DASHBOARD
Repairs

There is where the Dashboard hung for over thiry years. It was originally Red but painted blue by the previous owner and then never reinstalled into the vehicle

The dash had several layers of primer and paint including the original layer of red paint. This Healey was originally Old English White with a red interior and I guess a Red dash board. We used an environmentally safe chemical stripping adgent to remove the paint and primer and it took several applications

The Dashboard had several extra holes drilled in it for accessories that needed to be patched. I TIG welded the middle two square holes that you see in the picture and I used an epoxy metal filler on the one above the cockpit area both methods worked well.

The Dash has been primed and painted several times before reaching this level of finish. Its Like a piece of ARTWORK!

I had originally primed the surface with high build primer out of a can! Then sanded to get a close to flat surface. Then I painted with a black high gloss lacquer(Out of a spray can). I WAS NOT satisfied with the finish (I didn't even photograph it at that stage). So I had the whole thing stripped to bare metal again, this time with Baking soda (American Stripping). The baking soda method does not harm the soft aluminum! Then my buddy Steve and I used a polyester fill along with Veraprime to acheive a very flat surface. We finished with a coat of High Gloss Black Imron. Steve WAS NOT satisfied with the finish. even though I thought it was OK. So we sucffed up the surface and got it over to Ray at the Paint shop (A-Body in Ashland, MA).

Ray has the capability of matching any color we desire. I had wanted to paint this dash Dark blue, which would be appropriate for an Ice Blue Metallic Healey but, I could not find the right color (in cans). Ray presented me with a whole new opportunity!

Ray mixed up two special batches of paint. One for the silver and one for the Dark blue (Midnight "Mit Nach" Blue - A Mecerdes color). Ray did a superb job and finished with several coats of Clear. The formulas are pictured below. Click on the picture to get a higher def picture so you can actually read the formula.

Here's the final result installed

You can kinda see the blueish color in this bright light. In dim light it just looks black.

Ripple Effects

Wilderness Art Studio

American Stripping