18 replies to this topic

[minibarnerz]

sorry if there is already a topic for this, but hard to find as cannot use the search engine on the word "ka"...

im thinking about doing the Ka dash conversion, im not shy of hard work, and im pretty good with fibreglass etc, but want to know whats involved!? does anyone have pictures of doing this? any personal experience will help at this point!!

many thanks

[charie t]

There is no correct way of fitting it. Its custom fit so how ever you want. You will need to shorten it and mount it.
Google it and check out how others have fitted them. Usually its shortened around the dash pocket as its much easier

[maggies_minder]

contact H4WX1E on here,
his KA dash is awesome even the edidtor of mini mag said it was the best he'd seen.

hes got loads of pics and i believe hes still got on of his earlier attempts which he used first, then got a secong to do "properly" for the install itself.

[h4wx1e]

go to my profile and go to the link for mini club page mate, i have some pics on their. as above its what you want from it really, its custom. the heater and the gear knob plus the line of sight to the dials need to be addressed, other than that its pretty straight forward, i destroyed 3 dashes befor i was happy lol

[minibarnerz]

Wow @ H4WX1E's Dash, if mine turns out half as nice as that, id b stoked!!
what were you paying for yur dash's have emailed a few people breaking KA's, only one got back to me so far, and wanted £150!!! seemed a bit steep! you have used the standard mini dials i see, thats what i was goin to do, did you find the dash sat in the right place for them, because dont really want to be re-wiring the dash pod if i can help it....

have you just cut a bit off both ends to get it to sit correct then fibreglass and smooth off after?
how have you attatched it? fabricated brackets, or has there been logical places to attatch when its in?
guess most of these questions will become obvious when i 1st try to line everything up!!

[Dan16v]

sorry if there is already a topic for this, but hard to find as cannot use the search engine on the word "ka"...

im thinking about doing the Ka dash conversion, im not shy of hard work, and im pretty good with fibreglass etc, but want to know whats involved!? does anyone have pictures of doing this? any personal experience will help at this point!!

many thanks

as H4WX1E said, the main problems to overcome is the gear leaver and steering wheel, from my PMs with H4WX1E, he cut alot more of the dash out to get it to sit back nicely so it didnt touch the steering wheel, I went with a dished wheel option and bent the gearstick and cut less out of the dash.

I cut the pasenger side vent off and trimmed the drivers side and it fits nicley, others have cut a section out the middle and rejoined it.

you can get a dash for about £70 from a breakers including all the bits.

You can attach it to the upper and lower dash rails by making up some brakets.

Took about 10x longer than I was expecting though, mainly because I did a digital speedo and rewired the whole lot!

[h4wx1e]

if anything you will probably just have to extend wires unless you want a more unique style to the dash. with mine as dan16v said i cut it as far back as i dared so i had steering wheel clearence, standard gear stick clearence etc. theirs alot to think about, i moved the heater to the left so the dash was more central. cutting wise you can cut part of the dash out anywhere really and stick it back together again. regarding the clocks, they will need to be pulled forward and angled slightly otherwise you wont get the best view of them. the other thing is that where the original air con swithes etc go is at an angle and i personly would think about what you put their mate.

[Dan16v]

sorry if there is already a topic for this, but hard to find as cannot use the search engine on the word "ka"...

im thinking about doing the Ka dash conversion, im not shy of hard work, and im pretty good with fibreglass etc, but want to know whats involved!? does anyone have pictures of doing this? any personal experience will help at this point!!

many thanks

this kind of gives you an idea at what I cut out

standard wheel shows the kind of clearance problems

just clears the heater

 IMG_4631.JPG   261.92K   95 downloads

[iDemonix]

I've got a Ka, why would you want to do this haha, they're fugly pieces of horrible plastic!

[h4wx1e]

thats why you mod them but retain the inner beuty, obviously! lol i personnely liked the tear drop shape of the dial cluster and was bored with the flat piece of wood holding my clocks in.

[Dan16v]

I've got a Ka, why would you want to do this haha, they're fugly pieces of horrible plastic!

in a KA, they do look a bit cheap and plasticy, I havent seen one yet that has been left as plain plastic though, they are different and make the interiour feel less edgy

each to their own I guess

[Dan6061]

Been thinking about doing the same to mine at some point! You beat me to making this thread.

[h4wx1e]

why dont you make a build thread then? wish i had with mine, suppose i could always put one up from the beginning to the end of me build.

[superman]

why dont you make a build thread then? wish i had with mine, suppose i could always put one up from the beginning to the end of me build.

Go for it, your help was invaluable when i did mine.(even though i didn't use the dash after all)

[minibarnerz]

i will do, got a dash coming next week, so will make sure i take pis as i go!! so anyone who has pics of thiers going in etc, please post them, it'll help LOADS!!