going to make much of a difference in the end as I'm probably going to use grey high-build primer under the silver paint. I think you can touch this stuff after a couple of hours but I'm going to leave it 24 hours before trying to sand back the first coat. I think I will have to sand it back as smooth as possible right from the start and build up the surface gradually with about 4 or 5 coats.   |
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Last Edit: Nov 13, 2023 9:33:35 GMT by ejenner
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