Veneering & Renovation progress

[The G Man]

Last week i made the decision to refurb the exsisting dash rather than buy a new kit.

Having looked at few companies I chose a small business in Crewe, GDK Veneering, given where they are based its probably no surprise that they do work for Bentley and he re-veneers lots of classics.

Below if you can bear to watch is the youtube video of him explaining just how badly the dash had been butchered by previous owners. They will be more showing the stripping and new veneer being appplied if anyone is interested.

I have decided to change the cars colour from its current BMW silver metallic but not back to it's orginal Magenta, I am going with year correct Sapphire Blue and so have decided to switch to walnut from the teak veneer currently. Ged at GDK reccomend some burr walnut he had avaialble from a Bentley restoration so i have decided to go with that.

I will post pictures of the finished dash as and when.

BTW the refurb cost is approx half the cost of a new dash kit from the usual suspects.

https://www.gdkveneering.co.uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkqaP3LlSes

after removing the glued carpet we have found some rust below the A pillars so the body is going for shot blasting next week

Engine refurb well under way, new timing chain and associated parts now fitted, new clutch as current one showing wear at about 80%, replacing dizzy, leads, spark plugs, points, all gaskets replaced new engine and gearbox mounts, new fan belt PAS belteverything flushed out and all new fluids after refit.

Hopefully i will be back with me by late November which gives me time to clear out the garage

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[sujitroy]

I'm a few months behind reading the magazines. but there was a article about a guy saving a magenta rotten stag. He says as its an original magenta, he will save it. It seems that Stag will have all new panels. Maybe you can donate this shell he can help you source another shell.

Sujit

[The G Man]

An interesting idea Sujit but I think I am past that stage, time and money already invested, work is under way. I do appreiate that some SOC members would want to keep everything 100% original. This wont be but at least it will be a Stag colour and correct for the year and other than the colour will be restored sympathetically.

John

[The G Man]

Was back down with the restorer yesterday, decided to drop all the suspension which will be poly bushed, shot blasting starts monday, powder coating for the chassis, see below for the pictures of the body, tin worm not too bad, car dry stored last 20 years and used on average 350 miles a year during that period. Engine and gearbox now re-assembled. Just had th ephone call from GDK to say the dash re-veneering will be completed on Tuesday.


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[jbuckl]

Looking like it’ll be a proper job… not just a veneer!

[The G Man]

Collected the wooden components from GDK yesterday, I am really pleased with the results, all the screw holes and extra cut outs around the radio apeture and near the gear stick painstakingly repaired. As i am going to respray the car in Sapphire blue have switched from teak to burr walnut. The burr walnut used is to Bentley spec.

Plus extra pic of the shell now that they have started shot blasting the shell, really please also with how little rust there is, have decide to powder coat the chassis compenents that have been stripped from the shell.

Classic car full car LED set ordered yeserday, hoping the instrument lights will now be a lot brighter

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[mallardstag]

I think the original was American walnut not teak.

[The G Man]

The orginal looked like this, which i thought was teak,but as newbie owner i am probably wrong

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[mallardstag]

Your before looks like the original american black walnut which is not a burr walnut like your after pic.

[wilf]

Whatever, the new veneer looks the business.

Going to be a very nice car by the time you have finished I suspect.

[The G Man]

Thanks Wilf, I hope so, i hadn't really planned going as far as a full strip out of the shell and back to bare metal, but one things leads to another and mission creep got the better of me, now added poly bushing and replacement shocks to the list as well. The PO had replaced the hood last year and the carpets after his mouse issue, so comesticlly the interior should be decent and the body, the engine has been completely sripped down and checked over and components changed were needed.

My Stag will finally satisfy a long held ambition initially thwarted 37 years ago with a house move which meant my car budget was halved and i had to lower my sights, I found a Triumph 2500TC saloon, I loved the way that covered the ground, a very relaxed car to cover distance in. Drove from Chesire to Florence with 4 friends for a holiday one summer, it was very enjoyeable and that cemented the idea that one day i would finally get a Stag,It has taken a little longer than imagine it would but hopefully all ready to go for 2022 !

I think the old G-wagon is going to have to go into barn storage and wait awhile as the Stag eats into the resto budget for that.

To be clear Mallard Stag i wasn't trying to have it match the orginal, quite the opposite i was just guessing what the orginal veneer was, thank you for clarifying.

[mallardstag]

Your restored dash looks great, I was just clarifying for others who may want to replicate the original veneer.

[The G Man]

Progress of a sort.

was down for a visit at the restorers this morning, a curates egg best descirbes the visit!

The good bits: the suspension legs are back from being shot blasted and powder coated and they look great, callipers repainted the diff and back axle are refurbed, all good progress.

The mixed news: the etch primer on the underside looks great and have decided on 2 pack under body paint in the same colour as the shell which i think will look great with the black powder coated suspension BUT it wont be started this month now because;

The bad: filler every where at the back end a good few mm in places just behind the rear wheel arches, poorly added in front inner wings some years ago, when attaching new hanging brackets for the sports exhaust the PO (or agents for) had damaged the boot floor, and a couple of sound but untidly executed welding repairs at the front of the chassis as well as a previously obscured hole in the sill below the A pillar, one of the known rot points, caused in part when it was resprayed from Magenta to BMW silver 20 years ago and they didnt refit the plates correctly that run down the windscreen surround correctly.

Decision made, two new front inner wings, two new rear wings and one sill repair panel plus new boot floor panel, panel prices are not to bad but there will be a lot of labour in removing a attaching new and making good of some of the poor quailty previous work.

I think on completion i have lost all contigency to recover all the rennovation costs, that has never been the point i do aim to run it along side my MGB V8 roadster and think if i had to sell for any reason i would probably as near as dammit is to swearing will recover most of the cost. I suppose its a bit like building work in that you never really know the full cost ogf a build until all the ground works are completed, this is a bit the same in that the shot blasting and strip back have exposed everything there is to see so hopefully we have found all the horrors there are too find.

It wont be concourse when its complete but it should be a very good condition given all the attention the body is getting.

its made a dent in the G wagon resto budget tho'.

onwards and upwards

Hopefully it will be painted in December

More photos on the next post

[The G Man]

Back down assessing progress today, curates egg (again) i.e. good and bad, photos below; the good, front inner wings replaced tidy job replaced PO botching, lots of suspension and chassis compements powered coated/painted, poly bushes fitted, new springs and dampers, the bad; both rear wings, the PO's had fitted wheel arch repair pieces over the existing then fiberglassed on top of inner wing to build out and then hidden with underseal, on the external side off the rear wings they had simply built up filler to blend in and painted over, i am guessing this was all done when the colour was changed from magenta to silver 20-22 years ago....

The last photo shows inner wing cut out and two levels of rear wing, repair panels now on order.

The hidden body botching has so far added 2.5/3k to the rennovation costs..... hey ho thats what contingency budgets are for i suppose, but it means my crusty G wagon needing work will have to wait a while.
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[The G Man]

Off side rear wing repair panel now in place, supplied by James Paddock, the repair panel for the near side from Rimmer bros was shocking quality and was returned.

The off side panel which was cut out had 4 layers of metal in places from years of bodging....

So 4 x new inner wheel arch panels, 2 x rear wing repair panels, below A Pillar sill repair, I think this is just about the last of the welding and new metal, all signs of filler now gone, now to get ready for painting, engine and gerabox refurb/rebuild/replace were needed complete, rebuild of all chasiss and suspension components ready to go, perhaps by the end of jan, middle of feb she will be back on the road.

I have ended going a lot further than planned but one thing lead to another and she will be with us until i can no longer safely drive so i wanted her to be back to a decent condition that we can enjoy.

Having seen the AH 3000 they have just finished if mine looks as good as that did i will be very pleased.




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