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Mpi Dash.... Respray?


Best Answer MiniGrin , 28 December 2014 - 10:53 PM

Annoyingly someone decided to cause my mini to be written off before I had chance to do this. But I had decided in the end to rub it down with some fine paper, skim it with filler, sand again, and then spray and lacquer as usual. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

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#1 MiniGrin

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Posted 24 May 2014 - 11:48 AM

My walnut dash is going discoloured (de-laminating i think) on the edges and is letting down an otherwise great condition interior. So was looking for a new one.

I have a 97/8 MPI Cooper. 3+3 dash (plus stereo) with all the MPI tweaks like air-bag light, beam adjustment, alarm light, and different binnacle shape. So none of the very pretty dashes ive been looking at will fit. So im a bit stuck. I dont really want to spend 200 quid on wood and pickets MPI dash, and didn't really want to go for another wood one. Fancied a brushed aluminium one, or a body colour one, or something a little different, and must be a really quality dash, so chipboard is not really what im after.

So, does anyone know of an MPI dash that isnt the normal walnut?

Ive had an idea, a mate of mine runs a spay booth. I recon he could spray up my old one for me in the body colours, could look good..... But do you guys recon it would work. The dash has gone yellowy on the edges (de-laminating i think) so would spraying it show it up as being not all that flat? :S 

Anyone have any other ideas?


Edited by MiniGrin, 24 May 2014 - 11:49 AM.


#2 mini.rich

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Posted 24 May 2014 - 12:02 PM

My dash went the same in my Cooper so while I was rebuilding the car I took the dash out and removed all the varnish and sanded it down, got some halfrauds rattle cans and sprayed it up..
Looks better in the body colour than walnut IMO :D
Check the link below..

IMG_1776.jpg

#3 robminibcy

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Posted 24 May 2014 - 12:04 PM

strip all the laminate off, flat it down to a smooth surface then get it painted. Should look lovely,



#4 MiniGrin

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Posted 24 May 2014 - 04:13 PM

Thanks for the response, that looks perfect! Hmmm, so long as it doesn't look grainy, or lumpy, or wavy, that would look awesome!! by strip off the laminate what do you mean? the wood layer on the front? :)



#5 stealth05

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 05:54 AM

when i did my last one i sanded the laminate down and filled a couple of cracks that were in it ,then painted it matt black and lacquered it to death 

 

 

 

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#6 peter-b

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 06:23 AM

Why not strip laminate off and redo it? You can buy iron on stuff from good wood worker's supplies, couple of coats of clear and it's back like new.



#7 gorseinonboy87

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 06:34 AM

when i did my last one i sanded the laminate down and filled a couple of cracks that were in it ,then painted it matt black and lacquered it to death 

 

 

 

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reallylike the cb



#8 stealth05

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 06:56 AM

cheers most of us in our local club have them for when we are on runs out ect .  ;D



#9 MiniGrin

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 08:36 PM

Wow that looks great, definitely going to do this now! 

I had thought about redoing it/getting a new wood one, but I fancy a change, and with the amount of water mine leaks I dont think a new wood one would last all that long.

My plan is to strip it down and rub it back myself, then give it to a mate of mine (who runs a small body shop) to finish off and then get him to spray it in his spray both. Colours, im thinking Dark metallic blue (same as the body) for the main part, and cream (same as the roof and stripes) for the binnacle. Or have the binnacle black, or have the whole lot Dark metallic blue.



#10 ukcooper

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 11:29 AM

Ill give 2 reasons to sand it down and not buy a new dash, 1 there's no srs light hole and 2 there no cut out for the head light adjuster switch.

#11 Flying Frog

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 08:32 PM

when i did my last one i sanded the laminate down and filled a couple of cracks that were in it ,then painted it matt black and lacquered it to death 

 

 

 

Photo002-1.jpg

 

 

 

Photo001-2.jpg

 

 

 

Photo025-2.jpg

 

 

Photo028.jpg

where did you get that steering wheel from ?



#12 Dan

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 08:36 PM

It's veneer, not laminate. The substrate for the genuine MPi dashes is birch plywood, you will get a much better finish from properly preparing and painting the walnut veneer than you will from painting the plywood underneath. Minis look great with body colour dash boards, quite a few special edition MPis had coloured dashes.

Edited by Dan, 26 May 2014 - 08:37 PM.


#13 MiniGrin

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 09:07 PM

aah right, so just rough up and flat down the top layer veneer? then get sprayed.



#14 Dan

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 09:41 PM

No need to rough it up, it's wood. Paint sticks to wood. Scrape off the varnish (rather than sand off) with a cabinet scraper, (not a wall scraper!) then sand it nice and smooth. Go progressively smoother with finer paper and then maybe use some filler primer to fill in the pores and any fine grain you don't want to sand all the way out. Then sand the filler and prime and undercoat with a colour appropriate to your top coat. As long as you primers and under oats are compatible with the top coat it'll look great. There are far more experienced painters than me that you can talk to here.

#15 Tata Steva

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Posted 28 December 2014 - 05:19 AM

I need to refinish or replace this type of dash in my upcoming Mini. How do I remove it? Is there a "manual" I can find somewhere?
Thanks,

Mini Beginner




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