Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Wow. Nice job! And the font really looks right.

You mention "poly" . . . did you use polyurethane or polyester clear?

Randy

Oh, and was the source of those labels "All-Out Graphics" in West Vancouver, BC, Canada?

Just received my letters in the mail.

I overlaid on original dash and while there is a very minor size difference in wording length the font looks superb.

I do not think anyone would ever know the lettering was not original.

THANK YOU for a superb job!!!!

Sent you a pm, Briggs.

Mine have arrived. Superbly packed and a lovely job, thanks very much. Now to think about restoring my dash.

Mine have also arrived, many thanks!

Thanks again for taking this on. You put in a lot of work to get it done.

Bud

Randy, I used polyurethane. The original plan was to use a fancy imported boat-varnish on which I spent big bucks, but I found it too difficult to work with. I wound up using Minwax polyurethane, brushed at first, sanded smooth, and then sprayed from a rattle-can for the outer layers. I'm away from home this week so I can't quote you the exact product among the many that Minwax make. After those pics were taken, I brought the shine up a little more with a cheep random-action polisher from the auto-parts store and a bottle of one of the polishing compounds (again, not sure of the exact product) from the same store. What doesn't show in the pic is that I didn't do a perfect job of any aspect of the dashboard, and that lack of perfection gives it a certain 'character' that I was aiming to achieve.

And yes, I had the tansfers made by All-Out. I'm very satisfied in dealing with them.

Okay, very nice . . . good to know. Thanks for the details, and for the "All-Out" endorsement.

Randy

Hi All,

Good to hear the positive reviews and that they are arriving in a reasonable time. Hope to get mine under a coat of poly this weekend, will post the results!

As a bit of info for anyone converting via PayPal the amount seems to vary a bit. What I have received from the states matches, but anything coming from overseas varies plus/minus a dollar or so. Close enough in the end.

Greg Foster and ElliottN I have sent you PM's, looks like they're sitting in my out box waiting for you to sign in.

Is there anyone on here that is clued up about wood Clear coats? I have been asked to clear a Triumph dash that has been re-veneered but i've only used Acrylic in the past with less than ideal results. Ideally i'd like to spray it on to save flatting and polishing. It would be nice if i could use some thing that doesn't need 10 days to cure before polishing.

I have had a chat with a local varnish supplier who recommended Spraying urethane, i've used coloured urethane before for chassis components but can't say i've ever used the clear. I'm told the adhesion is very good, doesn't Crack or discolour with high UV and can be flatted/polished within two days of application.

Then of course there is old school polyurethane but tends to need lots more coats (so i'm told)

Last i have been told Cellulose works well but i would have thought the UV protection wouldn't be upto much?

This dash has come at a good time as i plan to refinish my Elan dash over the winter so i'm using it as practice.

Why not try a pre-cat lacquer?

I've used this on kitchen cabinets and some furniture with very nice results.

The stuff I used on my kitchen cabinets had a UV inhibitor as well. Drys fast and can be polished.

I used ML Campbell - MagnaKlear Pre-Cat Clear Conversion Coating with HVLP spray system.

I plan on redoing my dash with the same product in high gloss.

Looks interesting, have to see if i can get it here in the Uk.

You folks in the UK use the word lacquer to mean something quite different than over here in NA. For us, lacquer is either the original - nitrocellulose lacquer as used on old cars and (beautiful) old guitars - or the later version: so-called "acrylic lacquer" with "plasticizers" added, as used on 1950s American cars and 1960s Fender guitars (think of all those crazy, beautiful colours cars and guitars came in back then). Lacquer is no longer used in NA, except for some furniture work. Nitrocellulose lacquer is nowhere near durable enough for a car fascia (check out the cracking, checking, yellowing and colour-fading on old American guitars (which characteristics, incidentally, are highly valued by old-guitar fans

I have been told that the commercial automotive wood restoration and replacement companies in the US use polyester clear coat. Harder to find but tougher/harder than automotive-type urethane clear coats. If I were to re-coat an Elan fascia (which I'm planning to do in the next month), and I couldn't find a good source of polyester, or trust myself with the application, I would use automotive urethane clear coat, as in base coat/clear coat product. That's stuff you're very familiar with, Chris. Still have to "flat" it, as you Brits say, and then polish/buff, but you know the production schedule for that material by heart.

FWIW, YMMV . . .

Randy

Randy, It's very similar here too. 'Lacquer' is Nitrocellulose to 90% of people inc Pro's etc but 'Clear coat' is the blanket expression.

Funny you should mention polyester, i spoke to a local Veneer restorer who recommended Morrells VLI Polyester Clear (might be a UK manufacturer). I was told it's bullet proof but requires drying with a UV lamp rather than heat (so no low bake for me), it can be sprayed but requires a largish gun setup (Quite Viscous i believe). Same guy said urethane would be his second choice (much easier to spray on) but he found the finish is too hard, Chips and is next to impossible to polish to a decent gloss.

Must admit i'm interested to have a go.