Dash wood: teak, walnut, mahogany?

[mac5777]

The more seams in a dash, the less waste. When Randy did my dash he used a full length piece with no seams and he said it is more costly because of the amount of waste. And of Course I chose a rare and costly seamless veneer. He said he could get two dashes out of a veneer sheet that I choose but because of the center portion the extends to the gear shifter he can get only one dash on the S3 and 4s, with no seams.
So chose a wood grain that hides a seam and a not so rare. All of the other dash guys all look like they do good work. How well the dash performs is the real story.

Sarto

[garyeanderson]

I have mad a few replacement dashes for Elan's over the years. 45/8221 was bought with a smashed dash as well as the nose cut off. I made the pattern from a couple of pieces that were left after I bought the wreck. I used this RHD dash in combination with the original for 45/8221. The dashes are NOT mirror images of each other, there is a ? inch offset to the tunnel so that dashes are offset that much too. Here is a photo of the S4 RHD dash that was used to make the offset mirror.



I also made a template of the LHD version and when it was time to rebuild the RHD Coupe (7004090078E) I decided that I would rather build it LHD so I made another. This was the 4th dash by this point as I built a pair of S2 dashes, one for 26/4597 and another for a friend that was rebuilding his S2. The Coupe LHD dash was the 3rd built from a 18 by 96 inch piece of Walnut Burl that cost $112 delivered back in 1994, Burls are nice in that the pattern is random and no grain to worry about. There is a small bit that needed to be spliced in down at the bottom that is hidden by the console.



I think you have seen enough of the S2 but here is one more of the dash.



The S4's are the more difficult to make with the rectangular switches but I made a pattern to do those with, I didn't bother with the radio (can't hear it), ashtray, or cigar lighter (don't smoke). Besides I like the look of the Walnut burl and didn't want to loose any more than possible If I didn't have to. I respect those that do them for others as they take a lot of time especially the finish for those that don't do it all of the time.

All of the dashes that I have made were with 7-ply 10 mm Baltic birch, I veneered only the fronts of these. The proper method is to do both the front and the back to keep the number of plies to an odd number the same I believe and maybe something to do with moisture absorption. The original S2 dash that has never been refinished or otherwise altered is .411 inch including the original finish and the front and back veneers.

[jk952]

Lots of good info. on dashboards, but it seems no consensus on what was when..
Re Mr. Butler, I have a fresh piece of teak veneer to do mine, the glove box side of yours -just from the photo. could be either teak or mahogany, but when you look to the instrument side the graining looks exactly as my teak veneer.. with the sometimes slightly darker striations so I suggest it is teak. Walnut often has wider striation pattens, but of course depends on the cut, tree etc. Just an opinion...

So has anyone applied veneer recently to a dashboard? In the past I have used contact cement to apply veneer, but it was an inside application not something that may be exposed to the sun and heat occasionally. Also it is a bit tricky to obtain a full even coverage of the glue to both pieces. One would need a fast set glue to avoid lifting until set.

Jack

[billwill]

Lots of good info. on dashboards, but it seems no consensus on what was when..
Re Mr. Butler, I have a fresh piece of teak veneer to do mine, the glove box side of yours -just from the photo. could be either teak or mahogany, but when you look to the instrument side the graining looks exactly as my teak veneer.. with the sometimes slightly darker striations so I suggest it is teak. Walnut often has wider striation pattens, but of course depends on the cut, tree etc. Just an opinion...

So has anyone applied veneer recently to a dashboard? In the past I have used contact cement to apply veneer, but it was an inside application not something that may be exposed to the sun and heat occasionally. Also it is a bit tricky to obtain a full even coverage of the glue to both pieces. One would need a fast set glue to avoid lifting until set.

Jack

See Tech Tips:
http://www.lotuselan.net/publish/attach ... dash.shtml

[paddy]

So has anyone applied veneer recently to a dashboard? In the past I have used contact cement to apply veneer, but it was an inside application not something that may be exposed to the sun and heat occasionally. Also it is a bit tricky to obtain a full even coverage of the glue to both pieces. One would need a fast set glue to avoid lifting until set.

Yes, after looking at the various options I used a hot melt glue. I read that the impact glues allow too much movement and the veneer will creep over time with heat cycles. It looked like the best option would have been a cold press glue but I didn't have a vacuum press to apply it.

So far I'm pleased with the result but only time will tell how durable it is. This was teak BTW - it sounds like some glues don't react well to the oiliness of the teak.

I found it very easy to work with, allowing areas to be re-heated several times if not stuck fully. You can tell what's not stuck down by spraying a fine mist of water onto the veneer surface and where it bubbles it's not stuck.

Just watch out for the shrinkage that happens as you heat the veneer. Start at one corner and work towards the other corner. If you stick down opposite edges before sticking the middle, it will split the veneer. This means that you can only use the hot melt glue if there are no joins - at least I think it would be much much harder to get it right. If there are joins I guess you need to be looking at the cold press glues.

Paddy

[garyeanderson]

These are a couple of good links and recommended by some of the folks on the Klipsch Loudspeaker forum.

http://www.oakwoodveneer.com/tips/hints.html

Here is another

http://www.joewoodworker.com/

There is a lot of info out in the real world. I have used two part Epoxy, contact cement (liquid in a can) the kind that says use outdoors and avoid open flames. Spray adhesive in an aerosol can. The Heatlock products sound like they have a lot of promise. This is what I am going to try for the fronts of the Klipschorns when I get some spare money to pretty them up. As far as what wood veneer to use, the first person in my mind is myself, as I will be living with it. If you are an originality freak well leave as delivered, I guess most of my stuff belongs in the Mods section. I don't see them as mods, they are just a fact that a 40 plus year old neglected Elan needs more of a facelift than most cars after spending many years out side. My first dashes were finished with varnish, the last one was a coat of varnish to give it a bit of a warm color and then a trip to my friend that paints cars for a couple of coats of clear coat over it. Then wet sand with 2000 grit wet/dry and buff and polish. So many ways to do things and not many are wrong. Just different that?s all.

[RedS4]

Really? First Elan that I have ever seen with "original" grain running upwards. 40 years on, one still lives and learns.

I agree, I've never seen one and to be honest it looks a bit odd ..... no offence intended

Not odd - bespoke!! Now with added character... (part of the joys of owning one of these little beauties - no two are the same).

Offended? never. Misuderstood? Maybe....

[cabc26b]

JK952

Used system 3 T88 structural epoxy on the last 2 dashes I did . One was teak, one was black walnut. be careful of bleed through . for originality freaks hide glue is what they used in the day. looking for consensus - s1 2 piece dashes were only done in oiled teak from the factory. type 26 1 piece dashes were not done in teak from the factory .

G

[elansprint71]

Gary,
I find that the ashtray is very useful for keeping all those little screws and things which fall off on every journey. If I did not have it, the foot-wells would be full after a few weeks. Anyone know where they all come from- I can never find out.

[garyeanderson]

Hi Pete

Did you ever hear of adding lightness? Well when things drop off they are tossed out the window if you find that no problems develop. If you go looking for where it was that it originally came from, you will more than likely need a full restoration because once you pull the dash out and start looking at what else needs to be done. The whole Elan is apart that day and it take 5 to 14 years to get them back together for most.

Seeing this is a dashboard topic and I hate going off and just falling in line with more trash posts like Pete?s, I'll add a photo of 45/8221 dash, the first one I made up from guessing what they look like. The veneer was rotary cut Walnut and had about 10 coats of schooner varnish on it, flattened with wet/dry 220 paper between coats. Yes I used water with a little detergent to keep the paper from loading up. I guess in England you can't do that as the water will never evaporate The insulation in the Elan was a ? inch of polyurethane foam. It seems to work pretty well for heat and not to bad for sound either.