My dash restoration

[71greengo]

I spent the last few nights cleaning up and semi restoring my gauge/dash assembly .....the woodgrain was pretty faded, sorry I didnt take any before pictures....but trust me this thing was dull and scratched up....and worse of all it smelled like mouse pee....YUCH......
anyways I took it all apart and cleaned/lubricated everything...and then I bought some stain touch up marker, that you would use on furniture for scratch touchups...........i dabbed allot on the dash and then wiped it in with some paper towels...looks awsome I think, and then I used a silver pen to redo the silver areas .......this takes about a week to dry completely in a warm area as it is oil based......then you can apply armour all on it.....the silver paint does not like armour all as it may remove the paint after time...as did the original finish.....but for 4 or 5 hours work it turned out great!

The silver outlines in the Picture look poor and look like they are messy....but in real life they look perfect...hmmm, must be the flash as I was very careful while outlining it all!


I will post some pictures of the other dash woodgrain insert soon as I just refinished the Charger R/T emblem on that also....and I sandblasted and repainted the entire dash steel frame also...
More PICS to follow





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[DynoDave]

Nice work! #2Thumbs#

[eckertc1]

+1

That thing is looking Nice Greengo ;D

[Deleted]

Those silver Sharpies are the best for puttin' the silver back on. Nice job!

[maxx1974]

That looks SUPER
I going to follow your lead. Outstanding job dude #2Thumbs#

[brock]

Feb 10, 2009 21:20:50 GMT -5 maxx1974 said:

That looks SUPER
I going to follow your lead. Outstanding job dude #2Thumbs#

+1 I have been wondering how to spruce up the plastic
woodgraining.

[Jer]

You can add me to your group of admirers and fans, Steve!!
(Notice, none of that "plus 1" shinola from yours truly!!)

Could you elaborate a bit on this quote from your post?:

"i dabbed allot on the dash and then wiped it in with some paper towels"

In particular, the "dabbed a lot" portion....does that mean you
"peppered" the entire woodgrain area, enough to get it "wetted
down" (for want of better expression), and then rubbed it in,
like a normal woodstain would be applied?

Thanks and sorry if I'm pestering you.

(But not really.)

[Deleted]

good job. ive been wondering about the silver outlining.... now i know. thanks

[71greengo]

What I meant about dabbing it is that I worked in small sections and just kept making a blob of stain that I used the paper towel to rub into the dash.....This stuff dries slow so you could work in a larger section, but I just did smaller sections and blended it in.....After it dries you could apply additional coats but this dash just needed one coat.............You could colour the dash with the pen and then rub off extra (like Staining) if you choose to.....

One tip I have found with these type of pens...I always Crush the very tip of the marker a little to make it more like a paint brush....it works waaay better then leaving the tip hard and pointy...

I did forget to mention THAT YOU MUST clean it well before hand with a wax and grease remover.....if it has a product like Armour all on it then you will have to remove that also....

Remember this stuff dries Slooooowwww....but will dry completely and a tough finish

I of course do not guarentee any results and have found this to work on mine....I just dont want any one emailing saying "you OWE me a new dash!! " so this is my disclaimer........if you have an old dash try it on that first...or try a small area...I can only say I am very happy with mine!

[Nacho-RT74]

wood finish marker? how does work that ?

NICE LOOKING CLUSTER!!!!