GT Dash Material

[Alpine James]

Hi All,

A friend is going to make me a GT style dash as part of my SV rewiring project.

It has been a while since I have seen one, but am I correct in saying the proper veneer material is a burled walnut?

Has anyone tried anything else? Buddy is thinking Birds Eye Maple, or something even more exotic, but he's a cabinet maker, so the more exotic the better.

Thanks, James

 

[SoCalpine]

I had good luck with some striped mahogany, but there are some wild woods out there. Depending on the color of your car you could get something to compliment it. I chose the "red" mahogany to go with the BRG. If I had a blue car maybe that tiger maple would be just the thing.

 

[George Coleman]

I used sold black walnut on my Tiger it looked great but remember, when using soild wood it dose not give or flex. The org. were walnut veneer on plywood. When screwing down the dash don't get it tight, as with my Tiger a year or so later the wood checked at the screw holes, that was from mounting it to tight, be careful!!!

 

[RootesRich]

There was actually two types of GT dashboards. The early type was a veneered plywood and IIRC, in '64 they changed to a bakelite veneer. The bakelite veneer was a burled walnut style.

Your cabinet maker friend should be able to set you up with something wicked cool. Just remember to apply an exterior grade finish to the exposed surface.

 

[Ken Ellis]

Just to add to RootesRich's recommendation -- I would recommend finishing both sides of the dash -- on the back only clearcoat is necessary -- to control potential warping in humid conditions. When an unfinished back absorbs more moisture than the finished front, the wood will warp, and sadness will appear.

Monolithic dashes will be more likely to do this than plywood/veneer construction. Only takes a few minutes to prevent, though.

 

[RootesRich]

Just to add to RootesRich's recommendation -- I would recommend finishing both sides of the dash -- on the back only clearcoat is necessary -- to control potential warping in humid conditions. When an unfinished back absorbs more moisture than the finished front, the wood will warp, and sadness will appear.

Monolithic dashes will be more likely to do this than plywood/veneer construction. Only takes a few minutes to prevent, though.

Ken, never thought about you guys in humid climates. Good point. In the dry climate of Colorado, we have to opposite problem. One needs to leave the back unfinished to let the moisture of the wood out. Otherwise the finish bubbles and as you say, sadness appears.

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Ken, never thought about you guys in humid climates. Good point. In the dry climate of Colorado, we have to opposite problem. One needs to leave the back unfinished to let the moisture of the wood out. Otherwise the finish bubbles and as you say, sadness appears.

e

That's new one on me.being painter all my life.Properly dried or kiln dried wood when sealed all 4 edges should not have a problem.the problem with plywood is that the edges never seam to get sealed properly.so many small spaces that never get sealed.you practically need to dump the sealer on the edges and follow with a couple of coats

 

[RootesRich]

e
Properly dried or kiln dried wood when sealed all 4 edges should not have a problem.

That's specifically the problem around here Chuck. Wood here is still too wet for this climate when it leaves the mill.
The way we deal with the finish issue is specifying/ applying an acrylic based finish, which are breathable. However an acrylic finish for a dashboard will not perform long term as well as an oil based finish would. Thus we apply an oil based finish on the exposed surfaces and leave the concealed surface unfinished.

 

[Alpine James]

Hi All,

Making plans with my cabinet maker friend, he has suggested veneer of my choice with a moisture proof plywood backing ( I did not know such material existed) and finished with a latex exterior grade of Urethane. As in Colorado, humidity is not a problem here, except for the occasional lack of it.

I am thinking burled walnut as I seem to remember that was what was in an old S3 GT I had many years ago, but I could be wrong.

Thanks, James

 

[puff4]

I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly, but isn't the dash veneer book-leaved at the centre of the dash? I think my Tiger had it that way.

 

[RootesRich]

Hi All,

Making plans with my cabinet maker friend, he has suggested veneer of my choice with a moisture proof plywood backing ( I did not know such material existed) and finished with a latex exterior grade of Urethane. As in Colorado, humidity is not a problem here, except for the occasional lack of it.

I am thinking burled walnut as I seem to remember that was what was in an old S3 GT I had many years ago, but I could be wrong.

Thanks, James

You've got yourself a friend who seems to be a very knowledgeable cabinet maker. Moisture resistive plywood is high $$ stuff; I've never had the luxury of being able to specify it due to project budget constraints. The Urethane finish should serve you well.

Please post pictures of the finished dash and remember to install the oil pressure gauge first as it's a PITA to get to later.

 

[mikephillips]

Make sure he routes out the back of the dash for the switches, gauge retaining straps and the heater controls as he's doing this too. Otherwise you'll find they don't fit. If you need a pattern of what the routing looks like I can take a picture of the back of my old dash. And for assembly you'll want a piece of square steel with a D shaped hole for the starter switch, that keeps it from rotating when the key is turned.

 

[Alpine James]

I will be providing buddy with the old dash as soon as I start the tear down, so hopefully we will get the hidden bits right. As far as cost goes for the specialty stuff, He tells me he has connections and that for the size of a dash, he would be looking at picking up scrap pieces for the plywood base, and has a line on aquiring small pieces of veneer as well

Thanks, James.

 

[KenDemp]

James, or anyone else with input...

How did you do with your dash? I am thinking I might do this, as I have to remove the dash for my new wiring harness. I thought a wood dash might dress up the interior nicely.

How does one address the issue of fixing the guages, heater controls? What thickness of plywood? I was thinking a 1/4 in ply, walnut veneer, maybe stained a shade or two darker, then marine varnish.

 

[Nickodell]

remember to install the oil pressure gauge first as it's a PITA to get to later.

How true. When I made my own walnut dash, I had it in place and couldn't get to fit the OPG over the steering column, so had to swap it with the ammeter.

 

[Alpine James]

Due to somewhat unforseen circumstances I havn't had a chance to work on the car, and my cabinetmaker buddy has been too busy to make me a new dash. Hoping to get back on the project at xmas, dependinging on getting a furnace in the garage. Will probably install the old dash until we can fab a new one.

James

 

[mattinoz]

James unless there is a good reason not to use the original dash, then I would go that route rather than make a whole new dash from plywood. The original SV GT dash is a Bakelite unit with a veneer of timber over that.
I did mine last year, got a local furniture restorer who also happened to be a classic car enthusist, to do it and it worked out really well.

His only concern was how well the veneer would hold up if stuck directly to the bakelite so his recommendation was not to put the veneer directly on the bakelite but to apply it to a very thin single ply, about 1mm think, as I remember it, and then glue the ply to the bakelite substrate under pressure for several days until the glue was fully set. He then use a router to finish the holes etc.

 

[miket]

I used a walnut Burl Formica. It really looks like the Tiger dash. I have photos om my old drive, but I think if you do a search for Formica here you find a photo.

Mike

 

[steven]

For my first series V GT dash, I bought burled walnut veneer and used marine glue to attach it to the bakalite dash, I then used a vacumn bag (for clothes) and inserted the dash, sucked the air out with a vacumn unit. Then allowed it to dry. That dash has been on the car for 9 years in a hgh humidy climate. For my next project, bought another bakelite dash, have burled walnut sitting next to the computer, and sometime will glue it to the dash again.