Boxster Dash Guts Pictures

[Lucky]

Wow! Quite a project. My dash is still quiet after 98,000 miles. However, I do have a rattle in the driver's door that I need to find and fix... it is so quiet passengers can't hear it, but I'm sure you understand how annoying squeaks and rattles can be!

Thanks for sharing the pics of the major dash surgery... very educational.

[schoir]

You might want to double up the teflon pad application so it doesn't wear through.

I can't imagine doing that job twice!

Regards, Maurice.

[Perfectlap]

Which is the part that always rattles?

[edevlin]

Way cool pics of the dash, I still cannot believe the size of the wire bundles that are running around in our cars. Its hard to believe that the cars continue to work as well as they do. They remind me of the complexity of the space shuttle with multiple modes of potential electrical failure....

Ed

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Which is the part that always rattles?

It's not rattling so much as popping when one corner of the car is lifted by driving up a curb. I strongly believe it's motion between the aluminum beam and the center structure, where the felt goes.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by schoir

You might want to double up the teflon pad application so it doesn't wear through.

I can't imagine doing that job twice!

Regards, Maurice.

Hopefully there isn't enough movement between the parts to wear through.

[FTD]

Good grief, you're brave. I get anxieties just looking at your pictures.

Very educational and thank you for thinking to document it. I hope I never need to take my dash off. All that wiring intimidates me.

[jmatta]

Wow! A complete dashectomy. If I took mine apart like that I'd never get it back together.

[blue2000s]

There are alot of pieces that make up the dashboard, I've mostly got them sitting in the other car that I store over the winter.

As long as you're patient and keep track of all the screws and where they go, it's not really hard to get everything off and to know where they go when you put it back together. My process is to remove an assembly, say the passenger side vent, and then put the screws that hold the vent back into the dashboard (there are 3 in that case). That way you can keep track of how many screws went into the assembly, avoiding the frustrating extra screw situation after it's all put back together and it ensures that the right screws have gone back in the right places. There are 4-5 different screws that I can think of that I found. There are more parts that just pull off with no screws at all than I would have expected. You can just pull the emergency flasher button, the ignition switch surround, the defroster panels, the a-pillar covers (with some pre-removal work), and the bat-wing.

I also tagged every connector so that I know where they plug back in when I'm reassembling.

I'd say the hardest part of the procedure is getting the windshield defroster panels off. They are just clipped in and only need a pull to get them separated from the dash, but it's an awkward reach right up against the windshield and they are really tight. It's also a pain to get the passenger side air ducting back in after installing the airbag, I've done it once before. You have to dick around with the ducting the from under the dash trying to get three pieces to snap together without much room to work.

I've been thinking about what else I could do while I've got the dash off, like the OBC hack, replace with a glove box dash, 911 gauges, I've got time before I have to put it back together, but I think I like the car just the way it is.

[derb]

blue2000s,
I agree, it's really not that hard. I removed mine a few months back to cover it in leather and it took just under 3 hours to remove. I used zip-lock bags with labels to put all the fasteners in. About the same time to re-install.
88 screws
30 electrical connectors.
42 pieces of trim.
1 nut.
And, of course, I still had 2 screws left over- but I didn't break anything.

Good luck on the re-install.
Regards,
mike