Removal & Installation of Dash Strips (how to pic

[Loren]

Very nicely done pongobaz!

Do have small hands - because several folks have said those screws are nearly impossible to get to.

[pongobaz]

Very nicely done pongobaz!

Do have small hands - because several folks have said those screws are nearly impossible to get to.

Skinny long fingers...also a guitarist!

[yizzung]

Have any mortals out there without a glove box attempted this method or must we pop the heads off the screws? I too am not a fan of brute force techniques...

[NikoS3]

I decided that after having the silver dash strips in my garage for more than a year it has high time i fitted them. I read all the posts thoroughly and decided to take the plunge...It all took me 2 hours (but i must say i had some experience removing most of the parts from previous installations (PSE, Cruise control stalk etc.) and the most difficult part has removing and fitting the driver's strip. I found it necessary to remove the driver's side air vent, and even with it removed i now have quite a lot of scars on both my hands...It is very tight at that side and a small hand is needed!!!

All in all it is not that difficult, you just need a lot of patience if you want to do a factory work! I like the end result but i am not doing that again!!!

Thanks for all the excellent instructions!!!

Nikos.

[Daryl80]

Hi All

Each to their own I guess. But I write to tell you of my experience. I only own a 986, not only that it doesn't come with a glove box like some of the latter models. I first thought that I would have had to go down the soldering iron route, but I'm located in Aus, where dealers and parts are few and expensive.

So had a look around and noticed under the foot well the only thing blocking access to the back of the dash was the air conditioner air pipe. This is the one that leads from the centre to the side vents. The great thing is that this can be pulled apart and once out, had enough room to squeeze my hand/ arm in.

Now I did end up with a fair few scratches, but I did manage to undo all T10 screws back there.

So there you go, another method. It was relatively painlesss. Scratches on the arm heal, but now I can go abouts in painting my ones, rather than look for a replacement. Time taken 1.5 hours in total, including trying to work out what can be removed and what couldn't be. Hope this helps someone

[sdharmani]

I just installed silver strips on mine today using your instructions. Thanks a lot for posting these!! Also, it is almost impossible to replace diver key side trim without removing the left vent assembly. One above the glove box is pretty easy, the two small one are more difficult - mainly due to lack of space to use tools. I used a small 1/4" rachet for key side trim and a screw driver worked fine for middle small trim - especially since I had the climate control / radio out for the tweaks as well.

Overall, it went well - it took me about 3 hours, so you must be a real expert :)

In addition, I also installed the proper garage door opener switch that I bought from Sunset Porsche. I tapped light wires from PSM switch and cleaned up the wires for variable intermittent wiper as well using taps to illuminate.

I did have two SNAFUs - i dropped the bit (which took me 1/2 hour to retrieve with a magnet) and I broke the clips on top of the center a/c vent! What a bummer. I had to improvise and install double sided tape to keep it from moving. Also cleaned up the wires and installed proper couplers for footwell lights today. And replaced the cigarette lighte buld that I had broken earlier in wooden center trim install.

Pretty ahppy with the work I did today - ended up spending a good part of 6 hours on the car :) Very satisfying because I cleaned up all the "Oh crap" from previous mods and installed the silver strips OEM style, with all the screws and without any hammer, chisel or soldering irons.

Cheers!!

Just did this upgrade. After reading all the posts, I decided I wanted to challenge myself to doing it to full factory specs without breaking any pieces and using all the screws to put the trim back in. I started with the long piece on the passenger side. First remove the underdash cover (foam) held in place with 3 plastic screws. Then remove the glovebox:

There really isn't any need to remove the vent since there is plenty of room back there:

With the screws out the piece just pops out:

Contort yourself under the dash (move the seat back as far as possible!) and you'll be able to clearly see the screws:

Next, remove the instrument cluster by first removing the hazard switch:

and the microphone cover:

then remove the two screws and the whole assembly pulls off (makes sure to disconnect the cluster in the back (3 plugs: gray, blue and green as wells as the mic and hazard switch)

remove the lower "horseshoe" around the steering column (screws are visible once cluster pod is out) and then you have access to the back of the trim pieces on either side of the column. I removed the driver's side vent but I don't think it's really necessary. Got all the pieces off without any damage and installed the new pieces with every single screw:

All buttoned up:

All in all it took me about two hours from start to finish going slowly and carefully to protect the full leather dash:

Use the right tools and take your time!

[george996]

inspired by pongobaz's mod i attempted the installation and added a few more photos. i had to remove the driver's side vent to acces the screws and remove the duct as well.

Also, the workshop manual did not specify to remove the 4 screws between the steering wheel on the column switch cover to remove it but they needed to be removed as well.

Edited October 5, 2008 by george996

[deckman]

I did this mod about three months ago. I have the vinyl interior and have since acquired a bunch of leather pieces including the dash so I get to do much of this all over again! It was so much fun the first time too. At least I have experience taking some of the dash apart. Transferring the silver trim pieces will be a hell of a lot easier though with the dash out of the car!

[fbgh2o]

First post here on Renntech...

Just bought a 996 and need to spruce up the interior and this looks like something that I can do (did a full dash swap on my 951). Where does one get the trim kit? Pongobaz - if you have any thoughts on where to get the carbon fibre kit in Canada - I would greatly appreciate the advice.

Many thanks

Fergus

[Kevin M.]

Congrats on your 996 and welcome to the board, the dealer sells the kit or check eBay.

I'd stick with the factory carbon.

First post here on Renntech...

Just bought a 996 and need to spruce up the interior and this looks like something that I can do (did a full dash swap on my 951). Where does one get the trim kit? Pongobaz - if you have any thoughts on where to get the carbon fibre kit in Canada - I would greatly appreciate the advice.

Many thanks

Fergus

[Kevin M.]

Congrats on your 996 and welcome to the board, the dealer sells the kit or check eBay.

I'd stick with the factory carbon.

First post here on Renntech...

Just bought a 996 and need to spruce up the interior and this looks like something that I can do (did a full dash swap on my 951). Where does one get the trim kit? Pongobaz - if you have any thoughts on where to get the carbon fibre kit in Canada - I would greatly appreciate the advice.

Many thanks

Fergus

[pongobaz]

Congrats on your 996 and welcome to the board, the dealer sells the kit or check eBay.

I'd stick with the factory carbon.

First post here on Renntech...

Just bought a 996 and need to spruce up the interior and this looks like something that I can do (did a full dash swap on my 951). Where does one get the trim kit? Pongobaz - if you have any thoughts on where to get the carbon fibre kit in Canada - I would greatly appreciate the advice.

Many thanks

Fergus

Got mine from Eric at bumperplugs.com

[helmutvisorcover]

Hi all. Really useful thread! I have just completed the removal of the three strips using hints and tips from this site and can say it has saved me trashing the whole dash. I managed to get them off in about 45 minutes and only needed minimal dismantling of the dash. All three pieces are complete and undamaged...it can be done!

1. Remove left and right air vents

2. Remove centre dash facia (mine has been on and off a few times so its a quick job)

3. Remove instrument pod (didnt need to disconnected connections at the rear, just placed it up and out of the way)

4. Remove horse shoe surround from steering column

5. Undo the passenger foam knee cover under dash (RHD Boxster S)

6. Remove A/C vent connecting pipes to L and R vents

From here, I was able to use a T10 torx attached to a 10mm flexi head ratchet spanner. Yep, its a bit fiddly but I was able to get to every single screw with relative ease. The flexi head made it very easy with limited access and at times only a couple of fingers to guide.

I am in the middle of spraying and lacquering the trims meridian silver. I am also in the middle of retrimming too. Removing the trims has allowed me to retrim the lower half of the dash in an anthracite alcantara. I shall post some pictures once I've finished.

Again, thanks for some great hints!

[helmutvisorcover]

Well, here's the result to my Boxster S so far:

Re trimmed lower part of dash, instrument pod, side panels and knee panels in anthracite alcantara. Re-trimmed centre console in black alcantara. Sprayed and lacquered strips in 'Nissan silver'. Dash, upper and lower console carbon fibre and fitted a JVC KW-NX7000 using trieullionaires double din fitting kit (great kit btw!)

[bluesky6040]

Since I dont need the old strips has anyone drilled out the old screws using new trim as a template to find the screws ??

JOHN

[DK570]

I just did this today on my 2002, it was actually easier than I expected.  Thanks pongobaz for the write up!

[Laurent92]

Good evening,

 

Wanted to give a bit of "new" to the 20 year old 996 and changed the color of the middle console, le dash trims, air vents as well as warning light and key covers. Thanks to the great pictures above could do it! super thanks for that.

 

However indeed quite a stretch for the dash trim... no way to do it without removing the air vent, and I still wonder why they did put all those screws that hold basically nothing! Anyway, they are all back in, as if nothing had happened

 

I am really happy with the outcome, thanks again for helping

 

L.

[WaxRes]

Hello all,

 

Just joined Renntech.org because I was looking for a DIY on how to do this.  Thank you to all the contributors on this.  I thought I had to disassemble most of the dash to replace these strips.  I like pongobaz's method, as I know I'll destroy my dash by doing the solder method.  I'll give this a try.