[gbarrier]

As for the plastic parts (vents, etc.) just spray them with SIM Color Coat. Laudau black is the color I use as it is between gloss and flat.

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[Anchorman]

It looks like my car will enter the operating room tomorrow. I'm putting the 968 in my son's extra garage, and will start the dash dismantling next Friday. I've decided to remove the seats (is there anything special I need to watch out for? They are manual fore-and-aft) for easier access and to do some cleaning while this is going on. I'm also going to send the steering wheel to Alan Gunn to get the rim made thicker, and I'm intending to pull the injectors and send them to Marren. Probably will replace the stereo head unit, and...hmmm, what else? I have until September, when my extra car has to be returned at the end of its lease - but I don't want to spend all summer. Hopefully, a few (4-5) pretty intense days of dismantling, cleaning, and installing should to it. Lot's of photos are planned.

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[bob blackwell]

Anchorman, just be sure and disconnect the electric plug on the bottom of the seat before you try to remove it from the car. The driver side on my 968 has two electric connections, one for the seat belt alarm and one for the power up and down adjustments. the passenger side only had the up and down adjustment connection. A large plug about in the center of the seat which you just push up and the pins come unconnected. Good luck, Bob Blackwell.

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[Anchorman]

Thanks, Bob. The beginning of the "surgery" has been postponed a week, but I'll make sure to do as you suggest.

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[Anchorman]

The process has begun. The car is in my son's extra garage, the battery is disconnected, the steering wheel is removed (I'm sending it to Alan Gunn to have the rim thickened) and the fuel injectors are out (they're going to Marren for calibration etc.). I've suffered the first part breakage - one of the plastic tabs on the plastic piece that holds the spark plug wires in place. I'm sure they'll be more "breaks". Stay tuned (if you're interested).



WOW - I just looked in the Performance catalog to see how much injectors are. Injectors for the 968 are the most expensive listed - at $438.95 each. I'll be putting insurance on the package that's being sent to Marren.



Next step will be to start dismantling the dashboard and remove the seats. Fingers crossed...



Also picking out a new head unit to replace the current Sony on which the display has failed. Probably an Alpine will go in, as it looks like they have greatly facilitated IPOD usage.



6/20 Minor update - (i) The wheel is on its way to Alan Gun (did he ever respond quickly to an email - so far, I'm impressed with AGLA). (ii) The fuel injectors are on their way to Marren. (iii) I found that I had an extra of the plug wire retainer plastic pieces that I broke - and the extra one is missing fewer tabs than the one I removed. (iv) I've ordered the Alpine CDA-9857 receiver with the iPod direct connect cable. (v) I have a new clockspring mechanism that I'll install, hoping that it cures the airbag fault warning light (after, of course, having it reset by the dealer!).

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[Anchorman]

Today, the first day of serious effort, resulted in some pretty good progress. Center console is out, ventilation control system is out, instrument surround is out, right side trim panel and vents are out. However, ran into a couple of stumbling blocks with the trim around the steering column. On the left side, all screws are removed, the headlight switch retainer nut is removed, but the trim panel won't come out - something seems to be holding it, although it's loose all around. On the right side, the rubber piece around the ignition switch, which I'm led to believe will pry out, doesn't want to be pried out. Once I get these two pieces out of the car, I think I'm only an hour or so from having the entire dash out. Then I'll start cleaning and doing some fixing before I install the new one. But, first I've got to get those two pieces out!

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[Glau]

Just a heads-up for those thinking about redoing their dashes. The results in this link are well simply amazing IMO.



http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/show...ad.php?t=281458

clicky link





Glau

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[flash]

those things are a bear - i seem to remember a hidden screw on each one

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[94SilverCab]

Pictures Anchorman, lots and lots of pictures...

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[gbarrier]

For the hard plastic parts that have changed color find a supplier of SEM brand Vinyl spray and give them a shot. Spray light coats in low humidity and warm temps. Stuff acts like lacquer but works real good. Also for small cracks in the soft stuff hit it with a little flexible CA glue (found at the hobby shop) to fill the gap. Then spray all of it with the SEM stuff. I like the color landau black as it is sort of a satin finish.

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[Anchorman]

Problems solved - and I'll post details and photos at another time. For the moment, suffice it to say that there were a couple of well-hidden screws that none of the instructions described. Everything is now out of the dashboard except the glove box - that's the last thing, which I hope to get done tomorrow morning. Then the dashboard itself will come out.



The instrument cluster is lying on my desk in front of me. Wow, there are lots of bulbs. I see 14 of one type (black plastic), three larger ones (white, these are the illumination bulbs that sit about the silver reflector pieces) and three aqua-colored plastic that are in the bottom section of the oil pressure/voltmeter section. I'm assuming these are also bulbs (I haven't tried the "twist" test yet, but one seems to be where the airbag fault light is), but I wonder why these three are different from the rest?



There are dried-up pieces of paper (?) covering eight openings in the printed circuit "board" (it's not a board, but a plastic film with the circuitry), some of which are no longer staying in place. I guess these can be replaced with - suggestions?



I assume that removing the eight Phillips screws separates the housing from the instruments. I need to do that to get a dead spider out from the Lexan area - but what more has to be done to get to the infamous odometer gear?



Once the dash is out, the cleaning process will start. I've also decided that I'm going to get the Bluetooth add-on to the new Alpine unit - may as well take another step into the modern era.

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[flash]

nice to see my memory still worked, as fuzzy as it was



and make sure you get a shot of that spider - that's hilarious



speedometer gear is pretty easy - pretty sure the shots of what to do are right here on the site, and do a much better job than i could describe

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[Anchorman]

I tried to take some photos of the hidden screws, but I couldn't tell if I got them or not - but at least I'll be able to point out where they are. The challenge of getting them back in will probably not be trivial.

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[flash]

i don't remember it being nearly as hard to reinstall them - just be careful - the piece on the left is rather fragile

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[Anchorman]

Fuel injectors came back from Marren today. The "before" flow test averages were (in cc/min): 73.4, 75.8, 76.3, 73.2 The "after" flows are: 79.7, 78.9, 80.5, 79.7. The qualitative comments on the "before" spray pattern were that #1 and #4 were N/G, and all were dirty. The "after" spray patterns are all OK. It'll be interesting to see how the car feels once these are reinstalled.



Also spent a little time working on the plastic cover of the instrument cluster. Boy, is it easier to apply cleaner/polish when it's out of the car. Novus 2 did a great job removing almost all of the annoying little scratches, and then an application of Novus 1 resulted in near-perfection. I'm not going to do anything more.



Read another thread on instrument panel bulbs, and realized that the three illumination bulbs come out of the holders. Convinced of that, I managed to get a bulb out and will go to an auto supply place tomorrow to get replacement bulbs. I've decided to leave all of the currently functioning warning light bulbs in place - they get so little usage that the risk of having new bulbs fail is probably greater than the risk of having one of the existing bulbs fail. The three reflective surfaces for the illumination bulbs are in pretty good shape, so I won't be doing anything to them.



For the moment, I've chickened out on replacing the speedo gear. I couldn't find a thread with any guidance, instructions, or photos. I removed the four screws holding the speedo in place, but when gentle pulling didn't get it out of the cluster, I decided to stop and reverse course.



I tried to replace the slightly torn rubber surround around the turn signal assembly and tore the new one. I'll use some super glue to repair the old one and call that success. Luckily, I hadn't removed the old one before trying to fit the new one.

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[Anchorman]

Clark's Garage recommended Sylvania 194 as the higher wattage replacement bulb for dash illumination. Pep Boys had the 194 and the 194 LL (long life), so I bought two 2-packs of the LL to replace the 3 stock bulbs.

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[flash]

sorry for the delay - still trying to find the article i read - from it, i installed silvania 158



they mentioned a bulb that was too hot and melted the dash - i'll continue to try to find the article

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[flash]

ok - it was the clark's garage article - the 192 was too hot, but the 194 seems fine, and even a bit brighter than the 158 i installed - since i have to pull it out yet again, i will probably now change to the 194



thanks jim



here is the pdf on the file:

elect_08.pdf Size: 370.84 KB  Downloads: 22

here are the shots of the speedo gear:



http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=1444&st=0

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[mitch968]

For those who are having attachment viewing problems....

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/elect-08.htm



I did my bulbs a while back and don't remember the number, however I know they were in the 3.x wattage ballpark, so they should be fine. Interesting that the article says that Porsche spec is 3w, however most clusters have 2w installed. Since mine had the original 2w bulbs, I assumed I was exceeding the wattage slightly, so I run them with the dimmer about halfway to keep the heat down. Sounds like I should be fine even running them at full power though.

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[Anchorman]

OK, maybe I will undertake the speedo gear replacement. It's looking like it's similar to many of the 968 projects: you swallow hard and then start - and it ends up being easier than expected. (Not a general rule, though.)



My illumination bulbs were 2w. I haven't opened the package on the new ones, but if the Clark info is correct, they're closer to 4w.

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