Dash Upgrade. What's involved?

[goz_83]

Hi guys.

As mentioned in another thread, I am the new owner of a 90 Austin Mini. I hope to be active here, as I am in the FTO club. The dash in the mini is pretty boring and I was wondering what's involved in upgrading it. It basically only has two clocks behing the steering wheel. I see some minis with several gauges in a nice dash and I would like this too if it doesn't involve too much work/expense. I will keep it black, because the car has black bucket seats and door cards. Carpet will also be going from blue to black....I may get a new set, as the current set looks like a poor enough job tbh and does not sit as it should.

So If I want to upgrade the dash, what's involved?

[The Marcos Graveyard]

If you get the full dash from another car then it's just plug and play really.
The addition of the rev counter is only a small bit of extra wiring, the rest depends on what clocks you go for.

These are clocks from an Austin 1300GT in a home made dash.

[goz_83]

There are only the standard clocks in there at the moment.

I'm not sure what I would want aside from a volt meter and a clock to tell the time tbh. I will have a browse and see. I just wanted to know what would be involved. I definitely want a door for storage. Here is the current lay out pffffft.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

That's all very standard tbh, the clocks have a single plug at the rear and the Speedo cable is either a push on or screw on fixture. There is a bracket that holds the clocks in place, the nuts for which are found on the bulkhead in the engine bay behind the break servo.

Mini's did come with full width wooden dashes with a glove box, the three main clocks and either one or three auxiliary clocks. There was a slot to mount a radio and on the Japanese models there were vents for the air con.





Later there was an alloy look option of the full dash.



There are quite a few aftermarket dashes available and you'll also get plans on-line to build your own.

A wooden dash from a Reilly Elf is also a direct fit.


As is an Innocenti dash

[goz_83]

Thanks Marcos. You seem to be on hand to answer all my questions. I would like to build one, but I would never get round to it. If you know of any going, i'd be interested. I won't need the radio slot, as this is built into the centre console I have, but I will need the holes for the vents on the sides.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Wooden one come up on Ebay fairly often but postage can be a bit awkward and pricey.

Try some of the guys on here who have broken Minis, Jocelynn, Bert or minis24seven they might be your best bet.

The wooden dashes can chip and sometimes show signs of sun fade they are also prone to cracking between the small clocks and the radio slot.

Getting one without the radio slot may be a problem, I think that is where the standard fit radio was put by Rover.

[keith]

if you get a tired wooden one, even with a radio slot,, its fairly easy to just re-cover it with any colour leatherette or whatever... denim even if that's your thing.
as to wiring a clock & voltmeter, that's probably the easiest combination. just make sure to put the power to the clock on the "purple" feed, which is "on" at all times and put the voltmeter on the "green" feed which is switched "on" with the engine.

[goz_83]

Thanks Keith. That just might come in useful. I was thinking of sourcing an old dash and covering in vinyl. I also want to add a ciggy lighter socket for power.