Dashboard top off

[tvr keith]

Needed to remove the top of the dashboard the other week, wasn't looking forward to the elusive "third bolt" that holds the o/s in position.
Found and removed the two n/s nuts.
Removed o/s air vent and pipe. Tried to lay upside down in foot well as described by others without success.
I am NOT fat! (13 stone and 38" chest if you want to know. On second thoughts, maybe you didn't)
Remove 4 nuts beneath car and remove drivers seat. Remove allen bolts holding steering wheel to boss. Lower rear section of roof. Place old towel over roof and boot lid. This is to stop my trainers damaging anything when I get upside down in foot well with feet over the back of the roof. (Sorry no pics available of this!)
Also place thick old blanket over door sill to avoid damage to car and more especially me, when getting into and out of position.
Locate and remove "third nut"
Place several layers of duct tape anywhere the bolts can touch the trim.
Carefully remove top of dash. Before replacement I cut about 3/4" off the o/s bolt which made life easier and reduced chance of damage.
So why did I remove it?
When the car was under used car warranty the alarm was replaced by the dealer, (I shall not name them), they subbed the work out to an alarm company who did the job on their premises.
I now have a Sigma alarm that is apparently to a higher spec than the Meta one. Rather than the microwave system that is normally concealed in the car I now have sensors that are usually found on the "A" post of mass produced cars. I also have the option when locking the vehicle of disabling these if the roof is off.
Unfortunately the fitter just trapped the wire between the top of the dash and the trim below the screen leaving the sensors flapping in the breeze. Not pretty.
I have relocated these to the "A" posts as seen on the attached pic. The nut indicates where they were before I did this.http://ph.uncle-dave.co.uk/upload/ima



I also found that by replacing the indicator relay with a heavy duty Hella "towing" one that I had, I can now hear the indicators!
I hope that my ramblings are of help to someone..................

[Nick P]

its a horrible job isnt it?

I had mine off this morning.....cant get the nuts back on the bolts to hold it down properly, but it sits ok and I may need access again soon.....

[thenick]

That seems like an awful lot of work to find the 3rd bolt! When I replaced my alarm a few weeks ago, I found the easiest way was to sit on the floor just next to the car with the door open and slide my feet towards the front wheel so i was sitting right in the gap between the sill and the door with my stomach where the front speaker is. From there just curl your left arm round to the right of the steering column and through the gap above the boot release and there was loads of room to undo the nut and found it much easier to do than the one at the front of the passenger side! I also found that it was much easier to get the dash on and off after cutting off 5mm of the 3rd bolt's thread so that less jiggling was required to reseat the dash. Nasty job but having an alarm that works well is so worth it after putting up with that meta rubbish for so long!

[peebee]

Very discrete of you not to mention the name of the dealer concerned - of course it wouldn't be the one who supplied your tax disc holder!

[tvr keith]

peebee said:

Very discrete of you not to mention the name of the dealer concerned - of course it wouldn't be the one who supplied your tax disc holder!

I'm shocked that you could even think such a thing Peebee!

[tvr keith]

thenick said:

That seems like an awful lot of work to find the 3rd bolt! When I replaced my alarm a few weeks ago, I found the easiest way was to sit on the floor just next to the car with the door open and slide my feet towards the front wheel so i was sitting right in the gap between the sill and the door with my stomach where the front speaker is. From there just curl your left arm round to the right of the steering column and through the gap above the boot release and there was loads of room to undo the nut and found it much easier to do than the one at the front of the passenger side! I also found that it was much easier to get the dash on and off after cutting off 5mm of the 3rd bolt's thread so that less jiggling was required to reseat the dash. Nasty job but having an alarm that works well is so worth it after putting up with that meta rubbish for so long!

You are obviously more agile than me!
Do you also have Rose jointed elbows and wrists by any chance?
Removal of the seat also had the added bonus of enabling me to retrieve all the things that I had dropped underneath since I've had the car!

Edited by tvr keith on Tuesday 10th April 12:03

[Ribol]

tvr keith said:

Rather than the microwave system that is normally concealed in the car I now have sensors that are usually found on the "A" post of mass produced cars. I also have the option when locking the vehicle of disabling these if the roof is off.

Cutting the studs shorter certainly makes life easier for next time round - did the same myself.

If you are saying you now have ultrasonics instead of a microwave then this is a backward step on a car with the roof set up you have. Ultrasonics only work properly with a solid roof or a very "good" hood(eg golf, mercs etc).
You could end up with false alarm problems on a windy day, hence the microwave choice from the factory. The OE alarm also has no microwave option as standard.

[simonb9]

If I wanted to replace one of the dials would I have to take the top of the dash off or can you get to them from the underneath somehow ??

[ATG]

(can help to replace original nuts with wing nuts to avoid having to get spanners into awkward spaces)

[tvr keith]

simonb9 said:

If I wanted to replace one of the dials would I have to take the top of the dash off or can you get to them from the underneath somehow ??

Yes the top needs to come off, then you have easy access to all the instruments