Replacement fascia for 350i

Replacement fascia for 350i

Author
Discussion

Dave350iTVR

Original Poster:

126 posts

269 months

Monday 28th January 2002
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Has anyone replaced the dashboard fascia? Is there a supplier that has already made units? Maybe T.E.T. ? The 'walnut' finish has some slight cracks and would benefit from a replacement. Any suggestions?

JMorgan

36,010 posts

285 months

tvr350i

80 posts

268 months

Monday 28th January 2002
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Yepp! I did it last winter on my 350. Nothing for scary people though! There was NO WAY i could get some walnut i Sweden with the right quality. Finally a used another kind of wood, actually it suited my beige interor much better than walnut! After SOME testing, a will write a book about it one day.., i ended up with a working method. But first: Get rid of all the old wood. One must start with a clean steel plate. The wood(0.5-1.0 mm thick) is "glued" to the steel with EPOXI under some(light) pressure. Where talking about "normal" epoxi for GRP use. It gets hard pretty slow. A day or so. NOT Super Epoxi ! It will suck in to the wood but that just fine. It won´t look fine first but it doesn´t matter. Then, carv(veery gently) out all the holes and so. Sandpaper the wood gently to a noice soft surface. I finished off with using 2-component Polyrethane laque. I paintied 6 layers, 2 a day, and i didn´t sandpaper the surface between! Looks more "alive"(that´s my opinion). You have to paint in a dustfree environment !!! Before doing the real thing, i advise some testing(takes a week or so). So, this could be done att home, it´s not expensiv, but it takes TIME. I wonder if anbody else has done this ever at home ? /Bengt,Sweden

Nacnud

2,190 posts

270 months

Monday 28th January 2002
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Peninsula have just re-veneered my dash and it looks brilliant - Depth to the gloss you could almost dive into. They are also getting replacement decals for the switches, etc.

They offered a carbon-fibre alternative

sevans

1,159 posts

268 months

Monday 28th January 2002
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Had mine done by FW Cooper in Crewe tel 01270 251432. He can re-veneer the old dash if the wood is in good condition or make a new dash if necessary.
Did an excellent job.... well he did once work for Rolls Royce. He can also veneer other bits. I had the electric window switch plate done on the centre console.
Cheers Steve Evans

Dave350iTVR

Original Poster:

126 posts

269 months

Monday 28th January 2002
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What sort of prices are we talking? Similar to that of Wedge Automotive?

pistolar

1,474 posts

269 months

Monday 28th January 2002
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If you are on a limited budget Demon Tweeks do a vinyl film veneer which is cheap and looks fantastic , i have used it on a 350 switch panel. I had my 400 done by Barnet in walnut veneer looked great cost about £300 5 years ago, but for what its worth i would use the film in future.
It may be worth you checking when you are being quoted by suppliers whether they are using wood veneer or film. This is important as i know some are using the film but giving it a fancy description. From memory film costs about £30!!!!!!They also do other finishes ie carbon fibre

>> Edited by pistolar on Monday 28th January 21:56

sevans

1,159 posts

268 months

Tuesday 29th January 2002
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I had the dash, glove box, door handles and the metal plate on the centre console containing the window switches all re-veneered. I think it came to a total of around £270.
It depends what is involved. My dash was made of Plywood and was OK underneath but I think some of the later Wedges had dashes made of MDF and they can need replacing.
Regards Steve Evans