My friend did it in his parts car, but didn't car about the condition of the dash, i know there is ~6 bolt or something holding it down (that's after all the things are taken off it)

Just curious if anyone has any tips on taking it off without damaging it (front vents, triangle vents etc...) or should I just I just go read the FSM : /

Cheers

 

The FSM has some halfway decent info, but mostly, just take your time. The defroster vents by the windshield are likely to crumble when you try to remove them, so expect to replace those. The triangle defroster vents may also break. The front panel by the windshield has to come out before the logicon can be removed, as its harness snakes up to a connector there.

If I remember correctly, it's more than six bolts, but I'm pretty sure 10 or less. A quick glance in the garage makes it look like there are nine bolts. Two on either side of the center behind two removable triangles. Two on each side and three on top.

 

The first time doing it takes a while, just take your time. If you have to do it again, it will take you less that a half hour the second time lol.

 

It was easier than I thought it would be. It's not particularly hard, just tedious (unplugging lots of stuff, bolts in hard-to-reach areas, etc). This thread, combined with the dash diagram in the FSM, was a very big help.

 

there was someone on here who said he could do it in under 20 minutes, the trick is to take it easy so the plastics dont break, while its out I would take a good look at all the mounting points to see if I could make them stronger with some thickened epoxy or even structural urethane

 

I've done it twice and its a huge pain in the ***, but it's not "hard"

 

10 bolts and a half hour,I was getting good at this!
Pop the middle plastic square piece between the dash vents and there is a 1/4 inch headed screw.
2 bolts on each side,two on the end of the center,2 on each side of the center console.Undo the column.
speedo cluster and center surround,shifter console goes.to make it easier,push the seats all the way back.

 

What I found to be the two biggest pain the asses about dash removal is the logicon plug at the firewall and removing the shifter so it doesnt find me as bad since I dont have help(1 man it).

 

dont you get the logicon plug thru the defroster vents?

 

Yeah, remove the whole piece that the defroster vents attach to, and the logicon plug isn't hard at all.

 

Yea, but im a fat guy and its still a pain to get through from the top.

 

I have mine out now.I have reinforced several cracks and shored-up the mounting points with fiberglass and resin. really beefed things up!

 

On a related note... Does anyone have a high res. picture from just *after* removing the dashboard?

 

Or when you take it out you dont put every bolt back in make it secure and all but I got mine out of my car in like 10 minutes because of that. Maybe less.

 

I did this over the weekend it's not too bad my windshield defroster vents definitely exploded though haha

 

Yep.

I'll see if I can upload it.

 

Awesome! Please do, thank you! ^_^

 

This is after further removal of the blower unit and the air mix motor/heater core assembly. Hopefully, that works for you though.

 

Mine is RHD being from Japan. Hope that's cool.

Pics are large-ish!

Pic 1

Pic 2

 

Thanks guys! ^_^ [I'm trying to put an S5 interior together despite having never removed a dashboard -- my project car was stripped to the frame/painted/dynamat'ed.. I'm trying to figure out exactly how all the wiring/climate boxes should be just before the dash goes on]

 

Grr double post..