Dash removal

[Barry.b]

Hi guys , I took the dashboard out of my car yesterday , I took some photos of it tonight to help anyone else planning on doing the same.
Remove the glove box and the leather under dash panel below the steering wheel and the center console and the heater control panel and then lower the steering column ( it is held on with 4 bolts ) firstly to allow access to the rear of the dashboard from below.

remove the padded gauge pod cover , it is held on with 2 M6 nuts which have to be accessed from behind the dashboard.

Next you need to remove the black padded panel nearest to the windscreen ( I had my windscreen out of the car ! )
Be very very careful with your de-mister vent ducts - they are very brittle !!!
The dash pad is held down by 4 spring clips. They “let go “ when you pull upwards on the dash pad.

Next you need to remove the gauge cluster complete.
It is held in by 2 M6 nuts they go through both the timber dashboard and the metal car bodywork support behind it.
Remove the 2 nuts and lift the guage pod upwards a little and out towards you , just enough to get your hand in behind it to disconnect the speedo cable and the trip meter rest cable , there are 2 multiplug wiring connectors which need to be disconnected, the cluster is now free .

Then the next thing to remove is the chrome strip along the top of the wood . It has screws going into both the car bodywork and the timber dashboard below it. Remove all of the screws.

the next part to remove is the aluminium and rubber strip at the front of the dashboard. I pryed mine out from the dashboard carefully trying not to bend it too much ( it is aluminium and it bends easily) I thought it was attached with clips , it turned out they were wood screws ( they pulled out of the wood anyway )
Once that piece is removed, you will then see more screws behind it holding the Lower black piece of the dashboard to the wood , remove all screws.
The speaker cover just pulls out carefully as it is held on with 4 spring dowels
Be careful, it can be brittle.

 

[Barry.b]

Hi guys , I took the dashboard out of my car yesterday , I took some photos of it tonight to help anyone else planning on doing the same.
Remove the glove box and the leather under dash panel below the steering wheel and the center console and the heater control panel and then lower the steering column ( it is held on with 4 bolts ) firstly to allow access to the rear of the dashboard from below.

View attachment 131632remove the padded gauge pod cover , it is held on with 2 M6 nuts which have to be accessed from behind the dashboard.View attachment 131634View attachment 131635View attachment 131636 Next you need to remove the black padded panel nearest to the windscreen ( I had my windscreen out of the car ! )
Be very very careful with your de-mister vent ducts - they are very brittle !!!
The dash pad is held down by 4 spring clips. They “let go “ when you pull upwards on the dash pad.
View attachment 131637View attachment 131638View attachment 131641Next you need to remove the gauge cluster complete.
It is held in by 2 M6 nuts they go through both the timber dashboard and the metal car bodywork support behind it.
Remove the 2 nuts and lift the guage pod upwards a little and out towards you , just enough to get your hand in behind it to disconnect the speedo cable and the trip meter rest cable , there are 2 multiplug wiring connectors which need to be disconnected, the cluster is now free .
View attachment 131642View attachment 131644View attachment 131645Then the next thing to remove is the chrome strip along the top of the wood . It has screws going into both the car bodywork and the timber dashboard below it. Remove all of the screws.View attachment 131648View attachment 131649the next part to remove is the aluminium and rubber strip at the front of the dashboard. I pryed mine out from the dashboard carefully trying not to bend it too much ( it is aluminium and it bends easily) I thought it was attached with clips , it turned out they were wood screws ( they pulled out of the wood anyway )
Once that piece is removed, you will then see more screws behind it holding the Lower black piece of the dashboard to the wood , remove all screws.
The speaker cover just pulls out carefully as it is held on with 4 spring dowels
Be careful, it can be brittle.
View attachment 131650View attachment 131652View attachment 131653View attachment 131654View attachment 131655

The trip meter reset cable has a very small screw in the side of it ( circled in red above ) loosen the screw firstly if you want to remove the knob.
The main dashboard board is held on with 3 bolts and clamps show above ( circled in yellow ) they can be accessed from below the dashboard,there may be 2 small screws still hiding below the dash near the front , so if it won’t lift out for you at this stage
Check for these 2 small screws .

 

[teahead]

"Next you need to remove the black padded panel nearest to the windscreen "


Does the windscreen really need to come out to do this?

 

[Barry.b]

"Next you need to remove the black padded panel nearest to the windscreen "


Does the windscreen really need to come out to do this?

You might be able to do it with the windscreen in place Perhaps ( mine was out anyway )
If you do try it with the windscreen in I think you should go in under the dashboard first and disconnect the demister vent flexible ducting and try and lower the vents down in behind the dashboard a bit . Otherwise the black padded panel will not “jump” over the vents themselves , and remember they are very brittle !!! ( again my windscreen was out already , so I am guessing this would be the case )

 

[coupesport]

remove the padded gauge pod cover , it is held on with 2 M6 nuts which have to be accessed from behind the dashboard.

My padded gauge cover was also secured to the topmost dashpad by screws - so my padded gauge cover had to come out with the top dashpad.

 

[Barry.b]

Hi there .
Okay ,
What year was your car built
my car is a September 1973 build ,that means she’s a series 1
I wonder is yours a series 2 maybe ?

 

[deQuincey]

Interesting thread,
it is an RHD, so it is a bit different, but lots of things to learn and consider
thanks

 

[Bmachine]

Excellent writeup. Thank you Barry

 

[HB Chris]

Apparently there are two small screws that holds the binnacle to the upper dash so it all has to come out as one unit.

 

[Krzysztof]

Maybe it would be good to know to the Karmann have done it and make it in the reverse order as typically in the car plants the dash is coming in as a single piece with few connectors, screws to be fixed. As it was low volume they could however done it differently.

I can't imagine installing such a dashes for a whole working day/shift, not even thinking about the month or years. I'm assuming they've been shifting between different stations from time to time.

 

[mulberryworks]

Modern car dash installation is a far cry from the state of the art when our cars were built. And Karmann's process was far from state of the art, being a small coachmaker with traditional construction methods. How much lead did they put in our cars anyway?
New cars receive their dashes on the end of a large arm and require only a few wiring connections and some quick tightening of preinstalled bolts and it's done.

My understanding is that our dashes were assembled in the car by experienced staff, probably soon after it left the paint shop so there was nothing else in the way.
I'd love to see photos of that, but if there are any, I doubt they have made it outside the walls of corporate BMW. This is the only photo I've found near that assembly step but it doesn't give much information.

 

[Krzysztof]

We expect it different for current state where it is done by robots even in some plants.

I would expect the windshield, doors, carpet was off with the electric wiring to be just in to be able to make the connection two connectors behind the cluster.

All in all I'm pretty sure there was some point of pre-assembly of the dash.

The good indication of it are two little screws to keep the upper part intact but also the fact only some screws are long which can indicate they were major leading reference of the pre-assembled dash.

What is more at leat two (or better three) workers were taking part in this process.

All in all I see some indicators of the methods used in mass production in these hand built cars.

 

[Krzysztof]

It is a pity there is so low number of photos and probably no films from E9 production like we can find for many other cars, even from 70's.

It would be very valuable material for All of us.

 

[scottau]

@Barry.b great write up thanks, this helped me greatly with a RHD dash. One thing to add for anyone else. To remove the front trim that has the rubber, I pulled the rubber out and then accessed the screws. I had the steering column out so was easy to peel from there.

 

[scottau]

Also a question, is there a knack to disconnect the two cluster connectors. I understand that you have to squeeze the size tabs and they split but with limited access it's proving to be a challenge. Resolved! Squeezed the tabs and pulled them from cabin side, also used a bit of silicon spray not sure if that helped??

 

[shanon]

Dash removal is doable with windshield in place, I did it. Know that the entire dash project is a major PITA. Depending on the end goal or scope of your project (show car, nice driver, rolling resto or event/race car?) you may chose to make some 'modifications' to the assembly for future ease of service. K.I.S.S. was not a concept when these cars were built...

 

[Barry.b]

@Barry.b great write up thanks, this helped me greatly with a RHD dash. One thing to add for anyone else. To remove the front trim that has the rubber, I pulled the rubber out and then accessed the screws. I had the steering column out so was easy to peel from there.

Hi Scottau
I am glad that it was of help to you.
I remember when I put the how to guide together, my wife who to be fair is quite supportive of my classic car habits asked me why I was talking so many photos
And when I told her I was putting a how to together she thought I was daft , she thought that no one else other than me would be taking out their own dash .
Anyway I’m definitely happy out that I am not alone and that it is a help !

 

[m_thompson]

Now would be a good time to replace your odometer gears and fix and calibrate the clock.

 

[TRIPPFONTAINE]

Go raibh mille, Barry. You've given me the impetus to have a crack at this, while winter is still in these parts.

 

[essmeier]

Thank you for this thread. It definitely has been helpful. I have a few questions. My gauge cover has 2 more screws underneath which are not mentioned here. My car is a 1970 so perhaps they aren't used in later models. Was this missed in the writeup or is my car different? Even with the 2 nuts and 2 screws removed my cover is still partially stuck. It may be melted to the dash or somehow glued. The main dash is still in the car but I have access to the defrost vent. How is the clip removed to drop the vent?