Decided to peel off the black vinyl covering the previous owner had on
the gauge panel and glove box on my BJ8. The gauge panel only had two
hairline cracks from the tach hole to the choke hole, so I just cleaned
and rubbed it out. The glove box had been stripped and cleared, but a
bad job prompted the vinyl covering. I stripped it with Minwax furniture
refinisher. The original coating on the inside of the door came right
off with a heat gun and careful scraping with a sharp 1" wood chisel.
Light sanding was all it needed then. It was a little too walnut brown
compared to the gauge panel, so I tried a little stain to tone it. Used
Polyshades urethane natural cherry and antique walnut mixed 50-50.
Looked great, so I poured Famowood epoxy clear coat on. Home Depot $17,
enough to do five or six dashes. Make sure the temperature is within mfg
specs or it will get cloudy or mottled. It amplified the red cherry
color more than I wanted, but I'll live with it for now. I have a spare
from another car that I like the grain pattern better, so I'll redo it
and swap it in later. In not refinishing the gauge panel, (keep the car
as original as possible), I'll try a little antique maple stain this
time and see if it comes closer to the amber faded gauge cluster. One
good thing, the furniture refinisher will soften the clear stuff enough
to scrape it off again and takes the stains back off as well. Sorry for
the long winded explanation, but if you got this far, I hope my
experience helps you out.
Dave
67 BJ8
60 BT7 (in pieces)
60 Bugeye http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2z49v/bugeye.htm
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