I just finished wrapping my Fascia with Vinyl to repair a crack in the top. I set pieces back together just to see how it looked and took this picture. I will be doing the wood next. So far I have been pretty successful in chipping off the clear coat and then I can easily sand off the old veneer and start over.
1989 XJS coupe
That looks really nice. Well done!
You have a good start on your project. Hope it comes out great for you. Looking forward to hear how the refinishing comes out on the wood. Mine has some minor grazing from age and the heat.
Thanks guys! I am hoping that I can get the wood trim to look as good as new and hopefully last longer than the original. I tested various stains on a piece of the burled walnut veneer that I bought. I think I found the combination that I am going with. It matches the area of the ski slope that is covered and hasn’t faded. I plan to seal it with a lacquer and then spray clear coat several coats until I am happy with the look and then polish until smooth. I plan to use Better Bond TC-20 Copper adhesive to bond the veneer to the ski slope aluminum that I got from Joe the Woodworkers website. If anyone has experience with that adhesive or advice on what you have had success with I would appreciate the input.
Dash looks great. A+!
How did you get the vinyl to lay so smoothly without creases around curves such as above the instrument cluster? I have to do a Rolls Royce dash soon so any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Richard
Coder,
It does look very good. Could you elaborate on the vinyl wrap of the fascia? By the “fascia” do you mean the dash minus the wood? And how is a vinyl wrap done?
I retrofitted a dash from an ’83 to my ’76 (no wood) several years ago to replace the very badly cracked dash. The latter still looks very good, but the wood is a bit crazed. R&R of the dash is not something one takes on without some trepidation, but I managed to do it.
Ed Sowell
'76 XJ-S coupe, red
Richard,
A lot of preparation needs to be done prior to gluing down the vinyl. Any cracks need to be filled with epoxy and sanded smooth. any loose edges need to be trimmed or glued back down. Then the entire surface needs to be sanded to give the glue purchase. I cleaned mine with soap and water and did a final wipe with alcohol.
I used a good brush on vinyl glue and started with the flat top only. I would recommend marking the back side of the vinyl so you know where the glue needs to be applied to match the area you are putting glue on the dash. After the glue is spread wait about 2 minutes and attach the vinyl and smooth out. Basically you will need to have a hair drier or heat gun ready when you want to work the areas where the vinyl gets pushed into the valleys or around corners. Apply heat and gently stretch the vinyl into the area it needs to go. This takes a lot of patience and you need to keep pressure against the areas while to glue dries. I just kept pushing the vinyl into the corners with my fingers until it stayed put. Work small areas at a time to avoid problems. Also, use caution when trimming away the excess and in corners and edges. There will be places that require a lot of stretching to avoid wrinkles. When the vinyl gets stretched it will want to pull back until the glue sets. Make sure to leave enough extra material to glue on the back side when you stretch over outside edges. You don’t want the vinyl to pull back when it gets into the sun.
I also had to modify the glove box because the material is approximately .050" thick.
Nice work! When I reworked my dash on my 1975, i found applying heat to the old finish helped in its removal…but be careful…too much heat can burn the veneer. The old finish actually caused the wood to look lighter. I did not stain my dash but was surprised at how dark it turned out. I do not believe I had walnut but instead Cherry…I think Jaguar called it something else. While I was at it…I changed out the green instrument lenses with new blue to give it that modern feel of my xf.
Thanks Gary,
Your dash looks great. I am replacing the veneer on all of the pieces as the ski slope and switch bezel parts were steel backed veneer and had cracked into unusable veneer. In order to assure all of the wood matches I thought it would be better to replace all of the veneer. Great idea on the dash bulbs. I had thought about that myself but at this moment it is a ways down the to do list.
I should also mention that originally I tried to brush the finish on…I soon have up as I could not achieve a level surface. I used urethane spar varnish in a spray gun… I got fantastic results with that. Plan on letting the finish cure at least 2 weeks before attempting to polish. I have yet to do a finish polish on mine as I began working on the instruments and doing a trial set with them. The labels for the vents were removed, veneer sanded and then reattached before spraying…so they are embedded into the spar varnish. They won’t come loose.
On my xj6 I want to wrap new leather around the lower dash bolster…but I have been having quite a challenge getting them to fit the complex corners…I have even tried vacuum forming vinyl with questionable results
Very nice work, indeed.
I still recall a professional upholsterer’s tip.
When working with vinyl, put it out in the sun to warm.
Far more flexible and easier to fit to curved areas.
She had a tip for working out wrinkles and loose spots.
Regretfully, I’ve forgotten!!!
Tis the wear and tear of my 87, I suppose…
Carl
Thanks Carl. Yes I know about heat…I usually put vinyl in the clothes dryer on low heat for a couple of minutes. That works well as long as you can move quickly to secure. Also a hair dryer or careful use of a heat gun works also.
I still can not get it to follow the sharp and complex shape.
Apparently what Jaguar used on some trim locations was closer to 3M Dinoc. Which is almost a shrink to wrap type material. I was hoping to use actual leather on these bolster parts. I have been offered the suggestion of soaking the leather and pulling it over a form until it dries…I don’t want to use my pieces from the car for this test… I need to run to the breakers and grab a spare fire tests.
I’ve done a fair bit of veneering - although you can sometimes scotch a patch in or fill a crack, at some point it is just easier to bit the bullet and reveneer the whole part.
Vacuum molding is inescapable with the complex shapes such as the earlier saloons, but a mostly flat piece can be done with clamping or making a shaped clamping surface with expanding foam and/or hard styrofoam.
If you are gluing to a metal surface it helps to give the metal a good key (either by sanding with 60 grit, or with a soft metal like Al marking a 5x5mm cross-hatch with a carpet knife). Clean and degrease as for any surface finish, and when you go to glue the veneer to the metal, glue a single layer of cheesecloth between the metal and the veneer. The cheesecloth helps to absorb the differential expansion and contraction of the two materials.
Thanks Andrew. I finished gluing the new veneer on everything yesterday before I saw your post.
I wish I had seen your hint about the cheese cloth on the ski slope. Oh well! The adhesive I bought is supposed to be for adhering veneer to metal so I am hoping it will hold up over time. I did rough up the surface of the metal with 46 grit sandpaper and wiped the surface down with acetone before applying the glue.
All of the pieces look great as far as adhesion. I had some closed cell foam sheet that I clamped between the clamping surface and the veneer to force the veneer to take the shape of the trim substrate. That seemed to work very well.
I have to sand it all now and start the finishing process.
Any updates on how this turned out? Could you post the list of products you used (which varnish etc…)?
Wow that looks freakin awesome! I’ll consider doing my own vinyl wrap project as well but will probably seek some professional help from Gatorwraps.
I have been working on other parts of the car since I did the dash as the wife won’t let me paint in the house until I can open the windows. I will take the time to update the project in the next few days.
Wow! That looks freakin’ awesome! I’ll consider doing my own vinyl wrap project as well but will probably seek some professional help from Gatorwraps.
