I am replacing my carpet and redoing the seats and wall upholstery so I read this thread a couple of times before I did it and noticed the update that says you can take the cover and structure out as a unit. https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-arch...84-85-a-478528

It looks like you can.

Since the thread has been archived I wanted to reference it and add some more recent experience and have a thread available for discussion.

From what I can recently remember

- 2 bolts on each side of dash next to the doors, you need to remove the plastic trim to expose them
- 3 across the top def vents, you need to remove the windshield vents to expose them, and you'll probably break those (be careful, push them from below if you can), you'll need a low-profile tool to get in there with the windshield on, but it's doable.
- 4 under shifter/radio area, the center console needs to come out so you also need to remove the hvac ***** and radio and shifter boot, etc. You'll break the plastic center console too.
- 2 screws in the fuse box
- the steering wheel needs to come off and the bolts holding the steering shaft removed so the column can drop

Did all that without fussing with much else already and I can lift the dash up and move it around.

From here, I'll need to disconnect the electrics and hvac controls as necessary, I don't want to disconnect every single switch and am hoping I can disconnect the dash harness from the car harness to minimize what stuff I break.

Some things I found useful so far:

- A set of JIS screwdrivers will make your life easy for the soft metal screws. I got some Vessel Jawsfit and they really do make a difference over regular Phillips head.
- Take the seats out immediately. It's easy and you'll be happy with the extra room to move.
- Get some interior removal tools https://www.harborfreight.com/trim-a...8aAtoVEALw_wcB to pry things apart without gouging them with a screwdriver.

 

Damn, learn something new every day. I never knew there was an intentional difference. Thank you.

 

I got that tip from Jeff20b a couple years ago when he showed me how he mods his carbs, this was my first opportunity to put it to the test.

 

J-spec screwdrivers really are real. My mind was blown when I learned about them. j9fd3s uses them as well.

 

The horizontal air diverter lever and ac control unit is a cranky ******* to remove. Still working on that.

 

Great update for our late-model FB bruthas.
Makes my dash-swap on my SA look tinker-toy-ish by comparison. Thank you.

++ on the JIS screwdrivers! used now for years. 1st thing a Japanese-car owner should have in the tool chest!

Stu A
80GS
AZ

 

Got it out.

The air diverter control is most easily disconnected by taking the cable off the heater core side.

I left the heat valve cable connected and left the **** and lever assembly in the car when I took the dash out.

I didn't need to disconnect any electrics from the steering column combo switch. The wires were loose enough to pull it off the end of the shaft and set on the floor while I removed the dash.

In the end you don't need to touch a whole lot to get it out. A few key electric connections, air control cables, gauges, e brake, gear shifter, glove box, and fuse box.

I took apart more than I needed to.

 

I just replaced the full interior on my 80 from brown to black and did not remove the dash frame, the new carpet with the padding will slide under it with little to no effort.
* just noticed this was for a 84/85 so I guess that changes things a bit*

 

Q for you. You say you did not "remove" the dash frame. Did you have to unbolt it from the tranny tunnel ? Loosen any other bolts to permit slight raising of dash to slide carpet over the Hump? I ask because any carpet set I have seen, the front carpet is usually one-piece, and it would need to have clearance under the console/dash to get over the Tunnel. Can you explain?
Thanks
Stu A
80GS

 

Some good tips in here, thanks for the writeup!
I have intentions to swap to a full-black S3 interior in the future, while redoing the entire interior electrical system at the same time. It'll be a MN winter-long (6 month) project for sure, and will be extremely tedious - but should be worth it in the end. I know my buddy 82transam has done something similar and said it was a total pain, so I know I'm in for a world of hurt too...

 

Unless you're doing S2->S3 interior, it should be pretty straightforward. Tag and bag all your screws, or tape them to what they came out of, to make your life easy.

Go in knowing that the dash is pretty modular and if you take out the right handful of things, it will just pop out and come out of whichever door you want without a helper. If you're getting to a lot of smaller black round-headed screws in completely backwards locations and hard to access, you're trying to take the cover off the structure, which you should do outside the car.

And I'll repeat the JIS screwdriver thing, it will help you immensely. I had a few really stubborn screws for the smugglers box structure finally "pop" loose after putting a LOT of torque via the JIS bit, I'm a believer, a regular Phillips bit would have cammed out and ruined the cheese-metal screw.

Now that I'm down to it, I am seeing that the S3 car is not really that big a nightmare. The wiring seems to make sense and mostly match the diagrams, and if you're replacing carpet and dashboard, none of the wiring will be difficult to access.

I'm putting black carpet in mine to replace the gray factory set. I'm eventually going to do the SEM color coat dark gray close match to the dashboard on the hatch plastics.