here is a link to my dash. although al around where the steering column is, it has been sanded and smoothed. i am fitting the heater at the moment, then wiring will be done.
edit: link added
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic ... 1&start=90

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lookin for another clubby

where's the link?

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- Simon -

i'd be interested in purchasing a carbon fibre dash

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

So do you think 6 (or so) people that have bothered to reply (one at least having expressed his preference to build his own) will be sufficient to justify a short production run? I imagine you've already studied all the alternative dashes available rather than kicking back on the internet and waiting for the answers to come to you....???

Now, I'll be mildly serious....I'd suggest a MUCH better method of working out what people want is heading up to the biggest event you can (guess what? [email protected] is on this Sunday!) and asking ALL the people that DON'T have dashes already, A) why they don't have one, B) what would make them want one and C) what would they like THEIR dash to have/not have. Then ask people that already have one (and these are the people you most likely won't be able to sell one to) what issues they've come across, in terms of materials, ergonomics, assembly, mounting, etc. One other avenue is to talk to guys that have produced runs of dashes in the past and find out why they don't make them anymore. You'll probably come across the hoard of dashes they made but never sold.

A much wider sample will give you a hell of a lot better idea than posting here for a handful of people to look at.

You'll essentially be reinventing the wheel here, as these dashes have obviously been done before....so yours better be damned good!


Now , believe it or not...my first response was SARCASTIC, in an effort to get you to at least generate your own dash....and forget what we think. My feeling is that you'd be lucky to sell more than a few...but good luck anyway!!

i think if he has the skills to make custom dashes out of either CF or glass he should look at one-offs rather than making some one-size fits all solution...i'd be willing to pay ALOT more for a one-off that meets my exact specifications than for some production line produced, near-enough-kinda dashboard...but thats just me...

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

I assumed as much... and i wasn't really mad, it's hard to type sarcasm isn't it. I'm frequently getting myself in trouble on MSN for sarcasm that's taken seriously.

The aim is to make one for myself but if there was some things that people specifically wanted then it may highlight something that i hadn't thought of. I'm planning to 3d model my idea and use a CNC router to shape it out of foam. Test fit and if i like it then i'll use the foam to make a fibreglass mould. Obviously once you have a mould then it's relatively easy to make multiples. If i could sell 3 then i'd be happy.


I pulled my dash off today to start measuring up the car. I've subsequently discovered that it's quite a complicated thing to measure up a car accurately. There wouldn't happen to be a place that i could find dimensions of the mini is there? The problem is the dash rails curve in multiple directions, upward as well as away from the driver on the top. On the bottom it's even more tricky.

I've never seen such a mess of wires before... all my other cars have been newer and thus wiring looms have been neatly installed in a factory. The wires would also be colour coded to help with decyphering. This is madness. I stupidly connected the battery to listen to the radio... heard a spark noise. Probably shorted on of thos switch's terminals against the dash rail. So, I went inside and had a coffee.



I was fooling around last night with Solid Works and 3ds max... Can't get the stupid carbon fibre map to render (didn't get much help with 3dsmax at uni )... anyhow, that's not my preferred design, it was just something i did because it was an easy shape to model.

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- Simon -

that looks aight...although having the speedo in the middle (as is traditional) and the rest of the dials over the steering wheel (as is common nowadays) would be a pain while driving...having to look in different places...

i was actually thinking since i am getting a rollcage i'd just have a flat rectangular piece of CF with a bunch of holes in it for the numerous dials i am gonna have fitted (water/oil temp, speedo (standard one but maybe with more room to move, mine only goes up to like 90mph), tacho, boost, oil pressure and...thats all i can think of right now...) ugly...but with some nice stainless fastners could look pretty sweet...very industrial

still not sure if i want a sound system in this car...so headunit slot may or may not be wanted/needed...

edit: one thing i would be keen to have made up for me would be a CF steering wheel cowling...anyone?

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

I want the speedo in the centre... It has to be if it's a true mini.

When i'm driving, the speedo is looked at less frequently than temp, tacho and oil pressure... so i want those guages in front of me where they are easily glanced at.

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- Simon -

fair enuff i am always lookin at the speedo to make sure i am not going more thn 15km over the speed limit...otherwise bam! the fuzz'll get ya!

i agree that the speedo has to be in the middle btw

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

I think the later Innocenti Cooper dash (early were standard oval cooper type, later had space for 5 gauges and the even later ones had 6 - they are the best ones) is the way to go - as it was designed for the mini, its still cavernous - ie it goes inwards from the dash rails not bulging outwards - which is an important feature of the mini design and what makes the mini look so big (unlike most aftermarket dashes which bulge at you like you're siting in a Daihatsu.

I think the black dash in one of your pics is an innocenti dash or a similar item - the problem with innocenti dashes is that they are all in a LHD configuration - though the one in your photo seems to be a RHD. Anyway everyone seems to like the inno dash and it looks cool while matching the general mini concept.

Ok, so this is the Innocenti Cooper dash?



If i can find one of these then i won't bother making one... but it seems that finding a RHD one may be a struggle.

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- Simon -

i'd buy a carbon version of that in a second...its pretty sexy

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

It's weird though, the tacho and speedo are the same size... i was aiming to use the standard speedo in the centre if possible. That will make it look very different to the one pictured.

The air vent holes are obviously not needed but perhaps they could be replaced with speaker mounting holes.

What's with the rectangular shape below the 3 left guages? I can't work out what that's for.

Half of those guages are going to be obscured by the steering wheel that's not pictured. My stupidly small wheel makes seeing guages difficult.

All in all though, that's a damn fine looking dash.

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- Simon -

yeah i thought that was weird too...MASSIVE tacho...i'd prefer to have the tacho over the steering wheel in that setup...



not much room for a headunit though...you could have it slung under the dash i spose...



looks to me like its just aesthetic...looks like it'd meet up with the bottom dash shelf thing...might also provide support for the gauges...they can be heavy...you can see that the line of the square thing continues under all the dashes...with the little hump in the middle under the 2 big gauges that matches up with the hump on the shelf...

or are we talking about 2 different things here? if yer talkin about the white thing then i am guessing its some sort of center console...not sure what that groove in the middle is though...

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

Head unit perhaps?


got the same problem here - perhaps that is why the Speedo/Tach combo is off to the side so that it don't get obscured by the wheel LOL