Hello folks!

​​​​ I have some enthusiastic plans for my XJ40 the coming time, one of which is making the interior look a little better.
I've noticed a lot of '40s seem to have this problem where the climate control facia seems to start bubbling. Mind is no exception. I've found you can scratch away the bubbles, leaving a shiny black plastic or paint below. This made me think that the bubbling is probably a clearcoat coming loose, and might be fixable.
Has anyone ever tried fixing this issue? Do you think it's possible to remove the clearcoat and refinish it?
My guess is that the black shiny plastic is finished by a matt clearcoat. So respraying it and polishing it down seems like a doable job.

Here's a picture of the facia, you can clearly see the three bits where I carefully scratched away the bubbling, leaving a shiny black surface below it.

Would love to hear if anyone's ever refinished one of these, or know how they finished it back in 1991 and with what equipment.

Douwe

 

Hi Douwe,

I have not refinished a climate panel but it certainly looks possible. I would be very careful trying to remove the old clear finish over lettering, lines and other graphics. They may be screen-printed onto the black plastic and could lift off with the clearcoat. You'll just have to carefully test some areas.

You won't want to sand the plastic as you would normally do to promote adhesion. It would be good to degrease it with a solvent, but again you'll have to be careful with the lettering and graphics.

Since the plastic doesn't have to flex, I think any good automotive clear coat spray paint should work, perhaps an acrylic lacquer. Two or three very light coats usually work better than one or two heavier coats.

We will be very anxious to see how it goes for you!

Cheers,

Don

 

Will probably try next month when I find some time. It always seems like such a shame throwing away these old pieces when they might be 'refurbishable'.
Good tips though, thank you! I wonder if there's any literature that explains how it was originally finished. As the facia doesn't shine bright my guess it that it's a matt clearcoat, but ofcourse I'd like to use original products if that makes any sense.
On another note, I'm planning on going to the scrapyard in two weeks to try and buy a few old wood veneer trims to test out if I can remove the lacquer and refurbish those as well. If that works out alright I'll probably try to refinish the wood veneer on my own car as most panels have turned orang-ish. There's a few threads explaining the original way that they finished the veneer, with 2K clear lacquer (a poly-urethane if I remember correctly?) I'll definitely post about that progress too!
​​Douwe

 

I checked my stash to see if I had a replacement for you, but all I have is the 93-94 style although they look good. I imagine the plugs are different. Sorry.