A8 Parts Forum  

Go Back   A8 Parts Forum > A8 D2 > D2 - Interior

D2 - Interior Seats, dashboards, plastics, ventilation everything inside the cabin

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 3rd February 2017, 05:56 PM
RICKY D's Avatar
RICKY D RICKY D is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Croydon/South London
Posts: 777
Default Interior swap - how difficult?

Hey guys,

Have any of you attempted a complete interior swap? If so how hard was it?

I've removed seats, door cards and sill trims from cars before so reckon I could do that without too much bother but I'm worried the dash and rear shelf would be quite difficult. Would I need to worry about air bags going boom?

Would the interior from a non S8 go straight in i.e. Seats and door cards from a sport? What about non Bose door cards - could I take my Bose speakers and swap them With non Bose?

Cheers
Rich
__________________
2002 S8 - Irish Green Pearl. Cat N (saved by the D2 Doctor )

1988 E30 Coupe - Royalblau Metallic

2003 S4 Avant - Light Silver Mettalic

2016 S5 Coupe Black Edition - Ibis White

Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 3rd February 2017, 06:11 PM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Chilterns, almost over HS2!
Posts: 8,366
Default

Bose and non-Bose is a serious changeover including the whole audio wiring loom plus the amplifier and support brackets in the boot side.
Plus the door cards, rear shelf, all speakers and reconfiguring the RNS unit.
__________________
2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions, ski hatch retrofit; extended leather. Aftermarket DVB-T, reversing camera and full XCarlink (Bluetooth etc.).
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (A much rarer model than a D2 S8 by the way!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one!
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. AgateGrey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon, Auto-dim mirror, Leather, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 3rd February 2017, 07:12 PM
RICKY D's Avatar
RICKY D RICKY D is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Croydon/South London
Posts: 777
Default

Ok, so door cards and rear shelf are not a straight swap unless they're also from a Bose equipped car - is that right?

The seats, carpet and trims should be fine. What about the dash - is that changeable?
__________________
2002 S8 - Irish Green Pearl. Cat N (saved by the D2 Doctor )

1988 E30 Coupe - Royalblau Metallic

2003 S4 Avant - Light Silver Mettalic

2016 S5 Coupe Black Edition - Ibis White

Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 3rd February 2017, 07:32 PM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Chilterns, almost over HS2!
Posts: 8,366
Default

The man to ask is probably Ian (IT), he may drop by eventually and comment.
Can't recall ever seeing anyone posting about swapping a dash though, sounds like a serious mission!
(Have you ever been in a car factory and seen how they fit them?)
__________________
2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions, ski hatch retrofit; extended leather. Aftermarket DVB-T, reversing camera and full XCarlink (Bluetooth etc.).
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (A much rarer model than a D2 S8 by the way!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one!
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. AgateGrey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon, Auto-dim mirror, Leather, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 3rd February 2017, 07:43 PM
johnny_quattro's Avatar
johnny_quattro johnny_quattro is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Wallington, Surrey
Posts: 555
Default Once...

I once replaced the entire dashboard on a Subaru Impreza WRX for a disabled friend of mine when I was [a] bored and [b] needed the money. After two days, I swore blind that I would never, ever touch a car dashboard again. When you think of the difference between the two cars i.e basic Subaru compared to our vehicles and all the bits and bobs behind the scenes, I would imagine that it would be a job of monstrous proportions, but I'm sure someone with better knowledge than I will be along shortly to confirm or deny.

My own opinion - walk away now.
__________________
2010 B8 S5 Sportback quattro 3.0 Supercharged in Sprint Blue (current girlfriend)
2000 D2 A8L quattro 4.2 in Audi silver (my ex-girlfriend)
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 3rd February 2017, 08:57 PM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,017
Default

I'm curious why you would want to do this? Have you found a car you like with an interior you don't?

Its certainly possible to change the dash, but it would be a hell of a job as it is crazy complicated in there. I've done dash swaps on A4s and Corrados and that's just time consuming, but there is so much more stuff in a D2 even I would draw the line there. I have taken the dash out of one - I would not want to put it back in again!

You wouldn't have to worry about airbags. Just disconnect the battery and they'll be fine. For added protection, they have special connectors which short out the contacts when they are disconnected so stray static can't set them off in storage.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 3rd February 2017, 09:48 PM
notorious's Avatar
notorious notorious is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,147
Default

In terms of dash I'm just curious what people do if aircon unit needs servicing or those little motors need to be changed that can only be removed with dash out.

I understand that seats, central tunnel, steering column, instruments and radio should be out. Time consuming, but nothing complicated if there's no time pressure.

Are there any other specific horrors?
__________________
I'd rather drive on left
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 3rd February 2017, 10:29 PM
Goran's Avatar
Goran Goran is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 2,176
Default

I am listening in on this thread, as I am pretty much set on a interior swap. All I am missing is the dash and central tunnel and door cards. Seats should be easy done the rear ones before and the parcel shelf. Its the dash and theBose wiring I find daunting.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 4th February 2017, 02:54 AM
RICKY D's Avatar
RICKY D RICKY D is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Croydon/South London
Posts: 777
Default

Some interesting points raised.

I really do not like my current interior (cream) so I'm planning to swap everything for black or grey which would probably come from a donor car so I'd get carpets and pillar trims as well.

The dash is the only part I think I would potentially struggle with, there are just so many wires!
__________________
2002 S8 - Irish Green Pearl. Cat N (saved by the D2 Doctor )

1988 E30 Coupe - Royalblau Metallic

2003 S4 Avant - Light Silver Mettalic

2016 S5 Coupe Black Edition - Ibis White

Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 4th February 2017, 09:53 AM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,017
Default

I can understand that. When I bought mine pretty much the only criteria was that it had a black dash. Well, and it wasn't silver on the outside. Cream is nice in A4s & A6s because it isn't everywhere so contrasts nicely with black door trims and dash top, but the A8s are just too much for me in light colours. I've seen pics of prefacelift cars which have cream leather and door panel inserts but black dash & plastics and I really like those.

The biggest challenge with dash swaps is that in the factory they are fitted as a complete assembly with the heater and wiring harness already attached. In the B5 and C5 the harness is attached to the back of the rebar, but at least on those the plastic shell can be removed separately, albeit with dozens of tiny bolts which never go back quite the same as the factory did it. That leaves the rebar, heater and 99% of the wiring still in place. I don't know if the shell will come out separately on the D2 as its a long time since I took that one to bits. Maybe one of the A8parts team will know, since they will have done plenty of them.

The consequence of all this complication is the risk of rattles afterwards, and especially in the case of the D2, breaking something because of the crazy hand-tooled construction.

One gotcha to be aware of is the daylight sensor for the AC, which is right in the top vent of the dash, but has its wiring down the back of the heater box (in the other models anyway). Its impossible to get this wiring out intact when doing a B5, so it has to be cut to get the shell out, and then joined back together going back in. I'd bet the D2 is built just the same.

If you took your time (several days I would say), got plenty of photos of how things came apart, and labelled all the screws etc as they come out it would be do-able.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 05:15 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.