Boxster Dash Guts Pictures - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

blue2000s · 12-16-2008, 04:41 AM

Quote:

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 · 12-16-2008, 05:44 AM

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 · 12-16-2008, 05:53 AM

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

blue2000s · 12-16-2008, 06:20 AM

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 · 12-16-2008, 06:34 AM

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

trieullionaire · 12-23-2008, 10:09 AM

Hi Derb,

Can you post some pics of your dash with the leather? I been wanting to convert my grey dash to black but haven't really decided on what the best way to do it is. Some pics for inspiration might help. BTW, if anyone else have any ideas or approaches, it will help me out a lot. I was thinking of pulling out the dash and painting it. But a bit concerned about the long-term "worthiness" of the paint for such applications. Anyone else have dash color conversions let me know.

Cheerios,

Trieullionaire

shaman1204 · 12-23-2008, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trieullionaire

Hi Derb,

Can you post some pics of your dash with the leather? I been wanting to convert my grey dash to black but haven't really decided on what the best way to do it is. Some pics for inspiration might help. BTW, if anyone else have any ideas or approaches, it will help me out a lot. I was thinking of pulling out the dash and painting it. But a bit concerned about the long-term "worthiness" of the paint for such applications. Anyone else have dash color conversions let me know.

Cheerios,

Trieullionaire

Back in high school I had a Fiero GT with a two-tone tan interior. The dash surround was an ugly dark brown that I wanted black so my father used some sort of black vinyl dye that he sprayed on with an airgun. From what I recall it held up really well and looked factory. You might look into something like that if you don't want to mess around with leather. I wouldn't use paint though, I would think with the crazy temp extremes a dash gets exposed to daily it would make short work of the finish.

Ofishbein · 12-24-2008, 05:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trieullionaire

Hi Derb,

Can you post some pics of your dash with the leather? I been wanting to convert my grey dash to black but haven't really decided on what the best way to do it is. Some pics for inspiration might help. BTW, if anyone else have any ideas or approaches, it will help me out a lot. I was thinking of pulling out the dash and painting it. But a bit concerned about the long-term "worthiness" of the paint for such applications. Anyone else have dash color conversions let me know.

Cheerios,

Trieullionaire

I didn't do this myself (look at the first pic and you'll see why), but I wanted to convert my dash to leather w/red stitching while I was doing the rest of the interior in leather/alcantara.