Terry,
   I have done the wood on two cars -- neither a series II.  I suggest you
get a Haynes manual which should show you how to remove the wood from the
dash.
   On the first set of wood, the finish was badly "bubbled" and "granular"
from years of exposure to the sun. I took 000 steel wool and lacquer thinner
and GENTLY rubbed the finish down to a smooth texture. YOU MUST BE GENTLE or
you will go through the veneer and nor even know it.  The grain of the
original veneer still contained the original varnish.  I then took Marine
Spar varnish, put in a CLEAN container and then placed it in a pan with
water. I heated the pan to boiling so that the water heated the varnish.  Do
not heat the varnish directly as it is HIGHLY combustible.  People will
argue with you all day long about spar varnish, but I consulted a bunch of
professional wood restorers and they all recommended this route because of
the UV.
   Once the varnish is heated it is extremely thin and will flow onto the
wood with an excellent consistency.  Also because it is so thin, you do not
get that "High School GYM FLOOR" look that is so common on re-done wood.

   The other car I did had veneer that had pulled off the backing and
splintered. You can buy original "birds-eye" veneer from a number of
sources, but I went to my local wood working store and bought panels of
Walnut veneer. They also carry an  adhesive that works to apply the
veneer -- although Elmer's woodworking glue will work in a pinch.  I soaked
the veneer in water to make it more pliable and clamped it to the base
panel. Because of the pliable nature of the wet wood, it was easy to cut and
bend over the veneer to fit into the gauge holes.  Once it was done, I dried
the veneer for a few days glued it to the panels and then sanded and
varnished as above.

While I would have liked the bird's eye better, the dash now has consistent
grain pattern from door to door which I like as well.  Total cost to do all
the wood in the car:  $50  and LOTS of time and patience.

Webserve