Alfa 90: Dash Replacement

[Beatle]

Hi trendsetters.  So what holds the 90 dash in place?   Clips or screws?  Mine is in good nick, but seems loose and rattly.

And just for laughs........is there any chance the dash from a 75 would fit into the 90? 
What about the dash from an Alfetta sedan?

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Don't start the job if you need to use the car later that day, it's a little fiddly.

There's a few screws under the instrument binnacle, a couple under the air outlet on top, and a couple underneath on each side.  Maybe one in the glovebox too from memory, behind a panel, and I think one near the fuse block.  And you need to disconnect a terminal block from each side of the engine bay, and then undo the blocks (a couple of nuts) and it pulls back inside.  Then there is two clips that are holding it in.

And you need to take off the A-pillar trims, and then curse at the broken plastic clips....

And it will probably never be the same again once you put it back in, you think it's rattly now!!   Hopefully yours just has a couple of loose screws.  I'd be very surprised if a 75 one would fit, but an Alfetta one could possibly be made to fit.  Not sure if there would be room behind it for all the electrics though, there's probably about 20kg of wires behind that dash, you'll be amazed once you see how much is there.

[four90s]

Definitely fiddly, allow the whole day.

I always take the upper part of the centre console out as well. makes it a lot easier to get the dash out.

To get it out, you'll need to take the steering wheel and column switchgear off as well, as the dash has a hole in it that the column goes through. If you can't get the wheel off, it's column off from the bottom.

As well as the terminal blocks through from the bay, there is another terminal block each side high up in the footwell and on the outer side of the car. There are four or five plug/socket sets there, some of which need to come out with the dash.

The 75 dash won't fit, as it mounts very differently, but I'm not sure about the Alfetta. In theory they should be the same, but they are both Alfa Romeos after all.

I had a really annoying rattle in one of my 90s, which turned out to be a small gumnut rolling back and forth in the demister grille, which eventually found it's way down into the heater.

If you are going to take it out, it's always a good idea to take the top of the heater box off and remove all the leaf litter that always seems to end up in there.

Good luck.
Steve
Adelaide

[Beatle]

What is involved in replacing the digital GCL instrument cluster with an analogue Super cluster? 

Can it be done neatly?

What else is involved?  Do all the inputs remain the same or would I need new sensors.  ie speed sensing and other guaging?

Separate question:  If you swap out the digital guage cluster for another digi dash, does the odometer reading stay with the car, or the instrument?

[Mat Francis]

Hi Paul,

Super instrument swap is very straightforward- did it in my "82.5". I can't comment for the speedo (I was running an alfetta gearbox), but given all the other gauges functioned correctly I would assume it would be fine.

Worst case scenario I would think is you would need to change the speedo sender (as I think there were two types, no idea when the changeover occured though). As you have the interior already out of the car this might be a half hour job.

The 82.5 is no more, so I have a Super cluster if you decide it's the way to go.

Cheers

[dehne]

I think they are plug and play, the speedo sensors work for both as I have put a super one into my GCL, the only thing I had to do was connect the earth wire up, having a good digital cluster that works looks heaps cooler than the anni cluster, and Matt what time do you reckon you will get to Bendigo on sat, I have the grey 90 running really good ATM so might take you for a quick spin,

[Beatle]

Dehne, my digi dash works perfectly.  Think of it more that I'm preserving the digital dash for some future time when original Alfa 90 GCLs are the Alfa 2900B of their age.................   I'll 'live' with analogue as a sacrifice 

What are everyone's thoughts on a couple of white racing stripes on the upper surfaces of my red 90?  (I'm actually half serious...)

[dehne]

Give it the stripes, I have a collection of clusters and headlights for the future,

[Beatle]

OK so I sourced an analogue speedo cluster (thanks Mat), cleaned it up and managed to re-clock it to match the mileage on the car (117,000kms).  Not an easy job.............

Photos for posterity:

[Beatle]

The observant would have noticed the new panel has been modified.  There is a red fly lead soldered in place, and three other solder dollops below/left.   

DEHNE:   This added wire looks to be a power feed, not an earth (note the zig-zag hand scrawled onto the panel to the left of the new wire attachment point.  Resistor??).   Can you explain where you added the earth wire when you swapped clusters?

Any idea which wire needs to plug onto this new red fly lead? 

[Beatle]

BTW, to pull the dash:

-I already had the A-pillar trims removed.
-Steering wheel and indicator stalks.
-Two screws at lower outboard edges.
-Two screws under the windshield vent grille.  Surprisingly, the grill is metal.
-Disconnect the plugs in the engine bay at the upper outboard ends of the firewall, two 10mm nuts and release the connectors into the cabin.
-Up under the dash you need to disconnect SOME of the large electrical plugs at the outboard ends.  From memory. the lower two on the LHS, and the lower three on the RHS.  You don't need to disconnect all plugs at these positions.

I had already pulled the instrument panel so not sure if this needs to come out.  I don't believe it does.

Overall, pulling the dash just made me hanker more for my steel bumper Alfetta coupes.   Those dashboards are a cinch to remove, and about a quarter the weight......    The only upside to the 90 is that you don't need to pull any vents out of the dash.  That never goes well.