International Lancia Forums

HI, I am a new member living in the south of Spain. Is there any other members here?
About dashboards, I used to have a business in the UK making and restoring car wood interiors, so if anyone needs any advice on how to do it in your garage by hand or with a spray gun I can post a mesage as there are a few trade secrets that you will need to know

Kevin Rosser

PS I am about to refinish my dash in the near future as It has been in the red hot sun for the last six years without moving

Interesting Kevin. Tell us.

The dashboard in my fulvia 1976 was strait grain teak with a 30% sheen level. As all car manufactures follow the trend of the wood which is trendy at the time as was teak in the sixties and early 70ies

Someone said they had put a shellac finish on it, shellac is the bace for french polish, this will not with stand the change in temps and mosture which will at some time will get into the car.
Without going into pages of tech detail this is a good DIY system to use
remove the old finish with paint stripper
fill any damages with a wood filler
Sand smooth with 150 grit paper
Apply one thin coat of exterior varnish
sand smooth with 240 grit paper
Paint out the plywood edges with an acrlic paint of the same colour
apply another 3 coats of vanish both front and back this is a must
4days later sand with 400 wet and dry
For a satin finish wire wool with 0000wire wool
For a gloss finish sand with 1000 grit wet and dry and then 1400 and finally burnish with Tcut

If any one wants to know how to spray finish I can explain what system to use for cars as it is a bit different to funiture
hope that helps

Kevin

Kevin here again, I failed to mention for a gloss finish you must use a sanding block at all times, as gloss finish shows every lump and bump due to the reflective light on a shiny finish. It is not that important on a satin finish.