deepfat

As you said you wish to get some fun driving it I would leave the screws for now as your be back there once you find a good binnacle, when I got mine it had been bodged with clear sealant and did not last long. The advantage was it worked for a while and when I got around to doing it the old stuff peeled off easily so don't buy an expensive sealant it might stick permanently!

Two Tips:
1] Don't bother looking for a perfect binnacle, I did then cut the mounts off because they are not up to the job, I stuck (2 pack epoxy) shelf brackets bent to match the binnacle curvature, for the dash I used screw in plasterboard fixings with 2 pack again.

2] My original binnacle also had a split at the front right where the screw for the instrument cowl located. The screw goes into a nylon insert in the binnacle when the screw is tightened the insert expands and puts a spreading force on the binnacle and I think that caused the crack. I junked the inserts and and stuck 2 x speed clips behind the binnacle lip so now its a much better (in my mind) clamping force. In this case I used UHU contact adhesive as it has some give if the clips are not dead centre but will stop them dropping off into the electrics if you remove the cowl in the future.