Dashboard Strip

How To:

Remove The Dash

Well it has to be done, for numerous of reasons. In this particular instance for myself, the speedometer had decided it would only work when it wanted to and had an annoying habit of just dying on me at the most inconvenient of opportunities! However to fit a gear gaiter, replace the radio or anything dash orientated the method remains the same.

Tools required: A cross head screw driver.

Step One

Remove the gear stick surround (Note this is a manual model).

First open and remove the ash tray (use this opportunity to remove all sweet wrappers). 

Remove 1x screw in ashtray cavity.

Unscrew gear knob (this is a M10 thread should you want a new gear knob). Lift the gear stick panel at the rear, next to where the drivers leg would be. This pulls down and away from the upper dashboard area.

 Once the gear stick surround is removed, two screws are revealed in the main upper part of the dashboard surround. Remove both of these. Also note the securing screws are located here for the centre console and cubby box.

Step Two

Remove the steering column shroud, this clips into place and is held together by four screws (note one of the screws hides under the steering wheel height adjusting lever. Leave the steering column in its lowest position.

Step Three

Now the front of the dash will pull away towards you. Use a plastic pry tool if it is stiff (resist the urge to pry with a screwdriver. (I often use a bicycle tyre lever!). It should come away quite easy though. The main difficulty (and lack of pictures) comes when disconnecting the switches. Start at the far right with the wing mirror adjusters, then it will allow a little flexibility to 'get at' the other switches. All of the switches can be removed by pressing in their release latches. However they can be super stiff to pull out. Patience! 

Top Tip! Beware that if you disconnect the hazard light, whilst it is disconnected you will have no indicators! Good to know if your having a 'test run'.

Step Four

Clock removal

The instrument cluster is held in by seven screws, four in the outer surround, two bottom ones shown here...

...And two upper screws shown here. The shroud simply lifts up and out. The instrument panel then has an additional two screws at the bottom and one at the top. Again and rather awkwardly you will have to remove the three connectors on the back of the cluster. First remove the two connectors on the oil pressure side and then the far connector on the fuel side. Note, Automatics will have a further connector on the right side. 

This concludes the whole business of getting the dashboard apart. All in all it is reasonably straight forward with minimal swearing (apart from disconnecting the plugs). If you don't want to disconnect the plugs you can simply unscrew them. There is no need for excessive force and everything should come apart easily. remember to tighten but not over tighten screws as this can lead to rattles!

Interior Change

Well after assuring everyone, including my nearest and dearest that I was done, finished, had enough and would just maintain Ms Skyline. I went and sourced a GT-R interior, I know your all thinking why mimic what is probably in comparison to mine, a lesser car (I know I was), although it does have a decent front pair of seats, even if they are of what feels an older style in comparison to the later Spec 2 GTS 25t offerings.

The seller was located in Tamworth near Birmingham which made for an entertaining mornings run. He also had a GTS 25t, at some point it must have been a well looked after car, although was starting to show signs of wear it's past glories fading rapidly into the scrap man's sweet embrace. He had brought the car for drifting, removing the interior for a set of buckets, (which needing to fund he took out the interior) much better I have them I say and so a zippy hour and a bit later I was bombing back home with my prize filling every inch of my boot space.

Obviously not as a factory fit to a GTS 25t this must be this interiors third outing in a different Skyline! However the seats and door cards were in excellent condition for age only requiring a good clean up and some TLC.

Having had to fit various parts on and off the car for sometime now. I think I have become a bit of an expert in interior trim. The front seats are held in by four bolts, so removal was simple, what did suprise me is that the standard GTS 25t front seats are somewhat heavier that the GT-R replacements, another bonus I guess.
The rear seats put up their usual fight, although I find that to remove the rear lower bench (after removing its two securing bolts) if you squat in the middle, resting against the back seat, one almighty tug is enough to release it (and near launch you into the boot). With the back rest, again remove the two securing bolts and push the back rest up to free it from its hooks.
It's been very warm in the UK lately and apparently we are in the midst of a heatwave.. This isn't as nice as it sounds, although by no means would I actively complain and welcome back the rain. However when removing and fitting the rear seats it did get a tad 'hot' with the Sun blasting through the rear window and I darn near cooked!
Next off were the door cards in the back, these do require the front seatbelt lower and upper bolts undoing to free them, there is also a small screw in the seatbelt recess that needs to come out. Otherwise these are simplicity to remove. The front door cards were their usual pain in the butt to remove, mainly because I always forget how the plastic trims around the handles comes away (for information it is pull towards the back of the car to release).

Interior Fitted

Then it was a simple case of bolting in the new interior. Reversal of removal.. I love that expression, but in this case it is reasonably accurate. To bring the door cards in the front up to scratch I fitted the pull handle and plastics from my old door cards. The previous, previous owner had done a not too good a job of painting the interior plastic surrounds, they had to go!