109 replies to this topic

[jb93]

Thanks

I bought the dash, clocks and guages from a bloke breaking an mpi mini on here, and like most of the later dashboards the veneer had started to peel, so I was able to get the whole lot for a very reasonable price. I took it to pieces, sanded it down, and covered it with 3M DI-NOC Carbon Fibre Vinyl. I ended up going for the metallic grey stuff, mainly because I've seen two done in the black already and wanted something a bit different. It did take quite a while though, about two hours for the binnacle thing which was a nightmare, and the same again for the dash and glovebox lid. I kept telling myself to start a project thread and take loooads of pictures whilst I was doing it (but didn't)

I got the vinyl from carbonmods which turned out to be just down the road from me so I was able to take the dash up and get some advice before I started, (it saved money on postage aswell ). They all seemed really helpful, and I can't recommend them enough.

This is the stuff:- http://www.carbonmod...ibre-vinyl.aspx . It's got a texture to it aswell which is what gives it the carbon effect.

Hope this helped ,
Jonathon

[Brookesy]

oooohhhhh white carbon fibre vinyl haha love the fact they have covered a phone too

I was going to do the same too with a thread and a step one to finish guide. But tended to get on a roll and completly forget the pictures probably going to build another over the winter so will get a full guide up to help with peoples first dash builds

[jb93]

Yeah the white is supposed to get really dirty quite quickly though...

[Brookesy]

Wow, didn't expect to see this much help! Thanks guys!
If I'm thinking on the right track, you could even place two metal brackets at the back of the dash like in your diagram, weld some nuts onto it and put some recessed bolts in the dash that bolt into the brackets. This would mean it would look the same after being covered with vinyl or whatever, but be a lot easier to fit.

Cheers ,
jono

The omly problem you get then is if you had a problem behind the dash (electrical, leak e.t.c) then you cant get to the screw threads as they are vinyl. Ive had to remover my dash a couple of times in about 2 months due to a water leak in air vent and a loose wire on radio. Was quite handy having the ability to pop it on and off easily

[richgilberto]

I can't understand why I can't find a simple answer to this questions anywhere on the interwebs: How many mm across are the speedo/fuel/tach on the 3-clock pod setup? I bought an aftermarket dash and I'm looking at my options for aftermarket speedo/tach/fuel gauge as well...