Removing windscreen stanchions?

[Hettric]

Hi all.

Does anyone know how the "knee trim" panels are held in place on a S3? To get to the windscreen stanchion bolts they have to come out. The bottom edge is behind the top of the interior side panel with a row of sheet metal screws. How it is held at the top end is not obvious. It is behind the leather covered trim (is that push on welt?) that surrounds the dash and the edge of the aluminum skin of the scuttle. It appears at the least it was put in before the door "guards" pulled things tight. I did check that there are washers and nuts and not the optional "nut plate" on the stanchion bolts.

 

Thanks

[yellowss7]

It may be pop rivieted in. You might need to drill them out. The nut plate makes the removal and reinstallation a breeze. I can switch between full screen and brooklands in a few minutes. I left the covers off BTW

 

Tom

[blubarisax]

I took mine out. It was only attached at the bottom with screws.

[scannon]

Be careful when pulling the panels out. The hot wire for the headlights got caught between the panel and the inside of the body panel, shorted to ground and fried some wires under the dash. Disconnect the battery first.

[coffee break]

  scannon said:

Be careful when pulling the panels out. The hot wire for the headlights got caught between the panel and the inside of the body panel, shorted to ground and fried some wires under the dash. Disconnect the battery first.

 

Every repair manual I've read warn you to disconnect the battery. Since most 7's are unique to some degree, it makes this warning even more important.

[Klasik-69]

On my S3, each knee panel had about 6 or 7 phillips head screws holding the panel. The only wire that got in the way was the one going to the heated screen feature. Getting the panel out took some turning and twisting, kind of like a puzzle but it does come out without having to bend it or deform it in any way.

 

The reason why Scannon had issues with the wires that burned is because of the infinite wisdom of the British Lucas mindset, the power goes to the switch first and then to the fuse, which is kind of ass backwards. On the plus side, this gives every car a heater or built in bar-b-Q option that may not have come with one from the factory :smilielol5:

[Hettric]

Thank you for the replies and definitely for the battery suggestion.

 

But I still don't know what holds the panel besides the screws, it seems quite secure with the screws out and I don't want to just start yanking on it.

[Gherkin]

  Klasik-69 said:

On the plus side, this gives every car a heater or built in CAR-b-Q option that may not have come with one from the factory :smilielol5:

 

 

 

Fixed

[scannon]

  Hettric said:

Thank you for the replies and definitely for the battery suggestion.

 

But I still don't know what holds the panel besides the screws, it seems quite secure with the screws out and I don't want to just start yanking on it.

The panels are sandwiched between the frame rail and the lower side panel. It takes a little upward force and back and forth motion to get them out of there.