I love the JagWrangler 3-guage conversion (I can even live with the fact that the gauges don't tell the whole truth) but I just couldn't live with the slight mismatch of the woodgrain with the other panels (see thread https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...veneer-125467/)

So I decided to have a radical change in the look reckoning a bold statement would actually be less of a distraction. There is a really good vehicle wrap shop close by (Vehicle Wraps and Motorsport Graphics by Reforma UK) so I took the offending panel in to see what they could come up with.

I've attached some photo mockups they sent me - the 4 original file were 20MB so Iv'e shrunk them a lot to upload so quality may be a bit iffy. Anyway, I've decided to go with the big logo version (photo 2). The final finish will be high gloss with the dark wood grain and large Leaper. I'll add photies when the panel is back and in the car. I reckon it should look pretty neat.

Steve

 

I've (rapidly) photoshopped in some gauges to give a rough idea of what the final result will be

 

What will the panels on each side look like?

 

Worrasf, it appears we have similar teast n cars!

 

At present I'm planning on keeping the original bur walnut finish - I want to see how I get on with just a single centre "statement" panel - I can always have the others hydrodipped to match but that would need all the wood veneer doing and I think I'd like to keep them original in case I want to revert back to the original factory finish with the satnav.

 

 

This is the final mockup with a more finely detailed Leaper

Hopefully, get the panel back next week.

 

Centre 3-guage panel now finished - looks pretty nice I think

 

very nice

 

Neat effect. You will have to post a pic after it's installed.

 

Absolutely - the shop are re-installing the alloy instrument rings as I type - will collect later today - hopefully get it back into the car at the weekend

 

Looks awesome!

 

That looks superb!

A couple of questions:

a) Does the hydrodip include the burl, or is it just the leaper (and slightly transparent, so the burl is showing through?

b) It looks like they've lacquered over the entire panel - is that true?

-Steve

 

Hi - the process involves (in this case) darkening the original veneer bur, adding the leaper as an integral layer and then over lacquer to give a seamless finish

 

Had a chance at the end of the day to put the panel back - needs a little adjustment to get perfect alignment but was getting dark.
By pure good fortune the shade of the leaper is a really good match for the existing dash panels - the darker burl shows it off quite well I think.

 

That's pretty neat. Definitely a unique look.

 

I liked the #3 finish. Id do the other two panels to match. Dark looks nice

 

Very nice, however I agree do them all to match, the dark color looks great

 

You guys are just after spending my money -

I've given this a bit of thought and decided not to do the other panels - couple of reasons:

I've still got the original SatNav screen and dash panel and if I ever wanted to revert back to original spec the panels wouldn't match and the centre panel is a perfect match for the wood on the steering wheel and shifter.

I'd also have to get every panel done (shifter surround, door switch packs etc) to make it all match so I'm going to stop fiddling now.

 

Just curious, you say this is a hydro dip process. So what was the process? Was there a hydrodip transfer for the color and then again for the Leaper?

Could this processed be used to just slightly adjust the panels to match instead of going dark? Example if I went the same way, change NAV to triple gauge, and just wanted all three dash panels slightly adjusted in color to match.

Care to share a cost for this?