Anyone every remove the dashboard

[clb0099]

If someone can give me DIY instructions on hwo to do it .. I want to change my dashboard to black it is great right now... I am replainc the grey pieces in my car to all black think it looks much better .. I need to replace the dash and door panels and carpet.

[RandallNeighbour]

Never done it, but it's a BIG job according to my mechanic. All the parts are gonna cost you a bundle as well, even from a salvage yard.

You might as well buy a leather dash while you're at it. Lots of luck with that project.

The Bentley manual I bought a couple of years ago has a diagram of the dash and the millions of nuts and bolts used to hold it in place. You may want to buy one for the project.

[blackkatt]

I will agree with you that another dash will be pricey. I never did find aonther one that I wanted when I had mine out.

As far as taking one out, I went out and back in, in about 8 hours. I think that if I was to do it again it would probably be 6 hours or so. You just have to be careful of where some hidden screws are. The Bentley manaul and the Parts CD come in handy when trying to find them.

[Boxtaboy]

You can probably get a dashboard from a dismantler. I recall seeing plenty of them on fleabay. However, this is not a job for the light hearted. If you don't do it right, you'll get a bunch of rattles in your dash while driving down the street that will drive you batty. Also, you need to be careful when working around the airbags (make sure you disconnect the battery) for you don't want the airbag to deploy in your face while you're working on the removal/replacement.

I've seen someone use black leather dye to recolor their grey leather to black. Maybe that route would be easier than pulling out the whole dash and replacing. Just a thought. However, this would only work if your dash is leather and not vinyl, as the vinyl would not absorb the dye.

This fella used black leather dye to make his car look like it has a two-tone black/grey interior, making the middle section black, and also parts of the steering wheel and upper dash pod (although you can't see it in the pic there).

[cheetah]

I just did it, and put it back together this week. It was not expected, but I had to do it.

Get the Bentley book and follow those directions. It took maybe two hours to take apart, maybe close to that to put back together. Time consuming, but not too hard. Just be careful not to break trim pieces.

I did not take pictures, sorry. I was too frustrated to remember.