Dash Removal - 5 painful hours
Discussion
Hi all,
Today was the day I decided to tackle removing the centre console and 'walnut' dash from my 1991 S3 ready for reveneering.
What followed were blood, sweat, tears, frustration and the creation of several new swear words.
After many hours I managed to release the 3 nuts and bolts on each side of the heater control unit. I did this by dropping the steering wheel by removing the 2 main clamp bolts, and the cowl. I also removed the centre console cover. Using a variety of 10mm sockets, spanners and swears I got stuck at the point where pulling the dash forward was called for.
What I didn't realise - and I don't think is posted on similar threads here - is that you can't just pull the dash forward (even having detached the clocks from the rear of the dash by undoing the 4/5 nuts holding them on). In fact it appears the heater control unit is connected (very tightly) by at least 1 additional bolt to the main body of the dashboard (not dash veneer I was removing) and this prevented me from removing the dash.
Only through removing a very small bolt from the HCU and then using brute force did I manage to pull the dash forward and away and then unhook the heater control unit. So now I have the centre console and dash sections free from the car ready for reveneering. But the heater console unit still in situ.
My question - is there something different about my S3 configuration or did I miss an 'easy' way of removing the dash without needing to remove that extra bolt from the left of the HCU pull it under force from the recessed part of the dash?
Any pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Today was the day I decided to tackle removing the centre console and 'walnut' dash from my 1991 S3 ready for reveneering.
What followed were blood, sweat, tears, frustration and the creation of several new swear words.
After many hours I managed to release the 3 nuts and bolts on each side of the heater control unit. I did this by dropping the steering wheel by removing the 2 main clamp bolts, and the cowl. I also removed the centre console cover. Using a variety of 10mm sockets, spanners and swears I got stuck at the point where pulling the dash forward was called for.
What I didn't realise - and I don't think is posted on similar threads here - is that you can't just pull the dash forward (even having detached the clocks from the rear of the dash by undoing the 4/5 nuts holding them on). In fact it appears the heater control unit is connected (very tightly) by at least 1 additional bolt to the main body of the dashboard (not dash veneer I was removing) and this prevented me from removing the dash.
Only through removing a very small bolt from the HCU and then using brute force did I manage to pull the dash forward and away and then unhook the heater control unit. So now I have the centre console and dash sections free from the car ready for reveneering. But the heater console unit still in situ.
My question - is there something different about my S3 configuration or did I miss an 'easy' way of removing the dash without needing to remove that extra bolt from the left of the HCU pull it under force from the recessed part of the dash?
Any pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Aha just found this useful link
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Have PM'd the author to find out what they did to refit the heater control unit after redoing the fascia on the dash metal sheet...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Have PM'd the author to find out what they did to refit the heater control unit after redoing the fascia on the dash metal sheet...
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