This is a follow on from http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32427 , where I used DA LTD wood slats on the XH doors.

I had a look at some of the woodgrain mobs, like Modicoat, etc, and I thought they were quite expensive, so I thought I’d try some DIY, since you’ll never find production XH woodgrain.
I won some stick on woodgrain off ebay, it was already stuck on to some ED dash parts, so it had to be pulled off, and reworked for my XH dash.

This stick on stuff had a good walnut type texture that I’ve seen in the boxcars, and I was quite impressed with it, only downside was that it looked crappy seeing the obvious stick on edges and it was weathered as well. So it was cut to size and glued on using contact adhesive, the edges and joins were filled with body filler, and sanded to shape. A mix of brown and black paint was daubed around the joins to try to match them in (hope they don’t look too obvious). The woodgrain was lightly sanded, a number of coats of clear were applied, this was then polished using cutting polish, then finished off with normal car polish – this step really does enhance the woodgrain.

So all up cost was around $120, which $110 was the woodgrain (fairly expensive auction). The paint mostly used was the cheapy ‘export’ tins.
So all up it was considerably cheaper than getting it professionally done – maybe my effort isn’t the same quality, but I’d like to think it came out okay. It does look considerably better in natural light. I redid the vents with satin black vinyl spray, as the grey just didn’t enhance the woodgrain.
The material used in the centre console storage areas is E series rear parcel shelf carpet – peel off the underfelt and cut to shape, very easy to work with. $5 from the wreckers. I did try normal carpet, but it looked crappy when cut, and was hard to work with.
I hope you like it.

Before & After:


LH Vent Before & After (the brown border is much darker in normal light):


RH Vent (again bordering looks better in normal light):


Wider shot of centre dash including shifter surround - might have a go at replacing the 'bellows' boot with an EF/EL item:

s**t that looks good

is that climate Control i can see??

geez thats a good install if it is

Yeah thanks dude.
It's EF/EL climate control, covered it here: http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31543

i am very impressed with that!!

my question is though, how on earth did you retain the factory "grain" in your Climate Control facia when it is obviosly custom made??

Well I used the export matt black paint, spray a coat, let it go tacky, then daub a paint brush to give it the texture.

damn top job dude!!!!

thats what i like to see. yeah anyone can go out and buy off the shelf pre made s**t but doin it yaself feels a whole lot better..

top bloody work!!!