This may not look like much, but it is starting a new phase of the project. Of course as soon as I had the car close to being on the road I had to start modifying another part of it. I had this in mind for a long time and was anxious to try it. My plan was to put a dash from a Mazda Miata in the car, since I think it has a sort of Ferrari'ish look, and looks a lot better in a car like this than the stock Fiero dash did. This is a junk dash from an early generation Miata (an NA car for those that are into Miatas). This is just for trial fit purposes since I really have no idea if it is going to work or not, so I didn't want to spend a much money on a good dash.
This is the back side of the dash. A lot of the metal structure has to be cut out to clear the Fiero dash area.
One of the many problems with a dash swap is that the Fiero windshield is fairly flat, and newer cars have windshields with more curve in them. This is the Miata dash on the bottom with the Fiero dash clamped, upside-down, onto it. You can see how different the curves are. I cut the Miata dash off, following the line of the Fiero dash.
The first trial fit in the car. It fits fairly well. Ignore the fact that it is really dirty and has a lot of pieces missing. The steering wheel and centre console line up pretty much dead-on with the dash centred in the car (something I was concerned about).
Since the dash was cut down to match the curve of the windshield, it is now too short at the top (there was not enough of the dash to match the windshield curve and actually have it reach the windshield). I've added a fibreglass lip to extend the dash forward. This is sort of a test to see if this is a good way to do this. It turned out OK, but not great. One problem is that fibreglass doesn't really stick to the plastic material the dash is made of.
How's this for a nicer dash! Since the trial fit with the older style Miata dash showed me that it is workable, I decided to commit myself to the project and buy a newer style Miata dash (from an NB car) which is in really good shape and has all the switches and instruments with it.
No wonder this dash weighs a ton, look at all the stuff that is in it. First thing was to take out the wiring harness, switches, instruments, vent pipes, and anything else that would get in the way of a quick test-fitting in the car.
Bomb disposal time. This is the passenger side airbag which I obviously don't need. I'll keep the cover and maybe hinge it to make some sort of extra storage compartment in the dash. As for the airbag, well, either sell it or have some fun by setting it off.
With everything out of the dash, the main metal structure can be taken out too. The dash weighs nothing now since there is nothing left in it. The metal structure can be cut down as required to fit in the car; much easier to do this with it out of the dash.
Wow! How is that for a nice looking dash. It matches the tan interior of the car pretty nicely. It is sitting a little too far rearward, so I'll have to see how much of the metal structure can be trimmed out to let it move forward a bit.
Not a huge difference here, but it has been moved forward a bit more. That's about as far as it can go without major surgery. So, all I have to do is make up some mounts to bolt it in place, see if the various switches and instruments can be wired up to the Fiero, work out all of the air and defroster vent interfacing with the Fiero stuff, make some sort of filler piece to bridge the gap at the windshield (you can see I've started making a template for that), see if the centre console fits.......and it will be ready for the road! A lot of work ahead, but I think it is going to look great.
The metal dash framework has been installed in the car and mounts made up. You can see the one on the passenger side that has been welded to the dash frame and bolted to the stock Fiero bolting point. A similar mount has been made for the driver side. The centre console area has been bolted to the Fiero centre The centre dash vent from the Miata has been temporarity fitted to the frame to see how it lines up with the Fiero unit; basically it doesn't so an adaptor will have to be made.
This is the dash structure with both the Fiero and Miata vent boxes installed. The Fiero unit, with the defroster outlet, will get the air from the plenum in the car once the dash is back in. This will be in the same position in the car as with the stock Fiero. The air will be directed into the Miata unit to provide air to the dash vents.
You can see here that a metal box is being made to adapt the 2 vent systems together. The long pin-like things are Clecos that are holding it temporarily together; these will be replaced with rivets when it is installed for good. This allows the stock Fiero defroster vent to work, and when fresh air is selected, the air will go into the adaptor, then into the Miata vent system.
The Fiero defroster duct doesn't line up with the defroster vents in the Miata dash. In fact, the part with the vents was cut off to make the dash fit against the windshield. I've cut this section out of the dash, and another adaptor piece will be made to bridge the gap between the Fiero defroster duct and the top of the dash.
This is the defroster duct being made from fibreglass. The dash has been protected with tin foil to keep the fibreglass from sticking to it. It has been made in several steps. The various pieces are being bonded together here, then it will be trimmed to shape. One more piece will have to be added to the front of it to form a complete duct.
This is the finished defroster duct adaptor. It has been made up of several fibreglass pieces bonded together, trimmed, sanded, and painted black.
A little hard to see what it looks like, but the defroster duct has been glued into the cutout in the dash. The lower part of it touches the Fiero defroster duct, so it guides the air from there to the top of the dash. There will be a filler piece that bridges the gap between the dash and the windshield and that will form the front part of the defroster vent.
This is the filler piece that will bridge the gap between the top of the dash and the windshield. I've made it out of wood and it will then be fibreglassed for strength. There will be a piece added to each end of it that will come down beside the Miata dash and fill the space between the dash and the inside of the Fiero A-pillar (the Miata dash is not as wide and the Fiero so there is a gap at each end). The completed piece will then be covered with black vinyl to match the top of the Miata dash.
This is the filler piece, completed and covered with vinyl. It forms the front side of the defroster duct opening, and the front of it matches the Fiero windshield curve.
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