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knee bolster help - i'll pay someone in Bay Area CA

NRG

Experienced Member
Joined
26 October 2004
Messages
1,185
I give up...

I"m trying to install the instrument ring, but i can't get this darn thing apart. It's so fustrating...almost broke everything i touched. Darn Acura for making it so diffucult.

Here's a picture of my left hand:

left.jpg


Here's a picture of my right hand:

right.jpg


I"m trying to pull it out on the left side first, but it's so tight. I can hear some platic breaking or something..so i give up.

There's only two screw that holds this bolster pad, and two clips. The two clips are the one i'm having difficult time with.

Does anyone know how much for the bolster pad? I'm thinking about breaking it and then buy a new one to replace it.

Any tips?

Should i go underdeath the steering wheel and try to pry the clip out with a flat screwdriver?

Should the silver clip come out with the knee bolster pad?

Anyone in the Bay Area install the billet instrument rings before? I'll pay you to do mine....grrrr....

ps..i did a search on this topic, but I didn't see any tip other than it took patience and time.
 
This is from page 581 of the service manual located on the front page of Prime.

Its been a while since I took mine off using this data. Used a hand mirror and a flashlight to get at the screws if I remember correctly.
 

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I just had to pull mine off to re-attach the material. Once you remove the lower screws, it is still held in place with metal clips at the top. The clips are at the top of the trim piece, where it meets the bottom of the gauge cluster (where your TCS and headlight buttons). The sound you are hearing is the plastic pieces of the trim held in the metal clips. Take your time and pry the upper portion of the trim piece out and away from the dash. Use a putty spreader wrapped in cloth or a plastic putty spreader to keep from scratching or damaging the piece.

For referrence the clips are similar to the ones that hold the two small triangle trim pieces that are above the top of your door panels. If your look in the DIY section for speaker removal and replace there are good pictures that show how the clips hold those pieces in place.

Once you have it apart and your frustration subsides you will be impressed with how well of a design it is and why the nsx has very few rattles.

Good Luck.
 
I just had mine off. I pulled it firmly and steadily staight out. One of the top plastic tongues, which the clip is attached to, broke off. I was able to epoxy it back on and it reinstalled just fine.
 
It won't break if you pull it in the right direction without twisting - just try to pry your fingers behind the pad on the left side first & get a good enough grip on it (with one hand on either side of the left side at the top corners) to pull it straight back towards you. Then repeat for the right side.
I had the same premonitions of it breaking the first time I did this, as did one of the other local guys but just grit your teeth & pull it!
 
Trust us, it will come off. I did my instrument rings too and the worst part of the entire job is getting that darn knee bolster off, almost broke my thumb, but it did come off without damage to anything. The clips are so tight they could probably support the entire car hanging from a cable (kidding). D'Ecosse is right, just work your hand behind one side and pry it loose. Good luck.
 
right2.jpg


I just came back from the garage with 3 sprain fingers on my left and right side. Grrr....trying to type and explain what's happening.

When I try to pull it with my 3 fingers, the piece (red mark in picture) moves along eevrytime I pulled. I even went down the steering wheel..and spray some WD-40 on the clip. (almost screwed up my back).

And now, I have a gap on the instrument glass and the red piece just because i have been pulling it outward. crap...

I give up...if i can't find anyone local to pull it out..then i'll be selling the instrument rings.

Thanks for all your suggestion guys....
 
Don't give up -- Deal With It.

Get a cloth covered putty knife and "pry" in between the cluster bezel and the bolster.

This is a MF'er to get out.

Getting the cluster out is a major pain too...you need several dense (but not thick) rags to prevent from scratching things and a lot ot patience to squeeze it out from behind the steering wheel.

When assembling the cluster I use wax on a lint free cloth to clean the clear plastic cover. Make sure the cluster remains surgical clean, or little bits of dust will drive you batty when you are behind the wheel.

Drew
 
i tried your suggestion to pry it open w/ a knife...but no luck. The pos won't come out. Now, i need to fix the gap between the plastic and the glass that was created from pulling the bolster out.

I put more strength into the pull this time..and nothing.... The guy who installed this..man..i think he put super glue onto it.

I was excited when I got the product yesterday, and now it's more of a headache and disappointment that I can't install it. Bummer...

My fingers are all bruised up now...need a day to heal.

drew said:
Don't give up -- Deal With It.

Get a cloth covered putty knife and "pry" in between the cluster bezel and the bolster.

This is a MF'er to get out.

Getting the cluster out is a major pain too...you need several dense (but not thick) rags to prevent from scratching things and a lot ot patience to squeeze it out from behind the steering wheel.

When assembling the cluster I use wax on a lint free cloth to clean the clear plastic cover. Make sure the cluster remains surgical clean, or little bits of dust will drive you batty when you are behind the wheel.

Drew
 
Where are you at? If you are close, I maybe able to drop by and give you my other two fingers to complete your "5" :D and NO you dont have to pay me.............
 
Thanks for the offer...i'm located in Milpitas, CA (san jose) area.

I'm thinking about hammering the clip out w/ a flat screwdriver and a hammer (if i can get down /w some room. I tried to pull the clip out from the bottom..but no luck since it's too tight down there.

PoohBEAR said:
Where are you at? If you are close, I maybe able to drop by and give you my other two fingers to complete your "5" :D and NO you dont have to pay me.............
 
I recently had the same problem. Really...you just have to pull and steadily apply strength until one or both sides begin to release from the stranle hold. Don't be afraid of the bolster breaking (unless you jerk it) the clips will give way first. Unfortunately I have had to do this several times. Just get a grip and pull!
 
I DID IT. Well...only the left side. Now, i'm having difficulty in the right side.

On the left side, I crawled under the steering wheel with a long flat screwdriver with a flashlight. I started poking at the clip with strength (since I don't have enough room for a hammer) for about 3 minutes, and then I decided to give it one last pull. Bamm...it came off very easily.

Since the right side, the ignition is blocking the clip, i'm not able to do the same. I might as well continue on since I got the other half out.

Any suggestion for the right side? Where to hold and pull?

thanks again.
 
Good news...so happy. I was able to remove the knee bolster.

About about 1 hour of trying to pull it out, I was unsuccessful. After looking at the way the clip was design, I decided that the best approach is to push it out from behind instead of pulling it.

I used a 10 inch screwdrive, and found a meat hammer ( hehehe...didn't have a smaller hammer in the house).

tool.jpg


I went down there with a flashlight (made it bright enough to see the clip on the right side). There's a way where you can stick the screwdriver through the wire to reach the clip on the right side. It's not so bad...I didn't touch any wires during the process. After that...about 3 heavy hit w/ the meat hammer to the screwdriver, the bolster popped out immediately.

Wow...now i have a headache from the blood flowing through my brain. I hope this method will be easy for some of you. With this method, there's no fear of breaking the clip or plastic.

Again, thanks for everyone to encourage me to continue on. Now, i'm going to try to finish this project....
 
Hey great. I know it is a mother to get the damn clips off. I actually took the clips off my bolster and eft them off when I put it back together, assuming I may be taking it aprt again for something or other. The bolster fits perfectly w/o the pos clips. No rattles ot vibrations, FYI....
 
Do you guys know how to get the two middle rings out from the original (tach and speedometer)?

I tried to chisle it out from the back but no luck. Is the original set glue together? I'm trying to install the new billet platinum rings.

I was able to pull out the 4 smaller ones out, but not the 2 big ones.

Any advice?
 
get a smalllllllllllllllllllllllllll flat head and pry it off from the back gently.

Engel07 said:
Do you guys know how to get the two middle rings out from the original (tach and speedometer)?

I tried to chisle it out from the back but no luck. Is the original set glue together? I'm trying to install the new billet platinum rings.

I was able to pull out the 4 smaller ones out, but not the 2 big ones.

Any advice?
 
Thanks..

Crap...I chisling the round ring only...thought it was the piece that needed to be out. After looking at it more closely, it's one of those snap-on ... Yikes...i screwed up my original rings by scraping the plastic rings in the circle. Oh well...don't plan on using them again anyway. Darn.....

I hope someone will find these pictures useful.

pry.jpg

pry2.jpg


PoohBEAR said:
get a smalllllllllllllllllllllllllll flat head and pry it off from the back gently.
 
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Thanks for the great Thread!
I also had problems and major frustration with removal of the knee bolster.
I still have not got it off yet!<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm395YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_2_204v.gif' alt='Pulling My Hair Out' border=0></a>
So I put the couple of screws back in and went for a drive to cool off some.
Now after seeing that I am not alone with these problems I have the determination to get back to this project today and see if I can get it done without losing any more hair.
(I really can't afford to lose any more hair!)
Please keep posting photos and any hints as you finish your projects.
 
Here's a picture of what the clip looks like when you take out the knee bolster. The clip comes out with the knee bolster pad. If you can get down there and use the screwdriver method and hammer, then it's so quick and painless. Put the flat screwdriver next to the clip (see red section in the picture below} and hammer the screwdriver until the unit comes off. {multiple light tap of the screwdriver will eventually remove the pad}. The left side, you probably need a smaller length in the screwdriver vs. the 10 inch length for the right side (near the ignition switch). If you crawl under there, the clips are visible on both side. The screwdriver should be parallel with the clip.

screw.jpg


After you get that piece off, it becomes more easy.

When you get to the point where you can take whole instrument cluster unit, make sure you take it out from right side of the steering wheel (also, don't forget to follow the instruction about putting a cloth on the steering wheel column so you don't scratch the glass face of the instrument cluster unit. And don't forget to disconnect the two cables connected to the unix (they're green connector located on each side of the bottom unit)

Once you have taken the instrument cluster unit out, bring it inside the house and start taking the glass off and the bezel unit. See pictures below on my layout.

open.jpg

open2.jpg


Don't forget to buy the silicone adhesive. I bought mine at Home Depot. The brand is from GE and it's located near the paint section. (Silicone II Household Glue Clear) It's a small bottle (2.8 FL OZ) that costs about 2.99.

When you put the glue on, it can get messy. Before you put it back, make sure you wipe the new aluminum rings (front side and the inner side of the ring) cleanly from the loose dry silicone glue. I made a mistake by putting everything back and ready to install it in the car, I noticed some silicone glue around the inside ring. Also, I noticed some glue smudge on the inside ring. So, I had to reopen everything to clean it out. So, just do an extra cleaning when you're about to screw everything back together.

Below is the picture of what it should look like...

gauge.jpg


The best thing now is that it's so much easy to put the whole instrument cluster unit back into the original dash...some reason the sliding was easier than taking it out.

That should be it....good luck.
 
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Hello. Have you reinstalled the knee bolster yet? In other DIY sections it recommends that the clips, that appear to still be on your bolster, be removed and replaced into their mount before you replace the trim piece (bolster). I'm not sure if that is for ease of the re-intallation or if something can break. Good Luck with the install.
 
Hello,

I just reinstalled the knee bolster by popping the pad back into the mount piece. I didn't have to removed it from the pad and put it in the mount first. It was pretty easy...seems stable and tight just like before.

Banshee Wail said:
Hello. Have you reinstalled the knee bolster yet? In other DIY sections it recommends that the clips, that appear to still be on your bolster, be removed and replaced into their mount before you replace the trim piece (bolster). I'm not sure if that is for ease of the re-intallation or if something can break. Good Luck with the install.
 
Thanks to everyone on this thread for their advice and encouragement. I think i'm an expert now with this... :)


ringafter.jpg


Banshee Wail said:
Great, now all that is left is the after pictures. I'm glad it worked out for you.
 
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Terrific pictures and I especially liked the graphics with the screwdrivers. Looks nice and IMO is a terrific improvement over the stock gauge look.
 
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