Early / Late Dash Wars

[too hot 0]

Wonder if anyone can answer this????:scratch:

Is the late dash shell the same as the early dash??

What I`m meaning is f you take everything off/out the dash and are left with the bare shell,could you fit later switches heater panel heating vents etc into your old dash ???

My car has an early dash in black and I have a complete spare late dash,with everything(switches vents etc etc)

I wonder if I can just strip the old and fit the new,without removing the shell??:scratch:

Would save a bit of time in the long run!

If nobody knows ---thats this weeks mission to try it :thumbleft:

Edited May 19, 2011 by too hot

[CazzaVR 0]

Yep, identical! Done the swap myself. The metal brackets are a little different, so may need swapping over if stuff doesn't fit properly.

[too hot 0]

CazzaVR Thanks for that just what I thought looking at the two there doesnt appear to be much in it.

Can you remember if the switches just plugged in or did you have to use late wiring looms??

I think I can remember someone saying the headlight loom/plug was different.If that is the only new loom have to use I will be a happy bunny:smug:

As I say I have all the later looms if required,just saves faffing about under the dash,trying to thread wiring :thumbleft:

[CazzaVR 0]

Not sure on the looms- some are definately different. I swapped a late black for my early grey, but kept the early switches.

[quicky1980 0]

iirc the headlight switch is the same but the others require replacement looms or splicing. dead easy with the dash out though!

[dragon green 5]

Headlight switch is definitely the same. Why don't you just pop the switches out of the dash, unplug and see if the new ones fit ?

If they don't, wouldn't it be easier to change the plugs rather then the whole looms

[quicky1980 0]

id say changing the looms would be easier, less chance of something being wired up wrong too

[too hot 0]

Wll have a look at it tomorrow.It was just to save me taking the full dash out.

I`ll take some switches out and see how the plugs differ,got all the looms anyway so if the worst comes to the worst

I can change them over.I would rather replace the looms than start splicing plugs in.

[too hot 0]

Ok Here are the answers for anyone else who needs to try it ----easy answer is don`t !!:nuts::suprised:

The only switch that is a straight plug and play is the headlight switch.

The ABS,heated rear window and fogs are all different plugs in the loom.

The other interesting thing to note is the apertures that these switches fit into are smaller for the earlier switches.You need the later dash insert to fit them into.

As can be seen in the pic the holes for the later switches are much larger.

The vents fit at either end of the dash with the later surrounds,the later vents dont fit in the earlier surrounds--properly.For an OEM look.

The heater itself looks another nightmare,haven`t looked really closely but to convert from slide controls to round looks as if the there is a later version of the heater.Will know when the dash is out !! Cos its going to have to happen:thumbleft:

Hopefully the pics will explain it a bit more.:smug:

[quicky1980 0]

not sure why you say the vents dont fit right, they should.

 

To change the heater controls you need the controls, facia and bowden cables(now obsolete i think), the later heater controls are weaker though even if they do look better imo

[too hot 0]

not sure why you say the vents dont fit right, they should.

 

To change the heater controls you need the controls, facia and bowden cables(now obsolete i think), the later heater controls are weaker though even if they do look better imo

 

I took the later vents on their own and tried to fit them into the earlier housing in the original dash,the drivers side just didn`t fit.

The passenger side did fit but didn`t look right imo!!

I`ll have a look in the morning to see how to get the heater to work.I have all the bits,dials fascia and cables that I should need.

Just on looking at it the earler version looks completely different.Would be nice to have the late version to compare.

Really the only reason I`m doing it is that I think the later dash looks better all be it more fragile:cool:

[quicky1980 0]

good luck with the heater, was a nightmare when I upgraded! nice work so far mate

[too hot 0]

good luck with the heater, was a nightmare when I upgraded! nice work so far mate

 

Cheers anything in particular you can remember to look out for?

[quicky1980 0]

not that I can remember just very fiddly!

[too hot 0]

Heres a bit of an update on what has become dash wars

I decided to go down the route of replacing all the looms too,in order to avoid cutting and splicing the originals.I have managed to replace all the looms for the fogs,heated rear window,ABS.I have tested them and they all work,sorted out the speakers and tweeters.The radio works too!!

The heater is still an ongoing issue as I don`t appear to be getting power to it.I have a yellow and black connector plug that doesn`t seem to have a home!! I will try to get a live to the heater tomorrow and see where I have gone wrong.Ideally I`m going to have to find a wiring diagram from somewhere.The other thing I have found is I am short of one heater cable I believe there should be three and these are different from the early version having different connections at the end.The pictures show it looks a real mess but once I get the dash shell back in it should look a lot better.

[too hot 0]

Sorted out the heater blower problem a bit of wiring missed by me!!!!

Anyway thats now running fine everything has been tested and electrically seems to work fine.

Just need a heater control cable,I have two out of three!!Then the whole lot can go back together.

Got a Golf MAF stalk and the control wire is too short so need a Corrado one too.

Apart from that it should all go back together and look OEM.

Which was the point of this swap in the first place.

[fla 9]

you didnt consider doing a dash 'upgrade' to an audi one, for all the issues you've had?

[too hot 0]

No the idea came about because I had the late dash and supposedly all the bits tof fit it .

To be honest it's fairly straight forward. You don't notice the slight changes particularly in mounting brackets until you actually start the job . The plan was /is to keep it as standard looking as possible.