400 Dash Removal

Yes it is possible. I did it on my 365 to do the mouse hair. lots of parts though.
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Here's some instructions I wrote about 15 tears ago when I removed teh dash from my 1977 400 auto:

To remove the dashboard is easy. Disconnect the battery. Take of the glove
box lid. Remove the trim under the steering column. There is are triangular
'end-plates' at the end of the dashboard that have a 7 or 8mm nut holding
them on, you can get to it these very easily. Take out the speedometer and
rev counter panel. It is held in by two black knurled knobs (like the
dashboard dimmer knob). The wiring harness just pulls out of a socket. The
sockets can only be connected one way so it is impossible to make a mistake
when you are replacing them. Undo the speedometer cable. You can then
remove the two main gauges. there are screws around the rest of the gauges,
so remove these and take out the remaining gauges. Take out the four centre
gauges by removing the two knurled knobs and carefully pulling them
backwards, be careful not to scratch the leather trim on each side. Most of
the wiring is disconnected by a connector but the wires to the ammeter must
be unbolted - this is why you need to disconnect the battery as they are
live. The last stage is to undo the three of four screws that holds the
main dashboard in place, one at each end and either one or two in the
middle. Then the dashboard simply pulls backwards and comes out easily. I
suggest that you cover the carpets as a lot of dust and dirt will be in
there. It is not difficult and takes maybe 60-90 minutes.

 

The dash panel in my car was a real pain to get out. All the bolts above were easy but then there was one that had to be undone from in the engine bay. There is a rubber bung in the middle of the firewall that gets removed and then there is a bolt that holds the middle of the dash. This bolt took ages to get out and was a real back breaking task as you are stretched over the engine. The only spanner I could get in to it was a ring spanner with very small movements each time. I can see it will be a nightmare to get back in!

 

Al, could you use a ratcheting box end wrench? Also what is the orientation of the bolt, I assume it points straight up?

 

There is a complete step by step annotated instruction to remove a Series 2 dash on this forum. I followed it and it worked to perfection. Do a search, even if you have a series 1 it will help find the hidden screws and bolts. The pics have arrows pointing to the fasteners all in the correct order to get it out.

It took me about 8 hours over two days to get it out. I had mine recovered including the defroster strip and re-installed in abut 6 hours.

If you have black interior there is a BMW leather that is a very good match to the grain. My upholstery shop took three tries to get this good match.
Ken

 

I could not get a socket in there at the angle it had to go.

The main dash section has a captive nut & the bolt goes up through the hole in the firewall. This is undone first & the main dash panel removed so that you can undo the bolt that holds the strip closest to the windscreen - not captive & needed a spanner both sides.
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Good day All,

Just a FYI... for those needing to use the original style "mousehair" Dash material ... it can be found from HVL (Henk) from the Netherlands (HVL Class Leather® - Home). For my 365 to redo all the pieces in "mousehair" required 5.5 Metres of material ... for a total of 893.75 Euro ($984 USD) (162.5 Euro/$179 USD per Metre) + shipping. Be advised that Henk is not setup for credit cards or Paypal and so you have to pay him via a Bank Wire transfer. I found my experience with HVL/Henk to be an absolute pleasure... he is very responsive to e-mails (usually within a day) and shipped promptly (within a day after receiving the payment).

Cheers,

Sam

 

I know pretty old… but any tricks to getting the side panels off? Need to access the AC expansion valve. Ty