Corrado Dash Install Information

[dwilkins]

All right guys and gals. Here are some pictures that were sent to me from a guy in the UK. I have not seen these posted anywhere and I’m sure a lot of you are curious as to what is needed to modify a corrado dash to fit into your MK1. I’m currently in the process of doing this, but even with these pictures I’m nowhere closer to getting it to fit. Don’t ask me questions, because at this stage, I can’t help you. These pictures are for search purposes. If anyone wants to add to this in any way, feel free to do so.

Modified steering column bracket to accept the corrado gauge cluster:

Necessary cuts needed to fit the dash in a MK1:

(scrap piece)

Dash installed:

Dash vent modification:

( I have no idea whats going on in these pictures)

And there you have it. Again, these are NOT my pictures, so I can not help you with any questions.

You may download a zip file that contains all the above pictures from here: C_Dash.zip (1.2mb)


Modified by dwilkins at 3:21 PM 3-3-2005

[hyscore]

The second from last pic was showing how i got the heat to the screen as the corrado vent pipe was no go,the last pic shows the corrado heater box modified to fit in to the caddy and the heaterbox air was drawn in on our passenger side shortly after the corrado heater venting dial mechcanism broke,So now i am using the original caddy heater box and slider controls.

[dwilkins]

now i see. thanks for clearing that up.

what kind of cut did you make near the top dash speakers? i know there has to be a cut there. i cant see clearly from the pictures. it looks like you notched it and took a peice out?

if you look at the 7th picture down, there is no cut made, but in the 13th picture down, it looks like you removed some of that material. am i correct?

[hyscore]

I. Did trim some it is hidden by the speaker grills.

[oopseyesharted]

lets bump this up.....
i was planning on doing this but leaving the stock cluster and making a custom filler with an air/fuel gauge beside my a1 cluster.

[ensone]

whats the bestway to get the right cut on the front of the dash by the windsheild
i tried getting it with cardboard.. then i got pissed of and told myself their has to be an easier way

[oopseyesharted]

I am just going to go off of the pics and hope for the best

[dwilkins]

Quote, originally posted by ensone »

whats the bestway to get the right cut on the front of the dash by the windsheild i tried getting it with cardboard.. then i got pissed of and told myself their has to be an easier way

i took my old cracked dash and a dremel and went to town. i used the dremel to cut off the front section of the stock dash to use as a template. i too tried cardboard, i gave up on that pretty quick.

[oopseyesharted]

if you trim a little too much, just buy yourself a carpeted dashmat...lol

[gtifly]

The Corrado dash already has a rubber trim peice on the front of the dash. Just reuse that......it will hide any imperfections in your trim job.

[vwfan240]

i got a question how do people who do dash swaps get the mph and the rpms to be right?

[hyscore]

I cut the front edge off a mk1 dash and used it as a template,placed it on top of the carrado dash and cut the arc.


Modified by hyscore at 8:22 PM 3-30-2005

[hyscore]

I have the used corrado vr6 clocks and as i have a vr6 rpm is no problem,I have also have the corrado vr6 gearbox and factory tyre size so no problems with mph.If you have a 4 cylinder engine you could used g60 corrado clocks.

[das-yeti]

i plan on using a passat dash and will post up pics as i trim

[Boostin20v]

FYI the passat dash is a few inches wider than the corrado dash

[das-yeti]

really didnt know that one, getting a whole b3 passat parts car, has a blue dash in it so i want to try and give it a go.

[Boostin20v]

cant hurt to try, though its better to know ahead it might not work so your aware of the issues you'll face I guess.

[das-yeti]

worst comes to worst i can squeeze the dash from my corrado into the rabbit and squeeze the passat dash into the corrado

[golf97]

Right hand drive makes me smile . Corrado dashes are sweet, i'm sure the pictures will be helpful.

[Fast2.0L]

It is a painful swap, be prepared for that. I'm still working on mine 6 months later. I didn't want to make the slits on the ends like in the pictures so I took out all the inner particle board on the ends squeezed the dash to the appropriate size then fiber glassed the insides. Then I used a heat gun to shrink the dash vinyl down. Other wise there is no way to get it perfect.

Right now I'm in the process of fabricating a custom kneebar so I can mount the kneebar pads. Without the pads the fuse panel hangs below the dash which is ghetto to me.

Another consideration is the dash does not fit well around the steering column. You will have to cut off the factor steering column mounts and fab your own. Additionally, The hole in the dash is way too big for the rabbit steering column, I'm going to cut off my stock steering column and merge it with the corrado one so I can run the corrado steering column plastic and stalks.

I don't recommend the Corrado dash swap unless you're very patient. Most of them look good at 10' away but if you want it too look factory be aware you've got your work cut out for you. I have at least 100-150 hours in mine and it's no where near done.