115/3067 bought back from France

[Kevin Birch]

Off to Redditch today to the Great Escapes classic coffee & bacon butty morning. Loads of classics there, a great turn out, met up with Eddie and Gary, with their Mk2 & Mk3 Interceptors.
Good to meet you guys, and hope to see you in the future.

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And one of the many cars bought along, or is it a boat?

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[Eddie]

[Kevin Birch]

Finally got the dash painted with wrinkle paint. I had tried this when I stripped the dash down over the winter, but couldn't get a consistent finish. In the end I painted it satin black, which looked good, but it niggled me every time I drove it. The trick to success is obviously the temperature, I knew this was an essential part of how the paint works, but central heating isn't good enough. Today I rubbed the parts down, left them in the sun, together with the tin of paint, and then sprayed several light coats when all was nice and warm. Results can be seen below.
Have now sorted most of the interior, with all parts that should be the same colour as the seats redone, and the rear deck recovered in black, as opposed to the white cloth it was all covered in. Have kept the none standard white suede head lining, as I rather like it, and it is in great shape.

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[PaulMcElhinney]

Looking good Kev.

[Christian]

Nice! That's why someone invented a stove: For baking wrinkle parts in the winter...

[SRS2000]

Kevin - That dash and veneer look fantastic - I'm in the process of getting my MK1 dash (top panel) partly re-made, looks like someone took a can opener too it at some point in the past. What paint and veneer did you use / recommend pls ? Cheers Steve R

[Kevin Birch]

Hi Steve,

The paint was Hycote wrinkle finish, bought on Ebay for about £8 per can, I used less than 1 can, even doing a number of cock-ups. The trick is to do several light coats, but keep the can a fair distance away from the surface, to give a grainy dusting of paint, it takes a bit of practice but you will see what I mean when you give it a go. Best results on bare metal, although there was a little filler to get the surface flat.

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The veneer was also bought off Ebay, for a tenner, for 10 concecutive sheets, that were not flat, and 1 sheet wasn't big enough to completely cover the panel. First the veneers were seperately soaked then clamped between 2 pieces of chipboard, which flattens them out, and the chipboard absorbs the water, leave a day or so and the veneers come out pretty flat. Two consecutive veneers were then chosen, and one reversed, so the grains are a mirror image of each other when put together, this is called oystering. Using a sharp knife and a straight edge, cut through both veneers at the same time to give a perfect edge to join them together, then glue them to the panel. I used evostick, a thin smear on both the veneer and the panel, then let them dry before bringing them together. Clamp them between the chipboard again to ensure they are perfectly flat, but cover the veneer with newspaper before clamping, to stop it sticking to the chip board. Leave a day to really set, then remove from the chipboard, and carefully sand the veneer until perfectly flat, and then clear coat. I used standard aerosol clear lacquer from the local car shop, a couple of coats, then sand, 2 more then sand, then another 2, all fairly light coats. Then sanded down with 2000 wet & dry, T-cutted and finally polished. It's not difficult, but quite time consuming, you can't rush this type of job, but very theraputic. I used about 8 clamps, varying from G-clamps mole grips and body panel clamps, the more the better.

Good luck, Kev

[taximan]

VHT have correct paint for interior and high temp under bonnet use.

http://www.vhtpaint.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shaun.

[SRS2000]

Many thanks Kevin / Shaun, looks good... the info on veneer is great, there was me thinking you just bought it stuck it on and cut it out, how wrong can you be ! cheeers

[taximan]

If you want to delay doing it properly you can do just as you've said, folia tec do wood effect sticky back plastic/vinyl that does the job, all the varnish must be applied to veneer in good warm dry environment, moisture in the air will make it cloudy.
Shaun.

You can get this in Bristol.

http://gpimmediacollections.3m.com/dmrw ... ord=DI-NOC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.spandex.com/Images/DI-NOC_Wo ... -15891.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jagnut]

I have just taken the switch panal out of mine to re-veneer it. How do you remove the gear selector panel. Wow what a lot of old wires.

[Kevin Birch]

HI Jagnut,

First remove the gear selector knob, there is an allen key screw on the base of the knob, usually pointing forward, loosen this, then turn the knob anti-clockwise. The button in the centre of the knob will start coming out, be careful, as it is spring loaded, and will spring off at the end of the thread. Once the button is out, then the rest of the knob can just be pulled off.
Next open the centre console, there are 2 screws inside facing forward, remove these, and the back of the gear selector panel will lift up, with the front part of the console, then pull it back and it should come out with a bit of jiggling. The front is held in by 2 metal strips which fit into slots in the front panel.
See photo of the panel taken out, as it was before I did my veneer, you will get a better idea of what I'm trying to describe.

Good luck.

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[taximan]

And the black plastic strip with hole for gearshift can be replaced whilst you are there.
As to sanding the veneer I made chessboards at school in woodwork and the tool used was like a hand plane, basically I shaved the surface with a blade, the name of the tool will come to me in my sleep I'm sure!
Shaun.
Got it.....

http://www.grainger.com/product/STANLEY ... 1?$smthumb$" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PS: I have used an open stanley knife blade drawn across surface with the grain to good effect.

[Kevin Birch]

Good idea Shaun, but a spoke shave is too coarse for veneer, as it is only about 1mm thick, but the scraping of a stanley blade is good. In woodwork at school we had some 1mm approx thick steel sheets, about 6 x 3 inches, which we would burnish a sharp 90 degree edge and scrape across the wood, which would leave a lovely smooth surface, much the same effect as the Stanley blade, but easier and quicker.

[jsngold]

Your burgundy seats look great with the black/ dark paint work. I shall be painting my FF1 in a few months. Original colour black with black leather but I'm thinking of another original colour as I think the two together will be to repressive.