Do you have the rest of it? The trim, airbag covers, etc? If not that project will be a BEAR. I don't want to discourage you, as I think a finished product could look amazing, but I've looked into dash swaps and all roads lead back to Amida unless you want to spend a LOT more money than you thought and do a LOT LOT LOT more work than you thought.
Some considerations-- 1. Will it fit? The side to side between the interior door panels is the easy part. It needs to be the right depth from the windshield to the front of the dash. More complicated than that-- the internal structure of the dash and/or the interior structure of the car must be modified to marry them up. This project could become a one way street. If you modify the Fiero internal structure enough you become COMMITTED to the new dash, and you MUST finish the project, as you will never be able to properly fit a stock Fiero dash without major work and potential welding.
2. Will it match? A new dash means you will need to match it up to the rest of the car. If you're considering upgrading the interior appearance of your car, chance are you want the finished product to look good. It's amazing how difficult it is to get dissimilar colors and textures to match, and how glaring minor differences in that match could be. If your new dash is wrapped in real leather there is no way to get the OE vinyl pieces to match in texture. This means you will need to get creative in blending them, or use some sort of contrasting color that fits with the look of the car. Even a seemingly universal color like "black" may not match, and those close but no cigar color differences are often worse looking than a different but a complimentary color. The reason I asked about the airbag cover and trim is these MUST MUST MUST match the rest of the dash. You may be able to hide a kick panel or trim piece, but when the dash doesn't match it will immediately grab the attention of whomever is observing your car. Assuming this dash was pulled out of a junked car, that means that the color is likely faded. If you do not have the remaining pieces that have experienced the same life as the rest of the dash it will be impossible to match the fade.
I wish you the best of luck, but I strongly encourage you do to your homework.
The gauge cluster looks a bit to high. I imagine in the BMW the dash is rotated down more, that or it's from a BMW SUV? Other than that it does look like a decent fit. If you decide to run with it make sure to post up a build progress thread. I'd love to see how it looks when done.
The gauge cluster looks a bit to high. I imagine in the BMW the dash is rotated down more, that or it's from a BMW SUV? Other than that it does look like a decent fit. If you decide to run with it make sure to post up a build progress thread. I'd love to see how it looks when done.
The Fiero dash is still installed in that pic, and the BMW dash is sitting on top of it. :P
I have access to about ten of these along with more trim and interior parts I could ever need. I'd imagine I would use a newer BMW center console. I bet I could get an f82 center console if I ask nice. Texture is similar to doors. I can match color no problem. The dash in the pic would be for mock up. The dash I would use is already modified for new ducts and all that. My carpet is spankin new, so is my headliner. The doors could use work. I'm thinking the only issue would be the cluster like mentioned. At least fitting the stock one in the tiny hole might be an issue.
You are going to need to buy a whole wrecked BMW to make this work as mentioned this isn't easy. Aussies do to LHD to RHD conversions so been up the route also. just to get everything you need in postage or fuel alone would make you sick with the costs. Loads of work and loads of parts required even if it does fit.
[This message has been edited by Australian (edited 11-11-2015).]
While I will agree with the statements of the gauges and electronics being hard to adapt to the Fiero, but the getting it to fit shouldn`t be too hard. Hell, I made a dash out of cardboard, fiberglassed over, and I didn`t have to make any major changes to the structure of the Fiero. I ordered a couple of specialty items but used mostly items from Home Depot to make parts I needed.
Txgood, is right. Y'all are thinking to hard lol. So the company I work for tears stock vehicles apart down to the metal, and then builds race cars out of them. Anything that slows the car down "like an interior" gets thrown into a box and stored till the end of time. Parts aren't the issue if I ask nice my car doesn't have a whole lot of electronics left on it. I'll probably end up using toggles for everything on a carbon fiber panel anyways. I got an idea for the cluster. There's an r8 at work with an interesting setup that I got the idea from. I'll see if I can take a photo. Remember everyone, its just nuts, bolts, and wires
I think I'll dive into this today. It looks like it will slide right in. I tried finding this dash swap, actually any BMW dash swap and found only one closed thread here asking if something was BMW. The pictures pictures on the thread were broken so I have no idea if it's what I'm up to. If anyone asks... I'm the first to put a BMW e46 dash in a longitudinal v8 swapped fiero
Txgood, is right. Y'all are thinking to hard lol. So the company I work for tears stock vehicles apart down to the metal, and then builds race cars out of them. Anything that slows the car down "like an interior" gets thrown into a box and stored till the end of time. Parts aren't the issue if I ask nice my car doesn't have a whole lot of electronics left on it. I'll probably end up using toggles for everything on a carbon fiber panel anyways. I got an idea for the cluster. There's an r8 at work with an interesting setup that I got the idea from. I'll see if I can take a photo. Remember everyone, its just nuts, bolts, and wires
I agree it's not that hard. When I did my Firebird dash in 2002, I was originally going to use the firebird dash as the basis for a custom dash, but it fit so well I decided to just go for it. I adapted the firebird gauges because they were so similar, but I could have easily used the Fiero or custom gauges. No need to adapt all the electronics unless you just want to.
I have a good condition dash with all the trim waiting for me once I figure out exact cuts. This is a rough mock up and holy crap... The width is nearly exact to that of the Fiero dash. I made an outline of the Fiero dash on cardboard and transfered it to the e46 dash. My first cut wasn't enough. It stuck out to much. The second cut it what you see in the photo below. Let it be known from here on out..... I may of been the first to ever do this I'll mess with it some more later on. Check it out.
[This message has been edited by Chris Hodson (edited 11-19-2015).]
Please keep us posted. I am very interested. I just bought a 1986 off a guy and he gave me a BMW dash he had planned to swap in. I was just goign to get rid of the dash, but you have made me interested in possibly trying to do it.
Its been so cold in the garage. My motivation just isn't there lol. Im confident it will work out fine. If you can cut the dash back to fit where the glass meets...your golden. A few simple brackets and your in.
Watching this with much more than just casual interest. Love my '03 325i daily driver. Always liked the dash appearance, layout and materials. While i considered the seats in a Fiero, the dash never crossed my mind.
There are some pretty slick E46 Navi radios that are custom made for that dash. I would suspect trying to adapt any other of the BMW electricals would be an exercise in futility and frustration!
How did I miss this for so long?! A generation earlier, but I'm actually working with a late model E34 dash myself! This is an early shot, I stopped working on the car just after initial fit because of illness. I had an E34 parts car available and the E34 and Fiero are very similar interior widths
[This message has been edited by Pancake (edited 02-29-2016).]