...or how I took my 456 mostly apart - again. After doing the major on my car last year I wanted to address some other issues with my car: - dash shrinkage - rear spoiler cracked, not operating correctly - parking brake does not return - front brakes need pad replacement - respray back half of car to address some corrosion bubbles near the rear window - respray front bumper - replace oil thermostat; maintaining oil temps too low under cool conditions (There is more, but mostly nit-noid stuff...) In the runup to winter, I noted that the motor mounts were gone as the alternator was perilously close to the sway bar, so this was added to the list as well. I then noted that the radiator was pissing coolant adding to the fun. Starting with the dash: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Quick steps. Dash removal is not that hard. First step, turn off the battery. Put the key in the ignition and turn the car on. This will make sure everything is dead and you can move the wheel. Take off the airbag in the steering wheel using a 4mm allen key with a hole in the center; most tool kits have these now. There are two bolts in the rear of the airbag at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions. Once these are removed, pull the airbag toward you and you can remove the wire at the back. I pointed the thing away from me while doing this as I have heard horror stories... First picture shows the wheel with the airbag missing, the orange lead goes to the airbag. You can also see where the two mounting bolts are located. Once the airbag is out of the way, the wheel comes off with a further group of 4mm allen bolts. The connector you also see is for the horn. The second picture is of the airbag itself. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Once the wheel is out of the way, you will be able to easily remove the plastic covers from the column. The upper is the one that has you car's VIN on it. All the bolts and screws for this operation are on the underside of the lower cover (be sure your key is removed before you start this operation). Be careful with the forward most two bolts, as they attach the upper piece, do these first to get this item out of the way. Once these two are removed, lower the column to the lowest positon and you will be looking at the two bolts that hold the dash pod in place (these are just above the steering wheel in this picture with the dash pod removed already...): Image Unavailable, Please Login
In the picture in the previous post, you will see two black pins on the forward part of the dash above the steering wheel rim in the picture; these locate the forward portion of the dash pod. Pull up on the dash pod slightly and you will see there are three connectors that attach the dash pod harness to the car; these are low and to the left of the column. You can disconnect these by depressing the tab and pulling on them. Once you have done this, the dash pod will come out. Picture is of the dash pod insert removed from the out shell for recovering. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Next step is to move to the other side of the car and remove the glovebox. Start by disconnecting the strut that holds the door open. The door will hang down, but it will be okay for now. Remove the leather insert to left of the door - this is a small triangular piece held to the dash with three small screws. Once this is removed, you can remove the glove box insert. First remove the light by prying on one side, it will likely be the side toward the center of the car. You can then angle it out as the other side has the connectors on it to the harness. Two screws in the top of the insert and it can then be pulled out of the dash. Mine had stereo equipment installed in it as the first picture shows. The second picture shows the glove box door with the holes for the mounting screws that hold it to the dash. The third picture shows the reworked insert with the rear fully cut away for the aforementioned equipment. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This part is up next. Not as bad as I expected, though the airbag on the passenger side will not be rejoining the party when I am finished.
Dean, thanks for posting the pictures and your explanations. Very useful. Best of luck with the project. Keith
Once you have the glovebox insert out of the way, you will be looking at the mounts for the passenger airbag. Below is a picture of the area with everything removed; the 4 nut/washer combinations in the center of the picture are the ones you will need to remove. There are shims all over the place to align the various parts with the dash and the body. Mark these as you remove them or you will have to go through the alignment process yourself - not fun. Disconnect the electrical connector first, remove the nuts/washers, then slide the airbag toward you to remove. Also shown is a view of the airbag from the mount side. Do not mess with the bracket mounting hardware on the side, it also has adjustment to it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
We will now take a diversion. You ant to remove the hood release cable at the front of the car. Why? It is easier than the alternaive for the next step and you won't break anything. Also gives you a chance to check the cable, mine was corroded. See the spring in the picture below - the rusty one? Previous owner had it installed to "help" return the rusty cable... Looking at the engine, there is a thumb-nut that holds the cable to the passenger side release. Remove this, being careful not to drop it or the driver side stay into the radiator pan. Once you remove the hardware, remove the driver's side wheelwell cover, the one in the lower picture with the three thumbscrews holding it in place. This will allow you to see where the cable is routed. Grab the cable in the area of the cover and pull it from the front of the car, paying attention to where it is routed. Go get some heavey speaker wire (not thicker than the release cable) and, using electrical tape, join a 4 foot piece of the wire to the end of the release cable. This will give you a way to to properly route the cable during re-assembly. Leave this be for now, as you need to remove the offending panel in the car. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now that the cable is removed, the hood release lever can be pulled and it will stay in place. Pull it out almost to the stop and you will see two screws holding the lever mount and panel in place, remove these. Note the dimmer switch for the dash lights is on the lever mount as well. Once the screws are removed, the panel is moved toward the driver's door to clear the two pins from the dash. This gives a little room to push the dimmer switch out from the back, then you can disconnect it from the harness. You will now have the whole assembly free from the car. Pull it slowly toward you to move the cable through the hole in the firewall. It's good to have some help here to guide the cable and wire through the hole. Once the cable is thorugh and you can see the wire, cut the tape and leave the wire for re-assembly. Why do it this way? I the cable is good, you don't want to mess with the connection to the mount. The cable clips to the mount with some nylon stays that WILL break if you mess with them. I bought a new cable and it broke on install... The pictures below show the area and two of the panel removed from the car. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
You can now remove the two small panels at either end of the dash. They are removed with two screws apiece. The picture below shows both removed from the car. Image Unavailable, Please Login
It is now time to remove the center gauge cluster. Start by removing the floormats from the driver and passenger side. Then remove the two carpeted covers from each side of the driveshaft tunnel. These are held on with a few philips screws. Now is a good time to check that the evaporator condensate drain isn't plugged; the picture below shows the drain hoses, the left and right sides tee together on the passenger side and then route to the underneath of the car. Image Unavailable, Please Login
On the driver's side, you can now see two screws holding the gauge cluster to the dash. The passenger side mounts were removed when the small leather wrapped triangular piece was removed to aid in removing the glovebox insert. Have a helper hold the cluster away from the dash a bit so you can trace the two wire runs to their origin and unclip them, freeing the cluster. Be careful pulling the wires out through the maze of stuff behind the center consol. The pictures below shows the cluster removed along with the small leather wrapped piece from the earlier post Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The next steps remove all the remaining pieces from the dash so it can then be removed. The pictures below show the hoses connecting the ducts in the dash to the main air header in the center of the car. Remove these completely. Note that the first picture also shows a rigged up speaker in place of the original speaker/vent part. This part may need to be removed to access the wiring for the speaker, mine just needed a stiff pull - this bit of kit will be addressed when I have the dash recovered Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now it is time for the last bit. There are four groups of fasteners holding the dash to the car. At each end of the dash, there are two nuts holding a plate that engages the dash frame. Remove these first, noting (again) that there may be shims in place that need keeping-track-of. The next group is on the passenger side and some of these mounting nuts are/were shared with the airbag mount. Remove all these but one. The last group is in the area where the dash pod is mounted. This is another group of 4 nuts/washers/shims. Again remove all but one. Once you get your helper in place, remove the remaining two nuts and lift the dash out and up to remove. The dash is not well supported in the dash pod area so a helped is recommended. I did this on my own and I created some small stress cracks in the fiberglass. There are several pictures in order of the text above, the last shot shows a support I added to the dash assy to prevent movement during rework. This also shows the "custom" insert created for the aftermarket speakers. I chose to glass these in to the dash to maintain the speakers that came with the car. I also chose to glass in the passenger airbag hole and remove this device, though this is not yet evident in the view. (Also note that the dash in this state has had all the ancilliary stuff removed - ducts, covers, air diffusers, leather, etc. Also note that you have to be careful with any fiberglass components in these cars, to say it is shoddy is being quite kind...) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Why would you want to remove the passenger airbag? A prospective buyer might see your car as a shoddy repaired accident vehicle because of the deletion of such a part. Otherwise a great and very well documented thread!
Appreciate the comment. When I bought this car, I came to conclusion that I am okay it being a 30K car for the remainder of its life, owing the condition I bought it in and the miles I intended on putting on it. I do not expect the delection of the airbag to impact this too much one way or the other from here.
What a great write up! And timely too as I am thinking about tackling the same project except in a 550. Do you think the two are comparable? I appreciate the input. D
Great work Dean and excellent photography. A comment on the pax side air bag. My car is a '95 and although the pax side air bag cover fits better than that of some other cars I have seen, it is a far cry from being good. A friend of mine had a '96 or a '97 456 and it came without the airbag, so my conclusion is that it was apparently a retrofit for the cars sold in the US and that would explain why the fit leaves so much to be desired. The A/C on my car is pretty good, however the airflow from the leftmost vent is noticeably les than that on the right. I was looking at the pictures you have posted and the duct leading the air to that vent appears to be squeezed at one point: is that true or is it just an optical illusion?
