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I'm the new owner of a 1990 S4 and looking to take care of 30 years of age and use. On the interior, the biggest "issue" is that every wood trim piece shows some minor to major cracking. I **think** that it's mostly the poly (or whatever was used) and that the material underneath is in reasonable shape.
So a few questions:
1) is it real wood veneer under there? Given where these cars sat in the lineup when they were produced, and the price point, I assume there's a nice wood veneer under there but...
2) if it's real wood, how thick is it?
3) has anyone refinished their wood trim themselves? I've searched the site (and Google) but not found much on the DIY side of things and garage9/jageng does not seem to offer replacement parts anymore, if I mess things up horribly.
I have some woodworking experience and feel pretty confident that, if I take my time, I can handle getting it back to good, provided that it's actually wood. My preference would be to get it to a nice satin finish; any insight or experience would be appreciated.
Interesting, I was not aware that Porsche put wood kits in the 928.
You can Google the project without being 928 specific and find someone that’s worked on a similar project on perhaps a BMW or Mercedes. But the Jageng kits are up on their website, maybe drop them a note.
Check the Jaguar forums elsewhere on the internet for wood refinishing as the xj series all suffer a lot of wood issues,and some of the guys have tackled it themselves or send it out to Madera
I haven't done much (any, tbh) investigation into the options on the car from the VIN, so it may well be that the wood accents were added by a previous owner. I am not typically a huge fan of wood accents in sports cars but it's not a hard and fast rule (for example, Alfa GTVs are sports-ish and I think the wood in those interiors can look fantastic. Same with Jag XJSes). Anyway, I don't want to change something original to the car but I would like to bring it in line with my tastes to the best extent possible, so a satin/no gloss finish is the goal. Newer cars that I've been in that have open pore wood accents look all kinds of good but I don't think you're going to quite get that effect from a burl, so it will necessarily be a different approach.
I had seen references to the jageng products in that link you shared (thank you!) but couldn't find my way there from the home page. I'm just getting the car inspected tomorrow so if there are any mechanical bits that need to be addressed, that will take priority, but if not, I'm trying to line up winter projects for when the car will not be driven.
I haven't done much (any, tbh) investigation into the options on the car from the VIN, so it may well be that the wood accents were added by a previous owner. I am not typically a huge fan of wood accents in sports cars but it's not a hard and fast rule (for example, Alfa GTVs are sports-ish and I think the wood in those interiors can look fantastic. Same with Jag XJSes). Anyway, I don't want to change something original to the car but I would like to bring it in line with my tastes to the best extent possible, so a satin/no gloss finish is the goal. Newer cars that I've been in that have open pore wood accents look all kinds of good but I don't think you're going to quite get that effect from a burl, so it will necessarily be a different approach.
I had seen references to the jageng products in that link you shared (thank you!) but couldn't find my way there from the home page. I'm just getting the car inspected tomorrow so if there are any mechanical bits that need to be addressed, that will take priority, but if not, I'm trying to line up winter projects for when the car will not be driven.
Cheers!
Pics would help!
It may very well be an aftermarket application.
Jason
Just looked up the VIN info, turns out it had been looked up previously here on RL. Per that search it looks like the car had this option:
IXL5 ... Root wood center console, door panel and trim inlays
Seems to be original. I'll post pictures later once I am home. Knowing this, I'll do what I can to keep it original and see if I can't save the trim pieces.
The original finish on the rootwood pieces was a polyester resin, like a piano finish. The stuff is pretty chemically inert. you need to heat it to soften and gently, mechanically strip it off. There's real-deal walnut veneer underneath. I got part way into doing it and chickened out and sent it to Madera.
1st things 1st- post pics of your interior- there are 9 US model 928s in 1990 that had the factory rootwood option, so it's possible (probable?) that it's the real deal.
I'll post some pictures later this afternoon of the interior. The car looks to be pretty stock apart from a couple of areas.
The fenders have been rolled (only near the top, not the whole way around. I don't know what's normal in that process) so as to accommodate some 18" turbo twist wheels. I have to flush the brake fluid and plan on installing some SS brake lines, so I'll have a better idea of what the rims are once I have them off the car.
The second big change to the car is the audio system, which is a bit of a mess. The head unit looks to be pretty good, and I have no complaints about the sound, but it takes a little while to "wake up" on the passenger side of the car. Additionally, the wiring is a bit of a mess. There's a sub that sits in the well of the spare and a little amplifier that is currently just sitting in the rear hatch area. I knew going into things that the stereo system needed some attention, so it doesn't bother me too much, but is something I will address.
On the niggling side of things, I need to adjust the parking brake. If it's at all like the 944, I will take care of that when I flush the brakes; that's not a terrible job. The accelerator pedal feels tight to me. There's a lot of effort needed for it relative to any of my other cars; I don't know what's involved with adjusting that, if it's even possible. In the door cards, there are little tabs that need to get pushed to open up the storage compartment. Right now they're just bare metal and it's hard for me to imagine the car came that way. I'm sure I'll find more things to fix; right now I just want to get it good with the authorities and enjoy it while the weather allows.
It looks like a PO was active at one point on RL, at least from the VIN check that I found in the sticky thread, so some of you may have seen this car before. I plan on it having found it's final owner.
Took these yesterday and I some of the lighting is not great but hopefully you can get a sense of what's going on.
Here's the picture intensive stream: I don't have a sunshade yet, and was trying to take advantage of as much incoming shade as possible. Driver side interior of the door Passenger side door Closeup of the passenger side Cracks all around the shifter handle. Also, the clock doesn't work (yet!) Door storage tab (thanks for the link!) A few things going on here: missing info sticker/cover for the **** (the passenger side needs one too), seats not perfect (but no cracks down to the foam, so OK for now), and parking brake WAY too high and needing adjustment. There may be other things you can see (please let me know).
I have to dig into the PET for the 928 to start to figure out some of the things that are cosmetic and find parts. For example, the driver side tail light housing is cracked and there's moisture in there. I have some ideas about how to fix it but it would look much nicer (and match the other side, which looks like it's been replaced) if I bought a new (or "new") one. Apart from the moisture, that's not a real high priority right now.
The inspection did find that the front tie rods are probably in need of replacement and the transmission mounts are on their way being toast. Those are the priorities for now, along with some of the brake fluid flush and SS line update.
Otherwise, generally positive comments about the car and an overall clean bill of health (admittedly, it's really only a visual inspection on cars this old here in PA, but still).
The original finish on the rootwood pieces was a polyester resin, like a piano finish. The stuff is pretty chemically inert. you need to heat it to soften and gently, mechanically strip it off. There's real-deal walnut veneer underneath. I got part way into doing it and chickened out and sent it to Madera.
1st things 1st- post pics of your interior- there are 9 US model 928s in 1990 that had the factory rootwood option, so it's possible (probable?) that it's the real deal.
It was vary difficult to believe that the "junk" you sent to Madera was the same pieces that came back.
The finished work was absolutely stunning!
I've never had to actually deal with this, but I'm pretty sure I'd carjack a 928 with the Rosewood option!
07-23-2019, 10:40 AM
Interior Wood Refinishing - anyone done it?
(yet!)
