Woodgrain Dash Decal Installed – Some Hints and Finished Pics!

[Mfr426]

Hello all and thank's for your patience and interest in the dash bezel decal question a few weeks back. Some have asked for some comments about the kit and about installing it so here goes. Anyway, as I mentioned, I DID buy this set from eBay.

This is the kit: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4600057660
(As a side note the seller and transaction was great and I highly recommend him).

Having completed the install I can say that the quality of this product is FANTASTIC!!!  The material is right on for color and although a bit more glossy then the originals, the overall look far outweighs that slight inconsistency. For the record I am not doing a hemi 69 but do think that this kit is about as close to original as you can get and would have no hesitation in recommending it for that concourse restoration. 

Some thoughts: Keep in mind that I am by no means an expert but after 9 years of restoring this car I have learned a few things about doing the right and wrong way to do things. First, with this kit read the directions several times before beginning the project. The directions that came with this kit are very detailed. Plan on this job taking you several hours to complete. Make sure you clean the old woodgrain with some type of degreaser and sand it to remove all scratches and/or dents, etc. Any surface abnormalities will show through if you don't do the right prep. I sanded with 500 grit paper and prep'd it with lacquer thinner. Make sure you get the right glue. This is very important!! I went to my hobby shop and got "Insta-cure" that the directions recommended. It sets in 10-15 seconds. This is basically Super Glue but seems to stick better and more "industrial grade".

The directions suggest that you start with all the square holes so that you can get an idea of how much this material can stretch – IT CAN REALLY STRETCH!!! Make sure you use a hair dryer on each hole to stretch the material as suggested. I had a hair dryer on the entire time to keep the material pliable. In my pictures I show a fluted Nurf ball used to stretch the decal (suggested by the directions w/kit). I used the wrong ball (fluted). After I did the first large hole I went to Wal-Mart and got a non-fluted ball. The flutes did not provide a smooth surface all the way around the hole to keep the decal flat. Make sure you put the slits in the material pretty far back from the hole edges until you can see how much the decal wraps around. Otherwise, you'll have small slits that are visible from the front when done. I ended up cutting my first hole too close to the front and had to unglue, re-stretch and re-glue to get them to not be visible. I found that slitting the holes with too few of segments made the material wrinkle so do more cuts vs. less cuts. In the end you can still see the slits when you are close so I'll end up touching that up (filling it) with paint that is closely matched. It should fix that issue. The picture shows one that had only a few cuts and I had trouble with that hole. I would have to say that this kit is top-notch. The lettering is dead on with position and the way that the material wraps around the holes makes it look factory.

I also included a pic of my lens for the cluster. I used plastic polish to clear the haze on the lenses with great success. I used a t-shirt and took my time practicing with the smaller lens area first.

Hope this post helps some folks.

[Mfr426]

More pics...

[Mfr426]

and more...

[Mfr426]

and the lense post polishing...

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Are you kidding me??!!   Those things look almost NOS!!!

That is a really great kit!

[Mfr426]

Got to say, it was worth time and money. Thanks for the comments.

[jaak]

looks fabulous I wish my car had woodgrain now

c-ya
Jason

[Ghoste]

That looks great!  How long did the whole job take?

[Mfr426]

If I could work on it straight with no 1 year old interruptions (which I really dont mind) I think I would do the entire job (the second job) in about 3-4 hours. I NOW know what is needed and how much to stretch the material.

Thanks for the comment.

Mike R in Reading PA

[Shakey]

Mike, your contributions to this site are amazing.  Thank you for your insight, on this and many other topics.  Well done.

[Mfr426]

WOW Shakey thanks for the comments! This site has save me TONS of time on my Charger so it's my pleasure to return the favor.

It's amazing when things work out and actually work. I have many attempts at things that have NOT worked out but we wont talk about them now...

[Charger4404spd]

If I could work on it straight with no 1 year old interruptions (which I really dont mind) I think I would do the entire job (the second job) in about 3-4 hours. I NOW know what is needed and how much to stretch the material.

Thanks for the comment.

Mike R in Reading PA

Looks great Mike. One question, did you cut the slits BEFORE or AFTER you stuck the Nurf ball in the hole? One more question, Wanna do mine? 

[Mfr426]

Charger440, thanks for the comments. I cut the slits in the decal BEFORE I put the Nerf in the hole. Be VERY careful as you can make the cuts too far in and end up having them visible from the front. The decals REALLY stretch so be conservative at first.

As far as doing yours...can I get back to you some time in oh say about 2010. If my wife sees another woodgrain dash she'll have me removed from the house.