[V6-12v] Interior/ Dash Removal

[Tom Christiansen]

James,

Once you get in there, inspect the foam on the temperature flap (DO
NOT TOUCH IT!!). You can see it through the opening in the heater box
once you get the dash out. If you see bits of foam flappin' around, do
something about it. The flap is made of metal, but has holes in it.
About 1" diameter. I have no idea why... That means when the foam
breaks down, you can no longer control the air temp. I was able to get
some non-corrugated cardboard (back of a notepad) on there with
contact cement. It seems to do the job. The proper way is to take the
heater box apart and change the foam bits. But that requires
discharging the A/C, heater core, etc. Big PITA...

The Bentley manual mentions something about using self-tapping screws
to hold on the heater control cables if the plastic clip that normally
holds it breaks. Sounds like that's likely to happen so it wouldn't
hurt to have some clamps and screws handy for the operation.

Getting the dash out is quite an undertaking and definitely leaves you
with that "ARGH!!! What have I done to my car!!?" feeling. I've done
it twice now. I think last time I had it out in about two hours. Maybe
2.5. Assembly took a bit longer.

Note for the passenger side airbag: Once you have the airbag out
you'll see a good handful of Torx headed screws. The four that's at
the forward end of the airbag opening (horizontally into the frame
under the windshield) are the ones that get removed. Leave the rest
alone. And don't forget that pesky 8 mm nut behind the radio!!
The ashtray (or aux instrument cluster depending on features) is
mounted on a bracket that wraps around the ducts for the rear
footwells. Don't remove this bracket from the dash assy. Just remove
the two 10 mm hex bolts holding it to the floor and work the bracket
over the ductwork. You'll need to remove the ashtray for this (pain as
it has wires connected for lighter and light).

Tom

On 12/17/06, James Whitehouse <james_whitehouse1 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Tom,
>
> Thanks for that, most helpful. I'm waiting for a nice sunny day to get it
> done! Fortunately, I shouldn't need to change over the heat exchanger as it
> has recently been done along with the radiator. Actually I suspect this was
> a bit shoddily done and that's when the vent controls weren't put back
> properly, or broke!!
>