I have seen explainations on how to do this in other threads. It might just be me - but some of the explainations were for pre-2005 cars which were slightly different. The instructions around the middle panel did not seem to match what I had to do - perhaps there was a change here as well. So - to possibly make this easier for others - I thought I would share what I did..

I did this to replace my Alloy Dash panels with painted ones.

Let me expand on this for any other 2006 MCS owners. Here is what I had to do to remove the dash panels.

Start on the Passenger side!
- Open Glove box. You can now get your fingers under the panel.
- Pry the bottom of panel. The snaps are located on the extreme lower edges of the panel. (If you know where the snaps are that makes it easier to know where to pry) It takes quite a bit of effort to pop the snaps free.
- Then pry the top snaps.

Drivers Side!
- Remove the Tach housing from Dash by removing the 2 Torx head screws behind the tach.
- Remove the connector from bottom of the Tach. Place tach in a safe place
- Loop Rubber gasket over Tach mounting plate. This will be inside the plastic cover. You will also have to loop it over the tach connector / wire.
- Pry the snaps at the extreme corners of the panel (left and right).
- Pry the top snaps.

Center Unit!
- The center unit is 2 pieces. The painted portion (bottom) and a black un-painted portion that surrounds the vents and speedo/Nav. Some suggest that these come apart seperately. This was NOT my experience. The snaps to take the bottom portion off are NOT accessable from the front. I removed both pieces as a unit.
- Remove the 2 Torx screws at the top of the unit (near the Emergency Flasher and dimmer *****).
- Remove the Chrome trim from the Flasher and Dimmer ***** (if you have them..). These items pull out towards you.
- Pry the snaps at the bottom of the panel (extreme lower corners).
- The panel will now remove with both Vents (eyeballs and trim) and Speedo / Nav Chrome Trim (if you have it..).
- You will want to pry out the bottom portion first and the ease out the top edge (be careful around the torx screw holes! They have a part that goes under the dash pad). Although you do not need to remove the top dash pad, the edge of ALL panels fit under the dash pad. Be careful when re-installing to not mar the edge of the dash pad.
- You can now remove the Top (black) portion from the bottom (Painted portion), by prying 2 tabs on the bottom outside near the vents.

Re-Installing...

- Reverse above. Start with the Center panel - since the other two sit on-top of it's lip. Becareful about the top edge of the panels marring the Dash Pad. Remember - these panels have a lip that slips UNDER the dash pad.

- When re-installing the Tach - remember to work the rubber gasket under the Tach plate and run the Tach Connector/ wire thru the gasket.

Whew! Hope that you did not just cause a bunch of rattles!! [IMG]images/smilies/grin.gif[/IMG]

All Done now!!

Alex

 

Thanks!!

 

Thanks!

 

I know someone was looking to do this a few weeks ago, good write up, any chance of adding photos?

I skipped right to the center piece for my little project.