S

Stuarts the man

New Member
For everyone who told me that as far as they knew,this could not be done,You know who you are OP, C, i take my hat off to you and admit i should have listened to you.
If you want to install a new model dash into your car, this is what to do


Buy a 53 plate onwards freelander.
 
BUT !!!!!!



Remember when you were told not to touch that because it was hot
or
if you keep doing that you,ll go blind


DID YOU LISTEN ?

You had to find out for yourself

yes, it was hot
No, i can still see

So, if you beleive in the saying
GO BEYOND
HE WHO DARES WINS
and
NO FEAR
and youve got nothing else to do, unless youve got a defender

Lets INSTALL the new model dash
 
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Aren't you being a bit over dramatic. I'm genuinely interested to know how it's done but not in all this ****........just post the info as you seem willing to share it.......
 
Sorry for going off on one here ,nothing wrong with a bit of dramatic ****,as you say. It gets my point across that some of the replies on forums are pure conjecture,by people who do not know what they are talking about. Your first comment on the last thread was negative , "As said ,it wont work," although in your defence you did say you were open to find out more,and you will. Then you have members going on about cables GOING TO SPEEDO AND TACHO!!!!, this is a freelander we are talking about. I know most people are trying to help,but sometimes you need to seperate the chaff from the wheat.
enough said now
So lets get on with this thread,
 
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Dash part 1
The parts you will need are complete dash assembly,along with instrument cluster,complete centre console,heater panel and passenger side airbag. Dash assembly should come with a dash wiring loom attached, if not make sure you get the plugs for the switches beside cupholders, the ones each side of the heater panel,hill decent switch, built into gear lever surround,and the two wiring plugs that come from the instrument cluster.
this is all that you will need
 
Come on stuart don't beat about the bush any more, tell us how you get the instrument pack to work. My reply to c13tay's question was correct as far as i know and i gave my reason why it wouldn't work which was what he asked, (because the data stored in the eeprom memory is security coded). You have obviously found a way of getting the thing to work but it doesn't work 'off the shelf' so to speak as far as i know, so this is the specific thing i'm interested in not swopping over the modular dashboard.
 
Hi chaser, will get to part making the instruments working, eventually, but first i have to let everyone know what is involved in getting dash to fit , along with switches.
You and some other members are reading too much into this instrument pack thing and thinking there are problems where they dont exist. For all it is not plug and play, it is not rocket science either to get it working. Go back to basics. This took me 4 weeks to work out how to install dash,and instruments,which anyone could now do within day or 2 at most, as it is a lot easier once you know how. I once thought the same as yourselves, and on reflection i now think DOH!!!! this is so simple.
 
Part 2
first you need to disconnect battery,remove airbags, then centre console, steering wheel, and indicator/wiper stalks, you do not need to take anything else off to remove the dash forby the odd electrical connector. I will not go into how to remove these parts,as it is reasonably straightforward, just make sure there are 2 of you to take dash out. PITA doing it yourself. Follow your RAVE cd, or workshop manual as it covers all of this.
Once dash is removed disconnect the wiring loom from the back of this, you will need it later on.
You will now ffs.... but its not as bad as you think.
Now is a good time to change that leaky heater matrix you were always going on about..
 
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Part 3
Before you fit the new dash there are a few plugs that need to be extended,as centre console comes out further, than old model.
Extend tailgate window opening switch, and sunroof switch to just after the handbrake, as they now mount in the arm rest console.
The next switches to be extended are the ones above the heater controls,front and rear heated window switchesare fine, air con and recirculate switches, all need about 5" added to their length, you do not need to rewire any of these switches, just change the switch fronts, the switches are the exact same, and you only have to change the fronts over, lever off with small screwdriver, Voila..... New style switches
You now need to disconnect the heater panel, remove the cables from the back of switch panel, put them onto your new panel and plug in, red is a bit tight, but works fine.If you want it correct take red wire when you get heater switch,and use that. slightly longer,and does not put as much strain on back of heater. Plug and Play
New style stereo is fitted once centre console is in
 
This is a very interesting thread Stuart, you are the man!! I have lost weight and a girlfriend over this coz gero couldnt stand me turning the spare bedroom into a facelift interior parts show room. But I knew the day of salvation would come.
What baffles me is that your thread ends unceremoniously and there is no further mention of the issue until now, unless i have missed it. I would have thought folks would be very eager and keen to ask questions but i have seen no matters arising. Nwhere my question is related to upgrade door panels. Sorry if a i ave missed a post on that!!
The facelift door cards have switches on each individual door card including the rear!! Any ideas on how to deal with the wiring on these, especially when dealing with the FL with no rear electric windows. Bought rear electric window mechanisms and complete set of door looms but got stuck when i found that the plugs/sockets differ from the ones on the car. Any help would be greatly appreciated, electrics not my thing at allllllll!!!!
 
my electronics guru made me up a box which made speedo pulse work with new instrument cluster, lasted all of 1 day before instrument panel stopped working altogether.:( currently working out what went wrong, hence reason post has not been updated recently
 
Stuarts the man said:
With regards to the interior, look for post Part 2 interior, any problems let me know
Click to expand...

Hi Stuart sorry to hear about your mixed Fortunes on the instrument panel!! I was wondering, but probable it wont work due to its simplicity, what would happen if you just cut the old instrument panel plugs and replaced them with the new ones. Just connect all the wires from the car to as many as possible on the plugs of the new panel and just insulate the remaining wires?? what would happen??????

I cant find the thread you referred me to. Only found part 1 which dwells on the exterior and part 3 which deals with the dash. I did find a post on door panels but it is silent on how you would go about connecting the door panel mounted switches. More confusing for me is the driver's side master switch, how would it be made to operate all the other windows????:confused:
 
regarding instruments thats the way i originally started out, no speedo, tacho, and temp reads of the scale, everything else works. 2001-2003 models have same wiring plugs which fit straight in but you still have same problems with speedo tacho and temp, hence the reason you need to convert speed signal to something dash recognises.
you can also fit your standard cluster to new dash, that way you still get new cd and centre console
 
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