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-   -   Retrofitting Rear Electric Side Blinds (https://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=15068)

steamship 28th June 2019 08:49 PM

Retrofitting Rear Electric Side Blinds
 
44 Attachment(s)
Remember this image from a thread I started back in March 2018?

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

So, after buying the S8 last February, one of the things I noticed absent from it were side and rear blinds. A bit disappointed since I had both in my '01 D2, and they are a nice addition. Admittedly, since I retro-fitted the blinds to the D2, I thought I should do the same on the D3. Can't be that difficult... can it?

Well, you're about to see. The main issues to deal with are that D3s have so much electronics and different levels of equipment, that it's difficult enough just finding the right parts. Now, whilst I'll detail everything I did to complete the task, not necessarily everything needs to be done, and will be dependent on equipment levels.

The following is a list of the parts and tools that I used, and where appropriate, I'll indicate the one's that I specifically needed.

. Roof light module 4E0947111AC
. Door cards
. Blind mechanisms
. Inner metal door skin with blind motor
. Door wiring loom
. Door card clips 6Q0868243 73p each or eBay 322589482146 £3.24 for 10
. Rivnuts M5/0,5-9,8 x 16 N90939101 £1.08 each or eBay 361339805950 £3.98 for 20
. Screws M5x16 x10 N90729002 25p
. Screws M5X20 x6 N90693702 38p
. Plastic trim removal tools eBay 122754453633 £2.00
. Rivnut tool eBay 183430818269 £13.00
. Torx T15, T20, T25, T30
. 8mm socket and extension bar
. Stanley knife
. Drill
. Terminal removal tool eBay 292666945952 £6.63
. Certoplast tape
. 12 inches of plastic tubing

Let's begin by doing the easiest job of all, that of changing the roof light module, which has the additional switches for the blinds. Here you can see the original one from my car and the replacement one with the additional switches to operate the blinds.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

Sitting in the back of the car, using a trim removal tool, prise the existing module out initially from the back. As you look at the module in place, there is what appears to be a double seam around it. This is actually a seam attached to the headliner itself for extra stiffness, so you need to get between the two of them. The module is held in place by six metal spring clips, two on either side and two at the very back (the front part having two plastic lugs). Once you have the back piece started, hold it with one hand whilst moving to either side to get at the next spring clip. Repeat the process for the second spring clip on either side. Once that's done, the module should then come out.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

There is one large connector at the front that has to be unclipped, but again, depending on actual specs, there may be other wires attached. If you have the rear vanity mirrors, there will be an additional connector on either side to be unclipped. On the replacement module I got, there was also a small microphone in place, so that would be yet another connector. Once all the wires have been reconnected, simply put the module back by placing the front of the module in first, and then raising the rest of it into place, and with the metal spring clips, it will snap into place. There is only one other job to do in relation to this module, but I'll cover that later.

Next up is removal of the door card. People have different ways of doing this, but this is the way I did it. To remove the top trim piece, insert the plastic trim tool underneath it around the middle of the door. Gently push it upwards and twist. Then work first towards the front of the door, before moving backwards, avoiding the lugs that hold the trim in place. There are two spring clips at the front, followed by a further five clips top and bottom going backwards. Be careful near the rear of it, as the trim is held in place by two plastic lugs. The trim should then be moved outwards slightly and then moved forwards at this point to release it. Before proceeding, check to ensure that the small black metal spring clips are still in their locations on the door card.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

The next photo is useful in doing the above and following processes, as it highlights the locations of the various parts. For the decorative trim, the metal clips that the trim is attached to are highlighted in green, with the two plastic lugs at the back highlighted in blue. For the removal of the door card, the location of the two bolts mentioned below are highlighted in red.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

The next step is to remove the small tweeter cover. Pry the plastic tool in the gap at the front of the cover, before prying outwards. This will uncover a bolt underneath, which needs removed. There is also a second bolt that needs removed, and is located towards the back of the door pocket opening, and needs a small extension bar to reach. Once this is done, it's just a matter of pulling off the door card. I've done this on all four doors, and hate doing it every time, for fear of damaging them. The best way I managed it was to start in the bottom corner, nearest the hinge (contrary to what others have done), and to have my knee about two inches from the door card. It was then a case of getting my fingers of both hands in behind the door card (with the aid of several plastic tools), and then pulling the card with a sudden jerk, with my knee acting as a stop. That way I didn't pull it too far. I then proceeded along the bottom using the same method, and by the time you're going up the sides, less force is required. There are a total of eight large clips (highlighted in red below) holding the card in place, as well as two smaller ones at the top of the card (highlighted in green below).

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

Once all the clips have been undone, you just need to lift the door card upwards an inch or so to clear the top, remembering that there are other attachments that need to be dealt with. This is where equipment level first raises its head. There are two connections that every door will have, one for opening the door and the other for the electric window. The cable for the door (with the blue outer liner) is held in place by a white piece of plastic, which just unclips from the door card, and then the Bowden cable is just unhooked. The next connection is the wiring for the electric window. This is a brown connector with a retaining clip. If doing the driver’s side first, you'll see this clip and is easily pressed. The passenger side is awkward because the connector is reversed and the clip is at the back.

This photo shows the various items that have to be removed prior to taking off the door card, as it will reduce the bulk, and they have to be transplanted onto the donor skin anyway. The soft close mechanism screws are highlighted in red, the speaker enclosure screws highlighted in blue (although you can’t see them clearly because of the angle of the photo), and the window motor screws highlighted in green.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

On my car, there were two other connections that needed dealt with before the door card was free. One was for the soft-close feature and the other for the B&O speakers. First undo the three nuts holding the soft-close motor in place. Then pull the motor off the bolts and turn it over to see the back. There is a clip holding the cable in place. Gently lift the front of the clip upwards and push backwards along the cable an inch or so. Care should be taken as the ends of the clip that lock it in place appear rather fragile. Then gently pull the motor away from the door. This exposes the bare cable, which can then be pulled up through a small slot, freeing it. Then rotate the unit until you can release the end of the cable. Whilst here, you can then push the grommet back through the inner skin, as well as the grommet on the door latch cable. With the B&O speakers, there is a small 2-pin connector that needs disconnected. Once that's been accomplished, you can put the card aside for now.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561748374

Now before we take off the window motor, we have to prep the window first. There are two large grommets on the inner skin. Remove these, and then using the window switch in the driver’s door, gradually move the window down until you can see the plastic clips and bolts that the window is attached to (bolts already removed in this photo).

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

You can now remove the three screws holding the window motor in place. I used the plastic trim removal tool to lever off the motor from the underlying plastic splines. Again, with the wiring, the driver’s side is easier as you can disconnect the wiring first. For the passenger side, I undid the screws, levered the motor off, turned it over and then disconnected the wiring. The final part to disconnect is the speaker enclosure, which is held in with four screws. The wiring loom is attached in a couple of places, which just need pulling out.

With all the electrics out of the way, the next job is to remove the inner skin, but first we have to uncouple the window from its mechanism. There are two large screws that need removing, that we uncovered before. Once removed, you can man-handle the window back up again into the frame, and secure it with tape if necessary, to stop it dropping. Next is the removal of a dozen large screws around the inner skin, highlighted in red below. After that is done, there are two rubber bungs holding the skin in place, at the bottom of the door, highlighted in green. There is a rubber seal all the way around this inner skin, so it won't just fall out.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

Getting the inner skin out takes a bit of fiddling around. First, free up the skin seal from the door. Then move the skin up slightly, before pulling the bottom of the skin outwards an inch or so, enough to get the window mechanism past the door frame. Move the skin down an inch or so to allow the top of the window mechanism to become free as well. You now have the inner skin free, but there are two cables sticking through it that need dealt with, and they can't simply be pushed back through the hole, without bending and possibly damaging them. To remove them, I turned the entire skin 90 degrees forwards and down whilst holding it an inch or so from the door, and also between the door and the wiring loom that was hanging there, which allows the cables to go through the holes without bending. You can then raise the skin straight up and away from the door. The following photo gives an idea of the actions required.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

The next job is to then remove the wiring loom from the door frame, and this is where I came across a difference between the two doors, which on one door necessitated removing the door handle as well. For reference, the wiring on one door had the loom go over the top of the door handle, resulting in it being wedged between the door handle mechanism and the outer skin of the door, which forced me into having to remove the handle. This is the only photo of it I have which is out of focus, and is the connector that plugs into the door handle itself. The connector is somewhat bulky, and there was literally just enough space for the wires between the two surfaces.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

I started with the easy side first, nearest the hinges, as it only required pushing the large rubber grommet into the door frame and pulling out two plastic cable holders. Before pushing out the plastic bellows from inside the door frame, which is just four small plastic tabs (top, bottom and sides), I first disconnected the loom from the B-pillar. The bellows are held in place by four plastic tabs (two either side), and the connector itself has a single clip that needs pushed in, before pulling the connector off. You do have to open the front door to get at the tabs properly.

The second half of the loom is more awkward as everything is crammed into a tight space. Just start inside at the other large grommet and work upwards. There is a plastic/metal clip just behind the grommet that holds the loom in place that can be levered off. There are then two connectors next to one another that are reasonably easy to get to. At this point, the wiring loom then goes behind the window runner and up.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

As it goes up, it moves to the back edge of the door and wraps around four plastic prongs under the door handle. Between these is a brown connector to be removed, which is for the external door lighting. At the end of the door handle internals is another connector for the micro-switch. Be careful removing this as I didn't fully disconnect it properly, and managed to pull the micro-switch off as well. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I somehow managed to lose it between the car and the house (another reason not to have a gravel drive!). There are also two more plastic studs holding the loom in place here. Thanks to Maria at A8parts for sending me some photos of how the micro-switch attached, as I couldn't figure it out with the handle in situ.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

The final connector is in the door handle itself. If the wiring doesn't go over the top of the mechanism, then you can disconnect it easily enough, although it is very tight. If it does, then the only option is to remove the door handle completely. The first thing to do is to remove the bar secured to the door handle (it’s the long silver rod with the kink at the top, in the following photo). The bar is held in place by a translucent clip, which can be pushed off with a flat headed screwdriver. You can then use pointy nosed pliers to pull out the bar from the handle. It just needs pulled about half an inch, and then left to rest inside the door. Next there is a small round grommet at the back edge of the door. Pry this off, and with the aid of a torch, you'll see a small Torx screw. This is where the extension bar comes in. You have to unscrew this anti-clockwise slowly until you feel some tension. Do not force it beyond that. This unwinds the locking mechanism keeping the handle in place. You should now be able to partially remove the door handle from the door, with the wiring connector stopping it. Disconnect the wiring and set the handle aside for now.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561752474

Everything should now be free, so it should just be a matter of taking the loom out. Start by moving all the topmost connectors so you know there is nothing catching. You then need to get all those connectors from between the outer skin and the window runner, which is a snug fit for some of them. Next, push the large rubber grommet out from inside, and gently feed through the various parts of the loom through the hole. Where possible, feed the wire through first, if necessary, rather than the connector, depending on which part of the loom you're at. Once you've got them all through that hole, you now have to put them all back through the next hole into the door again. The final stage is extracting the entire loom through the outer hole between the hinges, so ensure you have the door wide open, and feed the loom with one hand whilst pulling with the other.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

Changing the actual door card isn't straightforward either, as specification levels dictate what needs done. In my case, I have the facelift door card with B&O, which means I need to change both the door pocket (with the chrome surround), the speaker cover and the tweeter. Whilst I was in the process of doing this, I also took the opportunity of replacing the window switches with chrome edged ones, as covered by Marcin and Scott in another thread (http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8848). As the donor car did not have B&O fitted, it also means having to change the wiring loom inside the door card, as it is a heavier gauge.

The first step in this part is to remove the insulating layer at the back of the door card. This is secured by two round flat spring clips (highlighted in red below), which are easily removed by just prising up one side at a time and alternating several times. The insulating layer is also held in place over two tabs, near the top right and top left of the door card. Also note that the insulating layer goes behind the Bowden cable connector to the door handle (highlighted in green below).

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561749180

Since the only difference with the two wiring looms is the speaker connector for the main door speaker, it was simply a matter of substituting the entire donor loom. Care is needed as the loom is attached to the door card by several metal clips, which need to be prised off. It's then just a matter of unclipping the connectors to the various electrics in the door card. Everything is well spaced out and all the connectors are unique, so there's no way of getting the replacement installation wrong. Just ensure that every connection is accounted for, and that all the metal clips are reattached securely, as you don’t want any rattles later on.

Replacing the door pocket necessitates removing the speaker cover and small triangular piece towards the rear of the door pocket. This is held in by three screws (highlighted in blue below). The speaker cover is held in place by four screws (highlighted in red below), and finally the door pocket itself, which is held in with eight screws (highlighted in green below). Once removed, the entire door pocket comes out as a unit.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285

Then just place the new one in place and secure, ensuring that you get an even alignment of the door pocket before tightening the screws. Do the same for the speaker cover and the triangular piece. With the door switch also replaced, the insulating layer can be put back on, placing it behind the Bowden cable catch first before going over tabs in corners. Once in place, replace the flat spring retaining clips. One final job to do on the door card is to replace any of the door clips that have broken or failed during the removal process. NOTE: If any broke, make sure you remove the offending piece that is likely still attached to the actual door, as you don't want to be trying to sort that one when you're trying to attach the door card to the car, with everything else attached.

Now onto the time consuming and fiddly bit of the entire operation, transplanting part of my existing loom into the donor loom. As you can see from the photo, the looms inside these doors are quite complex, so the idea of stripping them down was a bit daunting. There were two different tasks that had to be done to my existing loom. The first was the replacement of the 2-pin connector (marked in yellow) with a 3-pin connector. This was made easy with the terminal removal tool mentioned above, once I had noted down cable colours and pin locations. Noting down pin locations and colours for the next part is also essential.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285

The tricky part was the work required to deal with the speaker wires, as the B&O system requires higher gauge wires, and a different connector for the tweeter, to boot. This involves working on the loom from where the loom attaches at the B-pillar, highlighted in blue here, to the second red highlighter at the bottom of the picture. This is where the connector for the tweeter attaches.

Because of the placement of the wiring loom inside the door, and how cramped it is there, I also took note of where the various white plastic attachments were fitted to the loom, so that I could replace them in the same spot. Once done, it was then a case of removing the tape covering the loom to expose the relevant sections of loom I was interested in.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285

There was however the issue of getting the relevant sections out through the rubber grommet, plastic tubing and banjo connector at the B-pillar end.

Since one end still had the connector in place, I used the terminal removal tool to remove the relevant wires from the B-pillar connector, by first removing the securing tab from it.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285

As the terminals have small tangs on them to secure them in place in the block connector, I wrapped a small piece of tape around each. I then proceeded to pull each pair of wires out slowly, compressing the banjo joint and trying to get everything as straight as possible, to minimise any stress on the wires. The final step was passing the wires through the thick rubber grommet, and ended up with these.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285

The next step was to repeat the entire process on the donor loom. Once completed, it was then a matter of mating the B&O wiring to the donor loom. This is where I decided a bit of surgery was required, as it was impossible to feed the B&O wiring back through the plastic tubing. For this reason, I decided to do away with the plastic tubing completely, and resorted to taping up the B&O separately, and then taping it to the existing loom between the grommet and the B-pillar block connector, after it was all in place and aligned properly.

I started by feeding the cable back in reverse, starting from the grommet. I used a pen and placed the end of the wiring inside it, and then pushed the pen through the grommet opening. Once the pen was through, it was a case of gently feeding the remainder of the cable through.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285

Getting it through the banjo to the block connection was another headache, and this time I resorted to using a cable access kit, which offers flexibility and compactness, by feeding the rod through first and then taping the wires to it, and then gently pulling the rod through, whilst at the same time trying to get the banjo as straight as possible.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750285

With the cables through, it was now a matter of putting them back into the appropriate location in the block connector, and refitting the securing tab.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750831

Once all the wires were in place in the block connector, I then worked the B&O wiring so that it was as snug as possible to the existing loom. This was to ensure that no additional stress was on the speaker wiring due to it being stretched or twisted, and also to ensure that the entire cross section of the loom wouldn't get fouled up in the door.

So far, so good, but now we have to perform some surgery on the car door itself, as we have to attack it with a drill! I found this out the hard way, after I had reinstalled the wiring loom, the inner skin AND the various motors. You will see at the top of the door a long thin aluminium strip. This is there to both support and secure the top of the door card in place, but since the top of the donor card has space for the blind mechanism cartridge, this strip isn't required. So, it's out with the drill, and drill out the four rivets (highlighted in red below), remembering to clean away any swarf you've made, and also to remove the remainder of the rivets that are still attached to the other side of the door.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561750831

That's all the surgery required, although you do have to insert eight rivnuts to the door. Five of these will be used to secure the blind mechanism in place (highlighted in green above), and the other three will be used to secure the top of the door card in place (highlighted in blue above). They are all the same size, but just illustrating which ones do which job. Again, something else I found out after reconstructing everything.

From this stage onwards, it's sort of fit in reverse, but care needs to be taken. With the wiring loom, I fed it all in through the B-pillar hole first, but without securing the fittings to the door. Then it was fed out through the grommet hole, again leaving the grommet free, back in through the rear grommet hole (keeping it free as well), and then up through the door, around the window guide and up to the handle. The following photo sort of illustrates the positioning of the entire loom, with the loom just hung on the exterior of the door.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751074

Once the loom was loosely in place, I started from the door handle and attached each plug in turn, working my way back along the loom, and ensuring that the connectors snapped into place and that the loom wasn't trapped anywhere, or likely to foul up the window mechanism. Once I got to the rear grommet, I secured that and then went back to the metal clip up near the door handle to secure that in place.

Again ensuring the loom was in the correct location, I pushed the front grommet back into place, and then attacked the inner part of the loom, which to me is the most important part to get right. In the following photo, the large hole at the bottom is where the loom feeds into the B-pillar. The two offset holes above that are for the plastic retaining clips for the loom, and just visible on the extreme right near the top is where the loom feeds through the door via a large grommet.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751074

Because of the tight confines, the rigidity of the loom and the way in which it is routed, it's important to ensure that all the securing tabs that were on the loom are pushed into their respective locations on the door. Failure to do so will mean that the loom will interfere with the window guide. Get everything positioned correctly, and you get this. However, ever with it this snug a fit, we also have a photo with the window in the down position, and the gap is in millimetres.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751074http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751074

Once you're happy with the placement, then it's just a matter of securing the last section of the loom to the door itself (the banjo end with the four clips), which you can verify from inside the door, and then securing the entire loom to the B-pillar connection, before clipping the cover securely in place. Because of its location and possible exposure to the elements, I added some silicone grease to the block connector.

Now that the loom is back in place, the next step is to replace the inner skin, which comes with the added weight of yet another motor. More of an issue are the two thick wires at the back of the inner skin that move the blind up and down and the two black plastic guide tubes for those same wires at the front of the inner skin, especially as the latter two just hang loosely from the motor housing. To make things a bit easier, I just taped the top of these to the front of the skin, roughly in line where they will eventually sit. There are also two small nuts holding the metal guide tubes at the back of the inner skin, which I also removed for installation purposes, highlighted in red below.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751074

As with removing the inner skin, replacing it is done by first moving it into position between the door and the outer part of the wiring loom. I then rotated it from 90 degrees forward back to its original position. This allowed me to feed in the two Bowden cables for the door handle and soft close mechanisms, without bending the cables.

The next step was the most awkward to do, and despite doing it twice (once for each door), I couldn't figure out an easier way of doing it. This is where I employed the short length of plastic tubing. I cut two lengths about six inches long, and covered the top of the cable that lifts the blind. Before proceeding, make a mental note of where the window mechanism is positioned i.e. at or near the top or bottom of its travel, as we'll need to know for later on.

Deep breath as the next bit is all done in one go. With the two bolts removed from the metal guide tubes, this allows the metal tubes to be moved away from the inner skin. Whilst holding the inner skin with one hand (and sometimes knees as well), the top of the skin is positioned closer to the door, whilst leaving the bottom further away. This is so you can place your other hand up behind the inner skin, and feed the plastic tubing through the two holes in the door that the cables will eventually go through, whilst ensuring that the tubing doesn't come off the end of the cables. With that done, the top of the inner skin can then be manoeuvred so that the top of the window mechanism rests inside the door. The inner skin should then be moved up as far as possible so that the lower parts of the window mechanism can be moved into the door aperture. One final step before you have a rest if you get this far, is to adjust the position of the inner skin so that the two rubber bungs fit into place, keeping the skin in place until you can put a bolt in place at the top to secure it. Needless to say, I didn’t get any photos of this, but the important one is how the plastic tubing helped direct the blind mechanism cables through the hole in the door.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751389

With it sitting loosely in place, the next step is to reattach the two bolts holding the metal guide tubes in place. I got at them through the two large grommet holes used to access the bolts securing the window, and used a combination of a long screwdriver to leverage the tube away from the inner skin, and then a tough bit of bent wire to move the bolt into the hole. Once through, put the two nuts on and tighten to suit. You can now remove the two pieces of plastic pipe that were used to direct the cables through the holes, but keep them for another job later on.

We are now in a position to put in all the remaining bolts used to secure the inner skin, doing so loosely to get them all started, before tightening them down gradually around the skin. Don't tighten them right down individually as you go, as you'll find that other ones won't tighten because of slight movement, so tighten them like you would with a cylinder head. Once they're all done, the only thing left to do on the inner skin is to pull through the two grommets on the Bowden cables.

Now that the inner skin is secured, we can start putting all the electrics back onto it, and get them connected to the wiring loom. Easiest one to start with is the blind motor mechanism, since it's already attached to the skin. Next up is the window motor, which may require jiggling it very slightly so that it seats on the splines. It is then secured in placed with the three silver screws, and then the loom plugged in.

Attaching the soft close motor is the reverse to how it was removed. Flip it over and attach the end of the Bowden cable to the insert in the white wheel. Rotate the entire unit anticlockwise until the cable is above the slot where it attaches to the unit. Gently pull the unit away from the door an inch or so, so that the bare cable is exposed. Then push that cable into the slot in the unit, before releasing tension on the cable. Then gently prise up the end of the securing clip on the Bowden cable and slide it towards the end of the cable, until it slips over the end of the retaining section. Once you've checked it's secure, flip the entire unit over again and attach to the three studs on the inner skin, ensuring that the rubber grommets don't pop out. Once happy with their position, secure in place with the three silver nuts, and attach the loom.

The final attachment to the inner skin is the speaker enclosure. This is held in place by four screws, the loom routed and attached in the appropriate way, and then secured to the speaker enclosure by a white plastic tag that should be on the loom. There are still two more jobs to attend to before fitting the door card, but before that we'll tackle the coding and testing phase. You don't want to button it all down yet, only to discover that something wasn't connected properly or tested. Another reason for doing the coding now is that if the modules were coded in prior to their fitting, then the windows won't work.

In total, there are five modules that have to be coded for everything to work properly. These are modules 38 (roof electronics), 42 (driver door), 46 (central convenience), 62 & 72 (rear doors).

For module 38, go into the coding section and make a note of the number in the first field. You should then see a pop-up screen showing all the possible options available, and what you need to do is add 32 to your current value, so mine went from 0033996 to 0034028. Click on 'Do It!' to action it.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751389

For module 42, go into the module and again take a note of the existing value in the first field. From the pop-up that then appears, you need to add 128 to your existing value, so in my case it went from 0032623 to 0032751, and then click on 'Do It!'.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751389

For module 46, go into the module and again take a note of the existing value in the first field. From the pop-up that then appears, you need to add 512 to your existing value, so in my case it went from 004349 to 004861, and then click on 'Do It!'.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751389

For modules 62 and 72 (left and right rear doors), go into the module and again take a note of the existing value in the first field. From the pop-up that then appears, you need to add 128 to your existing value, so in my case it went from 0032623 to 0032751, and then click on 'Do It!'.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751389

That's it for all the coding, but now we need to test that everything works, and that includes speakers, lights, door handle, soft close, locking/unlocking and of course, tests on the windows/blinds. We will also combine a little more fitting at this stage, as the window isn't yet attached to the window mechanism, so what we need to do is switch on the ignition and then, using the driver's door switch, slowly move the mechanism up or down from its current position, so that it is visible in the two large grommet holes. Once there, we need to untape the window and move it down to the securing points. Attach the two large black screws and secure, but not overly tighten for obvious reasons. We can then fit the two large grommets again.

Now that the window is attached, we can proceed to test it. Using one touch, move the window down to its limit. Then use one touch again to close the window. So far, so good (hopefully). Now, hold the window switch in the up position for about a half second and you should see the two cables that will operate the blind move up and stop. Now press the window switch down, and the blind cables should now retract again, with another single touch then lowering the window.

That's it tested using the switch in the driver’s door, but we still have the switch in the rear door and the switch in the roof console to test. We'll start with the roof console, and at this stage it should be noted that the blinds will not raise with the window down. With the window closed, press the switch in the roof console and the blind cables should rise. Pressing it again will lower them. If the window is open, then pressing the blind switch on the roof console will have no effect.

The final test is with the rear door switch itself, and in order to test this, you need to attach the wiring loom in the door card to the window motor. Since you don't want to attach the door card yet (in case of issues), you need to set the door card on the ground and propped against the door. With it in place and the ignition on again, operate the door switch in the same way as we did with the driver's door switch, so one touch down, one touch up, long press up, long press down and one press down. If you want, you can then try a combination of using different switches, but since each works individually, then all three should work in unison.

With everything tested and working fine, put the window all the way down, switch off the ignition and disconnect the door card again, as we still have one final fitting to do, and that is the actual blind mechanism cartridge itself. I found this was best done with the window all the way down, just so I could handle the blind mechanism cartridge from any angle. At this stage we get to use the plastic pipes again. Place each pipe behind the blind cable, between the cable and the door, as this helps to keep the cables away from the door and makes slotting them into place on the blind mechanism cartridge easier.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751733

You only need about a half inch of pipe to one side of the cable, with the rest lying free, as you will have to pull it out again once the blind cables have slotted into place, and it will be a very snug fit. Once the plastic pipes have been slowly removed, push the rest of the blind mechanism cartridge down into place, and secure with the five new screws that secure to the rivnuts fitted earlier.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751733

Finally, double check the positioning of the black plastic tubes that come from the blind mechanism motor to ensure that they will not hinder the fitting of the door card (a little bit of certoplast tape at the end keeps it all in place).

At long last, we can now refit the door card. This only requires two attachments, one for the electrical connection to the window motor, and the other, the Bowden cable for the door handle release. It's important that after fitting the hook end of the Bowden cable to the interior door handle, you also secure the Bowden cable with the white collar to the interior door handle as well, as failure to do so will result in the interior door handle having no effect whatsoever (ask me how I know this!).

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751733

With everything connected, start by attaching the door card at the top of the door, and then aligning the door clips to their associated holes, before pushing them home. Where possible, I tried to align all the clips before applying pressure to the door card along one side, before moving on to the next section. Once done, I then found that closing the door a couple of times helped seat any awkward clips.

Not quite finished as we still have the two bolts to fit that were removed from behind the tweeter cover and at the top of the door pocket (highlighted in red below). I used a small piece of paper on the socket when fitting the latter as the bolt would fall off the socket, and if it dropped down behind the door pocket, it would mean having to remove the door card again to get it back. Also, since the door card no longer was secured by the aluminium strip across the top, we now have to secure it with three more bolts behind where the decorative strip goes. This is why the three additional rivnuts were installed, their positions highlighted in yellow below.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561751733

The final touch is to fit the decorative strip, starting at one end and slotting the two tabs into place, and then gently pushing in the remainder of the strip onto the spring clips. And that’s it…

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1561752057

Was it worth doing? On the whole, yes, as it adds that extra bit of class to the interior of the car. If you had all the parts and tools necessary to do the job, you could complete it in a weekend at a very leisurely pace, although being able to work under cover is a big advantage.

I would also like to thank the people at A8parts who helped source all the parts necessary, especially David whose sacrificed car was the source, and Maria for helping me out with photos of the micro-switch positioning in the door handle.

I also intend to retrofit the electric rear blind as well (at some stage), but suspect that will involve more 'surgery' than what was involved with this retrofit. I shall add a link below when I get it done, to cross reference them.

http://to-be-completed

homer simpson 28th June 2019 09:29 PM

What a thread! Excellent write up, I'm so glad I already have these fitted :D

Just goes to show, anything can be retrofitted, depends on how much skill and patience you have.

tc4332 29th June 2019 12:18 AM

Good one Sean!!
Well done, and nicely proofed.

MikkiJayne 29th June 2019 07:46 AM

Nice write-up +++

I can see the two cables which appear to push the blind up, but what holds it up in the window frame? It doesn't appear to have a channel to run in?

steamship 29th June 2019 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne (Post 151319)
I can see the two cables which appear to push the blind up, but what holds it up in the window frame? It doesn't appear to have a channel to run in?

It's purely the rigidity of the cables themselves that keep it upright, and is probably the reason why you can't put the blinds up if the windows are down, as the air turbulence would wreck them.

snapdragon 29th June 2019 01:44 PM

Hats off to you fellar - interesting to see the weather changing in the background, looked foggy half way through.

homer simpson 29th June 2019 03:52 PM

Interesting to see you tackle the rear blind. I contemplated removing mine to respray as after years of the sun baking on it, the finish had flaked off badly. I ended up masking it in situ and spraying it with a vinyl spray which was perfect. If yours has any flaking I would spray it before it goes in.

steamship 29th June 2019 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snapdragon (Post 151327)
Hats off to you fellar - interesting to see the weather changing in the background, looked foggy half way through.

Bought the parts in March (2018). Started the job at the very end of November and finished it at the start of January. Only did the write-up in the last few weeks of May and start of June. That's lack of motivation for you.

IT D3 12th July 2019 01:55 PM

That is a superb post and well done for writing such a useful 'how to' guide.

That does however seem like a lot of work, I've done a few retrofits with marcin of here too. I think once you get the knack of stripping and retrofitting , almost anything is possible.

What's your background? are you in the motor trade or is this hobby?

steamship 12th July 2019 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IT D3 (Post 151585)
What's your background? are you in the motor trade or is this hobby?

My background is in IT. However, if I want a job done properly, I'll do it myself, as I've experienced some real incompetence over the years (from professionals). That includes electrical, plumbing, carpentry, tiling and anything else around the house. No job too big to attempt (600 square foot deck with seating!), just lacking in motivation.


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