1968 Greavette Restoration Part 2

Chris Bullen

October 22, 2006

The restoration continues. Our Greavette came with an instrument cluster made by Mercury. It is made of a plastic material. As you can see the corners were broken off. The paint was worn off the raised edge and the center had yellowed. After removing all the gages I sanded the whole panel with a green abrasive pad. I then built up the broken edges with 5 minute epoxy. This took two coats. In order to work with the epoxy you need to let it set up for at least 48hrs. The next step was to shape the epoxy. This was done with a hand held grinder. I first shaped the outside with a cutting bit, then the inside was cut with a teardrop ruby. After some hand sanding the panel is ready for paint. I matched the paint to the back of the panel. This was as close as I could get to knowing the original colour. The last thing to do was clean up the gages. I clean old chrome with sos pads. This removes little bits of rust and dirt and makes them shine. I put the gauges back in and now that's a better look. This is a small step in the restoration but since it sits in the middle of the dash it's a necessary step.