Dashboard conversion

Reading time 6 minutes

Updated – January 21, 2023

The first question that arises in this context: why do you rebuild a dashboard? Well, motorhomes are usually built on the chassis of a specific type of vehicle. They are wider than a “normal” transporter, be it Fiat, MB, Peugeot, etc.. This means that the inside of the driver's cab is the same as the vehicle width, so existing dashboards have to be adapted in width accordingly. American motorhomes also receive specially designed dashboards made of GRP in one piece. They therefore look precisely fitting and visually harmoniously integrated, in contrast to local creations.

So it is primarily an optical factor that motivates such a conversion. But functional aspects also motivate accordingly. On the Fiat Ducato, for example, from a normal sitting position it is not possible to tell whether the engine air conditioning is switched on or not. The corresponding switch is located too low and the mini-LED can only be seen in daylight if you bend down to the switch at eye level and, if possible, use your hands to shield the light. Trying to do this while driving might be futile.

Additional technical installations require installation locations and positioning that are as ergonomic as possible. As a result, cell phone holders, tablet holders and monitor holders for the rear camera find themselves in varied but less harmonious company on the dashboard. Built-in radios and their micro holders also take up space. Substructures are difficult to reach and offer the potential for injury in the knee area. All in all, always a compromise, usually a lazy one.

The glove compartment is usually too small, confusing and used more as a collection point for this and that than as a functional organizational aid.

Side shelves are spacious, but here too everything flies back and forth during driving maneuvers instead of staying in place and therefore being under control. The eyes should be on the road and not searching in the storage areas.

What to do? First, dismantle the existing dashboard. Since the air duct is usually designed in a mechanical unit with the actual dashboard, this also falls victim to optimization. What remains is the actual metal framework including the cable harnesses.

Speaking of cables. Cable harnesses are supplied standardized by the manufacturer. This means that, depending on the actual equipment, there are plenty of cables that end in empty plugs. If you're not afraid to unravel the wiring harnesses and eliminate the unused cables, that's up to you; if you're not, you can leave everything as it is.

Construction of the new dashboard

First, the PVC engine compartment cover was replaced with a 3 mm aluminum plate covering the entire front area and attached using the existing fastening points.

The aluminum plate was provided with two inspection doors that allow direct access to the brake fluid container and coolant reservoir, as well as ventilation hoses.

A layer of carpet is placed on this aluminum plate to insulate noise. This plate also has three air guide strips on each side, which distribute the air flow across the entire width of the windshield.

The next step was to design the ventilation so that the windshield could be ventilated directly and evenly in order to avoid fogging or to eliminate it quickly.

Accordingly, a housing was built over the left air outlet, which on the one hand distributes the escaping air equally to the left and right, and on the other hand directs the interior ventilation towards the footwell. The distribution of interior/foot space continues from there.

The guide strips mentioned above ensure that the air directed upwards also reaches the windshield.

A 12 mm multiplex panel closes off the ventilation unit at the top and is also provided with a layer of carpet at the bottom. To ensure that the inspection flaps remain accessible, appropriate cutouts were made.

The final and decorative finish is provided by three segment multiplex panels. The central trapezoidal plate can be pulled out inwards to reveal the left and right side segments when access to the inspection openings is required.
Serve as a holder Furniture connectors, of which the lower part is screwed in a suitable manner to the cover plate of the ventilation unit, the upper part to the underside of the leather-covered segment plates.

The precisely made segments are covered with 5 mm foam using spray adhesive.

All segments are then covered with, for example, BMW Dakota upholstery leather in black or red. Make sure that the tension is quite high, as leather stretches in humid climates and tends to wrinkle.

Covering is relatively easy with a little effort and care: first, the leather skin is cut all around with an overhang of about 7 cm. The finished cut is placed upside down on a table top and the multiplex board with the foam pad is positioned on top. All overhangs should be even.

Then the 12 mm high edges of the multiplex board are coated all around with Pattex using a 5 cm wide spatula. Be sure to avoid getting Pattex on the edge of the foam!

In the next step, the protruding leather edge in the area of the straight longitudinal edge of the two mirror-image segments is coated with Pattex. Here again, make sure that the foam edge remains free of glue! This is followed by the corresponding edge strip of the multiplex board.

After the adhesive has evaporated, the multiplex panel is lifted on the opposite side and brought vertical, as if the edge with the adhesive was a long hinge. The plate is swiveled vertically with pressure on the table top. The edge of the multiplex board sticks to the leather. The first edge is finished after the leather has been completely pressed down.

The opposite, rounded edge follows in the same procedure. Before this edge can be glued, it must be ensured that the leather skin lies wrinkle-free under the foam of the multiplex board. This can be checked and corrected if necessary by carefully lifting it while looking underneath.

Before you start gluing the leather to the edge of the multiplex board on the straight piece, grasp the edge of the multiplex board with one hand and pull the leather evenly and taut with the other hand with feeling. This procedure can be simplified with two people and four hands. You should now see an evenly wide, adhesive-free strip about 2-3 mm wide.

With the edge of the hand, the leather is pressed from below with pressure and at the same time - strong - pull upwards against the edge of the plate, thus making the first adhesive contact. Continue this until you reach about 10 cm before the start of the curve.

The curve is worked at points from the middle: with your thumb you press a thumb's width in the middle of the curve in the same way as before with the edge of your hand. First just the bottom edge. A new center is created to the left or right of this center point. The edge is also pressed here. Continue like this until the edge is even.

In the next pass, work your way up the edge of the plate piece by piece in the same order until you finally have the entire edge lying flat without any wrinkles.

Now comes the most difficult part of the project. The procedure is the same. First you work along the top edge, millimeter by millimeter. You slowly notice that the leather edge is starting to curl. In the middle of each wave you try to turn one wave into two by dividing the resulting middle. You won't be able to glue the leather completely without wrinkles.

The result in the final compilation viewed from above...

... and when assembled:

Now the cover for the ventilation outlet is made. The underside of the cover is covered with aluminum sheet, the surrounding edge, including the horizontal deflection strip, is provided with expansive, self-adhesive sealing tape and the cover is quickly screwed on.

The next step is to build the “cockpit”, which will later carry the three monitors for the external cameras. The exterior mirror cameras are of the Hikvision DS-2DE2A404IW-DE3 type, the rear view camera DS-2DE3A404IW-DE/W.

The advantage of these cameras, in contrast to conventional ones, is, on the one hand, the presence of a PTZ mechanism and the IR illumination of the surrounding area so that you can still have a “view” even in the dark.

The (side mirror) cameras are mounted far above the side mirrors / marker lights using the associated DS-1294ZJ-PT bracket, but do not offer an unrestricted view to the front because the side wall is still in the way. However, they are ideal for looking back and seeing the entire lower edge of the vehicle.

The rear camera has a built-in holding device and audio, which is helpful for communicating with someone behind the vehicle without having to get out. E.g. when coupling/uncoupling a trailer, etc.