• Welcome to the new SAOCA website. Already a member? Simply click Log In/Sign Up up and to the right and use your same username and password from the old site. If you've forgotten your password, please send an email to membership@sunbeamalpine.org for assistance.

    If you're new here, click Log In/Sign Up and enter your information. We'll approve your account as quickly as possible, typically in about 24 hours. If it takes longer, you were probably caught in our spam/scam filter.

    Enjoy.

Dashboard Removal

woodybap

Silver Level Sponsor
Time to tackle ongoing electric issues. I never did get the temperature gauge to work and I am constantly blowing fuses as I try to work on it. Also, the heater motor is not working. The space under and behind the dash is difficult to see and work on. I figure that it would be easily to noodle out the electrical issues with the dash and seats out of the way. [I can also rehab them a bit while they are out]. However, I cannot seem to locate dashboard removal instructions in the WSM or the Sunbeam Channel. Can someone help point me in the right direction?
 

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
Time to tackle ongoing electric issues
Sounds like it might be time for a new wiring harness,
The dash is pretty straightforward. Disconnect your battery first, remove the lower dash roll, there are two bolts (one
on each end of the roll at the end of the dash) and two nuts that thread in the center of the dash. Once removed you can then take
the mounting screws ( should be 3 or 4 depending on your cars series) then you can pull the dash out enough to remove ( and label)
wires. You may also want to remove the steering wheel and the cover over the steering column. If you take your time
it will come out fairly easily. By the way, removing the heater control cables is not easy with the dash installed. It's easier to
disconnect them from under the hood and the air control and pull the cables through.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Steve
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
What Steve has said above is correct. What we do (and I'm doing one currently) is to hang the dashboard above the car face down, in front of the roll top. Then we wire each instrument and tape the wires for each circuit to the outside of the car and test each circuit individually. Once we are happy that everything is wired as we want it to be we wrap the wires into a loom and fit the dashboard with the fresh wires in place. We also tend to modernise the wiring we fit to Alpines adding relays for lights and horns, alarm, tracker etc as well as adding a number of additional fuses but that is entirely optional. Unless your wiring harness is burnt or damaged you will probably be able to strip it down, clean the wires and re-use most, if not all of it. If you (or anyone else) wants to modernise your wiring e-mail me and I'll send you the details of what we do in a PDF document.

The first video below shows the wiring process. The second video covers refreshing the instruments and you may as well do this at the same time.
Tim R


 

woodybap

Silver Level Sponsor
Sounds like it might be time for a new wiring harness,
The dash is pretty straightforward. Disconnect your battery first, remove the lower dash roll, there are two bolts (one
on each end of the roll at the end of the dash) and two nuts that thread in the center of the dash. Once removed you can then take
the mounting screws ( should be 3 or 4 depending on your cars series) then you can pull the dash out enough to remove ( and label)
wires. You may also want to remove the steering wheel and the cover over the steering column. If you take your time
it will come out fairly easily. By the way, removing the heater control cables is not easy with the dash installed. It's easier to
disconnect them from under the hood and the air control and pull the cables through.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Steve
Spent most of yesterday removing the dash. Phew! Hope to work on testing and/or replacing wires in the next couple of weeks. In the meanwhile, I have questions about replacing or refinishing the dash. It is an S1. If I get one of those burled wood jobs, how do you reconnect the heater and vent controls [the bracket is one the back of the existing dash]? Is it possible to fashion a cover for the cubby box? If I rehab the old dash, any suggestions on color and type of paint that would yield some pleasing results? Thanks.
 

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
If you get a wood dash they are available with a cubby door. I believe the S1 dash was silver, so a nice coat
silver pain would look the part. To make a cubby box door wouldn't be all that hard, just attaching it to
your dash would take some ingenuity and imagination as there's no structure under the stock dash cubby.
Hope that helps,
Steve
 

woodybap

Silver Level Sponsor
So far, my search has not lead to a wooden dash for an S1. On my existing dash, the mounting brackets for the heater and air are molded right into the dash. Have you any idea how guys are fastening those control levers to the flat wood dashboards?
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
On later Series cars you buy a pair of brackets to hold the heater controls. These fit to the studs on the heater slider facia plate. I am not sure what owners of earlier Series cars do.
Tim RDashboard brackets.png
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
I've rotated the picture so that it is the 'right way up'. It might be easier to see this way.

Tim R
 

Attachments

  • Dashboard brackets.png
    Dashboard brackets.png
    1.4 MB · Views: 24

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
Sorry Woody,
Dan R makes the brackets for the wood dash heater controls. I've purchased a few of them and they fit just like the originals.
The wood dashes will fit the S!, just has the later dash look to it.
Cheers!
Steve
 
Top