I just recieved a PISA Euro dash from a buddy of mine and am currently working on the install right now. If anyone is interested in information and or pictures of what i am doing please let me know. I am doing some alterations to it by choice but i have plenty of pictures as i have progressed.

I would like to see pics here and get your impression of everything as you are/have put it together.

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2005 Smart ForTwo
1986 Austin Mini
1986 Fiero GT 5-speed (waiting on a brake upgrade)

Take lots of big pictures. I am interested in that dash but Pisa will only release itty bitty tiny photos that do not tell you how well the thing is made or how well it fits at critical spots, which is keeping me from buying not only the dash but their whole kit.

You will be doing the fiero people a huge favor by releasing lots of really big photos of your work and of the dash it's self.

Its no problem i will definately post as many BIG pictures as i can and feel free to ask any questions cause i am currentl working on the project.

When you use PIP, it will say something like "uploading xxxx of yyyyy" and give you the file size. Make sure the yyyyy file size is less that 100,000 or the image won't show up.

Just a couple to start with.

Two things I highly recommend before you do too much more:

1. Try your heating, defrost, etc. and make sure you have good air flow coming out the vents. If not, now is the time to reconfigure things. i had a Terrible time getting good air flow but didn't discover it until AFTER i had the center radio pod completed and instruemtns installed .

2. Put your seat in a comfortable driving position and then make sure you can see your gauges. If not, you might try raising the entire dash or re-situating the instrument pod. This was the seond biggest problem I had. With my height and the angle of the pod, maybe I'll never be able to fully see all the instruments, even though I've tried 4 different steering wheels and lowered the seats to the floor. I added a red heads-up display HUD that projects the speedo reading to the lower left of the windshield. I've heard that the 512BB had a large diameter, thin steering wheel that allowed you to see "through" to the instruments.

Also, turn out the lights and put a flashlight inside the instrument pod. Then walk outside the car and see if light "leaks" where the pod meets the dash. I used some narrow foam tape to seal mine because the instrument light "leaked" through the seam.

Nice job so far

[This message has been edited by PaulJK (edited 01-27-2007).]

HI all,

I too have a suggestion, if I ever were to get this dash, I thought about putting 4th generation firebird door speaker panels on, 1 per door course......

I say keep the pics coming and a write up of what you've done!! This would be of big help with all the newbie's and their questions on specific dash kits...... This topic does come up quite often throughout the year, and like said above, there aren't very many pics to go around.......

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Me, I sell engines, the cars are for free, I need something to crate the engines in....
Enzo Ferrari....

Today they are called garage's, yesterday, they were stable's! Eric Jacobsen....

Here's a couple a customer of mine sent me. I believe it's a Pisa interior that he had in his spider.

These pics are only of me test fitting the dash in the car so yes i will be building up the a/c ducting and testing it out. The gauges situation i am dealing with as well, most likely im going to be redoing alot of those little things. Im not to concerned about having perfect visibility of all the gages as long as i can peak and see them im cool with it.

The pictures that were linked above im about 99.99% sure are from my buddy that gave me the interior. So they are of the same dash minus the gauges.

Did you have the dash upholstered or did pisa do it?

Also are those their eurodash door panels as well?

Im not positive about the upholstery since i got it from my buddy, im pretty sure that PISA did it.

Yes the door panels are part of the kit.

Tim's first question immediately above your post reminded me that although PISA has advertised various items as being avaliable either unupholstered or upholstered, when I last spoke with PISA (2006?), I seem to recall being told they "no longer had an upoholstery guy." Because that situation could have been temporary (or my memory faulty), I suggest one contact PISA directly about their current upholstery situation before planning on any upholstering still being available through them.

I've been doing the upholstery on my 355 interiors for a few years now. It's always a challenge to cover complex shapes, & contact cement can be very unforgiving at times. The upholstery work in the photos appears to have been done very well. Nice stitching, smooth & tights surfaces...good job. Leather?

have been in contact with PISA recently and they did not have a current capability to do upholstry. The local car upholstry shop wanted $400 to 500 to do the door panels and arm rests so I am holding off on a PISA interior for quite a while until this issue is resolved. Meanwhile I am trying to gather money for one of Amida's interiors.

quote Originally posted by project34: Tim's first question immediately above your post reminded me that although PISA has advertised various items as being avaliable either unupholstered or upholstered, when I last spoke with PISA (2006?), I seem to recall being told they "no longer had an upoholstery guy." Because that situation could have been temporary (or my memory faulty), I suggest one contact PISA directly about their current upholstery situation before planning on any upholstering still being available through them.

oooo pretty what are you using for instrument cluster?

i also have smae exact shifter knob

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See my lame film creations..
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Please help me bring Betty back to life!! i need free parts and tech help!
Black Betty Build

Im going to be using Autometer gauges. Either PhantomII or UltraliteII.

Got some more pics coming soon!

Thanks for posting the pics and info, I only have seen one of these in person, on Scott Perkins 4.9 , I think it was one of Ed Parks first conversions--anyway I don`t remember the dash part (over the cluster) being raised as much--do they have different styles ? Scotts seemed like it just barley went over the Fiero (stock ) cluster--looked real nice like yours though.. Keep the pics coming....

Alright now for some of the little things about the kit that aren't so great that im working on modifying.

[img]http://photos-213.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899213_8222.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-214.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899214_8631.jpg[\img]
Check the location of the screws!

[img]http://photos-215.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899215_9023.jpg[\img]
I ended up having to cut the handle in half so the door would open.

[img]http://photos-216.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899216_9392.jpg[\img]
Not real clean mounting.

[img]http://photos-217.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899217_9768.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-218.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899218_120.jpg[\img]
Center console fit.

[img]http://photos-219.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899219_629.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-220.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899220_1019.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-221.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899221_1352.jpg[\img]
Fit and finish could be better!

[img]http://photos-222.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899222_1697.jpg[\img]
And the big issue of the a/c ducting, as you see its not even close to working without modification!

[img]http://photos-223.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899223_2058.jpg[\img]
Glove box is nice.

[img]http://photos-224.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899224_2434.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-225.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899225_2786.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-226.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899226_3175.jpg[\img]
Vents don't fit great!

[img]http://photos-227.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899227_3646.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-229.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899229_4584.jpg[\img]
Bezels around the switches are ugly and the under dash well thats self explanatory.

[img]http://photos-230.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899230_5086.jpg[\img]
[img]http://photos-231.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v65/69/66/33402183/n33402183_30899231_5500.jpg[\img]
My veiw.

I hate when lazy upholsterers just stick a screw through the door instead of using the factory mounts ! (I had that done to me ). The door panels are designed to use the factory mounts and should have worked fine with only them. Getting decent upholstery work is REALLY hard.

The door pull handle must be cut to operate behind the PISA door handle/armrest. This is part of the design. PISA gives specific instructions on how to cut the door handle in the instructions that came with the kit. i believe they called for a diagonal cut, going from the upper front corner to the lower rear corner.

Yep - the defroster adapter is the worst part of the kit. Do not mount your dash permanently until you address this problem and you're satisfied with the air flow coming out of the vents.

The dash sticks out over the driver's legs, so you'll never see the under dash wiring as long as it's pulled up and secured. I think I'm gonna try to put some kinda cover on mine anyway though.

Yep - the dash bezels are very ugly, but don't break them. if you need another, PISA charges on the order of $35 for each one.

Most of the rest of your fit-and-finish doesn't look too bad. The center console looks normal (PISA design) height. I'm puzzelled by the pic of the passenger's side top and corner of the dash though. The PISA dash fits snug all the way around under the windshield and against the "A" pillar trim. I have a small gap by the "A" pillar trim but it looks like your dash may have been modified (?).

Keep in mind that the original pieces were made "small" to allow for the upholstery making them thicker. You can adjust some of the gaps by adding padding under the upholstery.

[This message has been edited by PaulJK (edited 02-04-2007).]

Yea the ac ducting im going to fab out of aluminum and check it many times for good air flow. I know the dash sticks out far but i still don't like it much so im going to make a cover for it too. Must likely modify the stock cover to fit.

The bezels are a thorn for me. So im going to make them out of aluminum as well than powdercoat them to match my colors. It will be much cleaner and will hold up much better.

I think re-fabbing the (internal dash) ducting is a GOOD idea. I'd be tempted to try to cut out the PISA plenum, but I'm not sure what it would do structurally. It seems to me that the air enters the ducting / plenum on the under side of the dash, then diffuses into "nothingness" - the built-in plenum may be way too big.

I almost forgot: i would NOT use dryer vent hose (diameter too big) but you can also consider shop vac hose. It's about the same diameter as the round vents and available at Home Depot. It's also very durable, so you don't have to worry about breaking or bending if you get rouhg with it during install.

Also, don't overlook the defroster vents way up front under the windshield.

[This message has been edited by PaulJK (edited 02-11-2007).]

SCAT or CAT hose from Wicks or Aircraft Spruce.

David Breeze

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Pantera Rebody Kits

Just giving an update.
Sorry I have been extremely busy and haven't been able to work on the interior. It also doesn't help since I just finished a 3800 sc swap. I should be working on it again very soon though.