Boxster Dash Guts Pictures
 

I decided while I had the car in storage, I would go ahead and try to get rid of a loud click that I would get from the dashboard area when going up a curb.

There have been a couple of TSBs about the issue. One places teflon pads between the front support structure (where the steering wheel housing and passenger airbag attach) and the bulkhead just under the windsheild. The other places felt pads between the aluminum lower dash beam and the center of the front support structure. The bulletins show how to do these without removing the dashboard, but it's actually easier to do this by taking the dashboard off than trying to squeeze and pry things into small places.

These first two pictures show the dash ready to come off:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1456.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1457.jpg

The next four show the dashboard removed. There sure are alot of wires running back there:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1458.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1459.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1460.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1461.jpg

Here you can see the teflon pad on the passenger side. This is close to where the passenger side airbag mounts:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1462.jpg

On the driver side, there is a plastic housing that manages the wiring harness as it passes over the steering column:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1465.jpg

On the driver side, the teflon pad is between the chassis bulkhead and the support structure. The same bolt that attachs these two parts also holds the upper end of the plastic cable guide:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1464.jpg

There is an aluminum beam that runs the length of the dashboard at it's bottom edge. Where this beam meets the support structure under the radio, the two parts can rub against each other and cause the popping noise that I have been experiencing when going up the curb to my driveway. The solution, according to Porsche, is to place large felt pads between the two parts so that when they do move relative to each other, the don't move in a metal on metal pop.

There are significant witness marks on the aluminum beam where it touches and rubs against the center structure, so hopefully the felt pads solve the problem. In this picture is the beam and structure joint. They are held together by a nut and threaded insert. The felt pads are between the two parts:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1463.jpg

This is the lower side of the center support. You can see the aluminum beam at the top of the picture:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM1466.jpg

I'm really hoping these will take care of my issue. Unfortunately, it's going to be 3-4 months before I can test it out.

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.

Great Job!
 

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.

Which is the part that always rattles?

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

:cheers:

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Pics
 

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.

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.

http://i29.tinypic.com/eqp3ld.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/rbierc.jpg

http://i38.tinypic.com/9u8cw2.jpg

With everything back together and having driven the car for a few months with the felt and teflon pads, I can report that the popping is completely gone. It seems to have worked.

Wow! How did I miss this thread?! Very nice pictorial thank you for taking the time to post all this and the follow up report. My 99 is really starting to creek and rattle... :cool:

where did you get those sick sweet pedals?

where did you get those sick sweet gauges?

:)