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Hi All,
I’m trying to figure out how to install my dash. My plans are to install only the dash, instrument cluster and EMC module. No center console or heater box will be installed.
My concern is lack of support for the dash in the center. I would imaging that it could get to bouncing around quite a bit.
How are you guys with such minimal installations firmly affixing your dash in the car? Pictures would be great.
TIA
KB
I don’t see any reason NOT to install the full dash and center console. Having heat/defrost is nice for those pesky rain races. And it acts as a supplemental radiator if water temps climb.
The Bimmerworld radio blank plate is a nice piece for installing idiot lights, too.
With our minimum weight (50 lbs too high IMHO), there is no reason not to keep that stuff in the car.
Steve D.
Steve D wrote:
[quote]
With our minimum weight (50 lbs too high IMHO), there is no reason not to keep that stuff in the car.
Steve D.[/quote]
Right on! I’d love to get rid of my Gold’s Gym weight. (the ballast that is, no fat jokes please…)
Here’s another vote for keeping the center console - losing it doesn’t help much and it makes a great place for auxiliary gauges, switches (e.g., Cool Shirt) and Traqmate.
There is a middle support that should remain on the dash. You can see it in the picture below (front left of heater box). That will keep the dash from moving around. I don’t think there’s a way (or a need) to install the dash without the support. The radio/ac section is integrated with the top part so should be removed.
Shifter - yeah, I have one fitted in the car. However, I don’t see where that bar attaches to the dash. For what I’ve been able to find, it is a brace for the steering column bracket that was supplied on air bag models only.
Even if I where to install it and it somehow attached to the dash, it would leave 2/3rds of the dash unsupported on the RHS of the dash. I feel at least one more support point along the remaining length would be warranted.
I don’t feel putting in the center console would assist that much. I think there’s only one screw connecting the center console to the dash - and that’s via a rather flimsy sheet metal bracket.
The bar to the left of the center section is also on non-air bag cars and it is part of the steering column support. It also supports the ABS module and the right hand ABS module bracket bolt ties in to the dash.
There’s no problem with leaving the center console out. The dash is strong enough to support the center section where the radio & climate control parts are/were.
I took the column support bar out of my car and my dash has’t fallen yet. If you grab it you can wiggle it up and down, but you could with the bar in place as well.
I wish I had left my heater and controls intact. At least the defroster. February at CMP would make you appreciate it.
Yeah, I looked last night and the bar does not attach directly to the dash. It’s been a while since I installed the dash and all this time I “thought” I remembered it connecting.
That being said, I don’t have the center console in my car and the dash feels secure. It attaches on each end and in the middle under the windshield. I’ve never noticed it moving and (after your post) I tugged on it a little… no real movement to note.
Once you install the ECU things stiffen up a bit on the right side - it boxes that corner in. I’ve been trying to install a '91 dash in an '86 chassis. The center catch affair doesn’t want to line up, which makes things pretty flimsy.
I have the '86 dash, but the '91 was already trimmed for the cage’s A pillars. My dumb luck that it doesn’t fit worth a crap.
IIRC, the ABS control module mounts on the LHS. Maybe the way it mounts will help stiffen the LHS up.
Did you decide to leave the heat in?
I’m pretty sure the ABS module mounts to the dash and has a piece that mounts to the side near the hood pull. It does stiffen it some.
I found another intermediate support point this weekend. The dash mounts to a tab on the LHS of the steering column bracket. I discovered this while trying to install the ABS computer.
I’ve been getting itchy to get the car on the track before the season’s over - hence my desire to install without the air box. I was hoping the dash install would be a “slap in” activity and I could go back in over the winter and install the air box. I’m finding that’s not the case (IMHO). So I guess I’ll take the extra effort now to install it.
Has anyone had the cage’s A pillar/dash bar create a challenge in mounting their ABS computer?