PatK

Thanks Rob, it was a new pp3 9V, and I had very good contact with the battery and terminals, would I damage it if I connected the car battery directly to it? The last couple of times that I ran the engine it did not work at all, so I will first check the sender as Pete says. Thanks. Pat

Hi all, Is there any way to test a Vitesse 2L water temperature gauge out of the car? I'm not sure if it is the sender or the gauge. I have connected a small 9V battery across the gauge terminals but nothing moves so I'm guessing that it is dead. Also is there an ohm meter reading across the terminals to check this? Any help would be most appreciated as usual. Thanks Pat

Yes Peter, I'm sure that I will have to do a small amount of sanding. I have found that a sharp craft knife works well for the first clearing followed by sanding back. You are right Peter, the glove box edges will also require sanding back, followed by a coat of dark brown lacquer on the edges, similar to the existing edge colour, but thats no problem for such a god, hard, easy finish. Thanks Peter. Pat

Hi Colin, I finally bit the bullet and decided to have a go. I managed to sand off the old lacquer which took ages using an orbital sander and 180 grit paper, and only went through the veneer in a couple of small areas on the edges but was able to put a suitable wood stain on these that matches the veneer. So Colin, as I said I was wondering about clear epoxy resin and decided to give it a go. On U Tube theres bags of videos showing how its done so I just followed their instructions, and it was so much easier that putting multiple coats of cellulose lacquer, or Rustin's Plastic Coating. The photos below are of the dashboard that I did this morning, around 10 AM, and now at 2.45pm it has gone rock hard and I'm delighted with the finish. In fact it may be too shiny, but I can easily reduce that shine if required with very fine sandpaper and a cutting compound. So would recommend this method to anybody as being the easiest out there. Cheers Colin and a Happy Christmas to all Club Members

Sounds like he may also have been using clear polyester resin also Colin.

I have used it Colin on wading sticks for fishing, with a deer antler hand grip, and placed a fishing fly in the hollow centre of the antler, then filled up this with clear fibreglass resin. When set, polished it back and it looks fine. You could and probably can buy half spheres of clear resin with salmon flies encapsulated in them. There were home kits produced for doing this. I also wonder how using clear epoxy resin as a surface finish would work out. I believe that you can buy this from boat chandlers. Just a thought! Thanks Colin. Pat

Thanks Ed, I will look. Pat

Thank you so much, for that very comprehensive post. Luckily I bought a complete dashboard from e bay a year ago. The veneer is fine but the lacquer is badly cracked. I'm not going to bother with the heat gun, but am going to sand it down and try not to go through the veneer, which I will probably do! Yes I agree burr walnut is a bas...rd, I did my Jag Mk2 which has a really curved dashboard top with it and it gave me all sorts of problems. I'll not be doing that again! I have used Rustins plastic coating and as you say put it on really thick and sand it back afterwards and it does do a great job, except it does not like silicone contamination, which I learned to my cost. I have already done the door capping and they came up just fine, but that made the dashboard look really shabby, so thats why I have to do the dash. Yes, I take your point about the UV fading of the colour and I have seen both a suitable straight grain cherry and teak on e bay and will try and get a sample in the New Year when the guy returns to UK. As an afterthought I wonder if anyone has ever tried using clear glass fibre resin brushed on thickly and then sanded back, that would be interesting and very long lived! Thanks again. Pat

Thanks Ed, no, as far as I am aware the Vitesse and Herald did not use walnut on their dashes ( too expensive ? ). Lots of more expensive cars did though like the TR6 and Jags etc. Thanks. Pat

Yes thats correct Pete, I relacquered the door capping last year, ( they are made from solid wood with no veneer and they now look good, but as is usual, they made the dashboard look shoddy! I have found a suitable veneer on e bay, but the guy is away until 27th December, then I can order it. Thanks Pete.

Hi Steve, that is very useful info, I will do that and I particularly like the idea of the wood fading due to UV light, particularly as my Vitesse is a convertible. Thanks Steve

Thanks Colin, I will have a look at that, but American Cherry seems to fit the bill also. American Cherry Wood Veneer : Flexible Wood Veneer Sheet | eBay.webarchive

Thats great, thanks Tony, very helpful. Just been on e bay and it looks like it could be Cherry wood veneer, which is great as its much cheaper than burr walnut! American Cherry Wood Veneer : Flexible Wood Veneer Sheet | eBay.webarchive

Thanks Mark, I will check out American Walnut it could be a candidate as I'm pretty sure that it is straight grain for the most part without burrs and knots. One thing that I do know is that veneer does not come cheap!!

Thanks Tony, very helpful, but couldn't see any dashboard on that link, but thats probably finger trouble on my part and I will check again later.

Thanks Dave, yes I agree I have seen some great hardwood in the heavy duty pallets. However my dashboard seems to be a light tan colour.

Ha Ha Ha Pete, I have at long last defeated the TSSC Oracle !!!

Hi all, hopefully in the next month I will get round to re veneering my dashboard. I have seen a couple that have been re veneered with burr walnut, but I would like to keep mine original. I will sand down the old cracked lacquer and try not to go through the thin veneer below it. However if I do go through it and decide to put a new veneer on, does someone know what the original wood veneer was? It looks a straight grain light tan coloured wood, possibly cherry? I'm sure that someone in the club will know. Thanks very much. Pat

Thanks Pete, I have removed most of the old gasket and Wellseal using Scotchbrite scourers ( brown ones used for paintwork ) and WD40, it works really well. I believe that Wellseal was developed by Rolls Royce and If it was good enough for them then its good enough for me.

Thanks Pete. This engine, Jaguar Mk2, was last overhauled in 1992, and I can see traces of Wellseal on the alloy head and the metal gasket. There has been good compression and the surface between each cylinder is good, however there is some corrosion of the head face around some of the waterways where anti freeze has crept in and that is why I am inclined to using Wellseal. I'm having the head skimmed to get rid of this pitting and everything will be very clean on re assembly. The only problem at the moment is getting old Wellseal and parts of the old gasket off the head without scratching it as Wellseal grips like s**t to a blanket!

Thanks Tony, like you I have used both of these before and found them to be very good at stopping anti freeze creeping under the metal gasket and eating into the alloy head. Most of the problems that I have had with head gaskets has been this which has led eventually to water in the oil and not loss of compression between cylinders.

Thanks Tony, I have used both in the past and like you have found them to be great. So I am inclined towards hylomar as its non setting. That seems to be the opinion of a lot of people, but I guess it is horses for courses. In this case it is a cast iron block, metal gasket and aluminium head. It's not he sealing of the cylinder rings as the gasket has good ridges around the cylinders, but to try and keep anti freeze from the water passages attacking the aluminium. Most of the corrosion on the 60 yr old head is from this.

Hi All, can you please give me your pearls of wisdom about fitting a cylinder head gasket ( alloy cylinder head to cast iron block ). In the past I have used both Wellseal and Hylomar jointing compound. Some however say use nothing but a good gasket. From the cylinder head it looks like a brown gasket sealer has been used 30 years ago! Possibly Wellseal as its a brown colour. Since it has lasted 30 years I'm inclined towards that as a belt and braces, unless you know better. All advice will be very welcome. Many Thanks Pat

Yes Paul, thanks, I have some on order and I reckon that a couple will be around 1/2" thick which hopefully will do the trick. Pat

Thats what the manual says Colin, check the photos, and by having only one outboard at the rear it would appear to help tilt the seat slightly inwards and help clear the windscreen and the B post. My seat had none so you can see why I struggled, also having 2 at the front would also help with seat rake, which again I was having problems with.