RobManser Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 (edited) Am I right that this panel should come out now that I've taken the screws out? I've jiggled and pulled it as much as I can and it just won't budge. I've watched the excellent Turn 7 video on You Tube, and there's just came out once the screws were removed. thanks Edited October 14 by RobManser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanRo Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 Hi Rob i had a ridiculous wrestle with mine, upside down, swearing. I could not get them out. I could push them down or up at either end but not enough to clear dash structure to remove them. In the end, I rotated the far end, nearest the engine, upwards as far as possible and cut the small bottom flap off with a hacksaw. This then allowed me to slide them along enough remove them. I tidied them up with a file and they now go in and out fine. Felt pretty brutal at the time though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobManser Posted October 13 Author Share Posted October 13 Thanks. Good to know someone else has struggled and it's not just me. I'd rather not cut anything just yet though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanRo Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 Yes, it took several weeks of increasing frustration with them to work up to getting the saw out. Hopefully you won’t need to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobManser Posted October 13 Author Share Posted October 13 (edited) I'm tempted to tease out the larger panel beneath it to take the pressure off the small panel, but don't want to permanently bend it - it's huge and impractical to replace if I mess it up. Edited October 13 by RobManser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducatidentist Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 On mine as the self tappers had gone in, the outside panel had "gone into" the knee trim panel behind and above it. I put masking tape over a painters spatula and pushed it between the two panels to separate them. Then jiggling it while moving it towards the front of the car worked! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miker7 Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 (edited) What age is your car? I've tried to do mine and noticed that the panel bends round to the front face of the dash. The front face has a couple of tiny allen key / hex headed bolts (which i assume go into the top dash tube or a rivnut). I've now rounded these so need to drill them out. As you've got a nice carbon dash is that definitely not stuck ontop of an old dash? Edited October 14 by Miker7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 1 hour ago, ducatidentist said: On mine as the self tappers had gone in, the outside panel had "gone into" the knee trim panel behind and above it. I put masking tape over a painters spatula and pushed it between the two panels to separate them. Then jiggling it while moving it towards the front of the car worked! That can often be the problem if I’ve understood correctly. I had a similar thing, as the self tappers are screwed in they force the outer panel to ‘join’ with the inner at the holes. You need to make sure the two are fully separated before trying to remove the knee panel. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative lapsedtheorist Posted October 13 Area Representative Share Posted October 13 I recently did at least 2 hours of swearing at my less than one year old car trying to get these knee trims off. In the end, once the screws were out then WD40 down the join between the rubber trim and the knee trim panel, leave it to soak for an hour and a combination of short plastic ruler and plastic glue spreader to separate them did the trick… perhaps it can help? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 I think Miker7 has the most likely answer as from what I've seen over the years most factory fitted carbon dashes don't have the knee trim panels. In my experience ('93 car) they were not a problem to remove once the rivets had been drilled out (I subsequently re-fitted with self-tappers). I don't think that knee trim panel is coming out especially if the carbon dash has been glued to it 🙁. Hope I'm proved wrong..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobManser Posted October 14 Author Share Posted October 14 It's off - many thanks for all your help. The key for me was realising that the large side panels and the smaller panel are not a bacolite style plastic material, as I has assumed, but actually aluminium coated to look like that. This means that the self tappers splay out the metal behind them, and as someone above said, this stick the panels together at each hole, because the splayed metal goes into the hole behind it. I hadn't quite realised what he meant until I figured out the panel was metal. Armed with this knowledge, I poked an automotive trim removal tool between the two panels at each hole, which freed up the small panel. The game wasn't over then though, as it's a very tight fit, but also that the front edge of the panel was very close to part of the dash. Someone above noted that they had to move the panel forwards to lift it out - for me it was the opposite, so clearly the cars changed slightly over the years. In answer to questions, my car is a 2004 R400k. Once the panel was off I had two unexpected discoveries. Firstly, I already have the quick change brackets.... What I could feel with my stretched out fingertips as a nut is actually how the brackets are made. When whoever it is makes these brackets, rather than drill and tap out the bracket itself, or a cylinder of metal welded to the bracket, it looks like they've just welded nuts straight on. Secondly, I'm glad I took the panel off anyway, because my heated windscreen cable, tucked up behind the panel, is bare and disconnected from the car's loom - no spade or anything. Better to discover this now than steamed up with the hood on. I'll take the windscreen off later and see if the hole's big enough for a bullet connector, and if not buy some snap fit connectors for bare wires. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCol Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 19 minutes ago, RobManser said: I'll take the windscreen off later and see if the hole's big enough for a bullet connector, and if not buy some snap fit connectors for bare wires. I have some exceptionally thin connectors on my windbreak’s cabling which are thin enough to feed through the standard grommets on the scuttle (not that I can recall when I last swapped out my aero!) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAndrewE Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 1 hour ago, RobManser said: When whoever it is makes these brackets, rather than drill and tap out the bracket itself, or a cylinder of metal welded to the bracket, it looks like they've just welded nuts straight on. That is how they are made Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 Glad I was proved wrong 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miker7 Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 I'm now wondering what mine is attached to & if i really do need to drill out the fitting that I've mangled with the allen keys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanRo Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 Nice one Rob. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobManser Posted October 14 Author Share Posted October 14 (edited) 1 hour ago, OldAndrewE said: That is how they are made Yep - that's them. 🙂 Silly of me really, but I could only just get my fingers in there and the last thing I wanted was to undo the windscreen bolts, lose a nut and a washer, and then have this knee panel stuck and be unable to retrieve it. Plus of course I've discovered that my heated windscreen wasn't connected! I just need some dry weather now.... Edited October 14 by RobManser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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