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I decided to treat my 1360 Mini Van to a new dash so bought a very nice looking two clock burr walnut example from Mini Spares.
The idea is to replace the existing three clock Clubman dash with its three matching auxiliary centre gauges (voltmeter, clock, oil pressure from a Gemini/Rover SD1) with the new wooden dash with a Smith’s 80 mm classic speedo and tacho in the two per-cut holes. I also drilled four 52mm holes in the centre above the radio cut out for some more Smith’s classic gauges to go into.
Fitting the new dash is relatively straightforward as I already have the Clubman top and bottom padded dash rails in there, and the MS wooden dash sits on the bottom rail then three brackets hold it in from behind once you tighten the wing nuts.
The problem is the new MS dash seems to be too short by about 20 mm. I can fill this in with some form of trim 10 mm each side, but I must say I was surprised to find the dash was not long enough. Do UK/Rover Minis have more trim padding at either end of the parcel shelf than a ‘60s Aussie made Mini to account for this? Or were the inner upper side panels different on the internal hinged door bodies? Has anyone else found this to be the case with these dashes? And is anyone interested in buying the old Clubman dash?
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1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)
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