With it fully opened I noticed the runners were dry. I cleaned out both sides with WD40, and re-greased using an all purpose silicone grease. I added 3in1 oil on the cable for good measure.
It now opens and closes freely!
The walnut veneer was a bit trickier. The clock was simple enough, the bulb had blown, and after sourcing a replacement from an old VW Polo MK2F light cluster I had lying around, I was on to tackling the peeling veneer.
Here's a pic of the peeling - quite common on these cars im told
I am by no means an expert at varnishing. In fact ive only done it once before on my nans bannister in 2008…
Something just doesn’t feel right about jabbing a screwdriver behind the wood trim…. But needs must. The lacquer was peeling and it was annoying me, and the clock bulb was inoperative. The only way to get to it is to pull off the whole wooden trim (thanks Rover!)
So the tip here is to remove from the left – that’s where the key clip is. Be careful, and take your time on removing as you can damage the dash... The wood trim is made up of different layers so be careful to not accidentally prize yours apart (I did this! And had to use wood glue to return its strength)
Once off I sanded down using a mixture of 240 – 600 grit sandpaper. Unfortunately, I did mis-read the paper and ended up using a 40 grit for one bit Doh! Ended up sanding off some of the veneer pattern…. Nevermind
Onwards and upwards I cleaned with white spirit, applied the first coat of gloss antique pine varnish. 4 hours later and I applied the second coat, keying in-between with the 600 grit sandpaper.
After two coats I was happy with the colour, but the gloss just wasn’t there. I didn’t waste any more time. After reading another post here I decided to buy some Ronseal Yacht varnish £8 from Wilcos.
I applied the first coat and waited 8 hours. Though still slightly tacky I keyed and applied a thinner second coat. When this was dry I machine polished using a dual action polisher and Koch chemie H9 car polish. I then waxed with some collonite.
The end result? I am pleased with the finish, its not perfect, there is one or two slightly less shiny spots, and it could have perhaps done with another couple of coats of yacht varnish…. But I am happy with this as the end result.
