205 GTI - fitting lower console facia

[davidxw]

Hi everyone,

First a quick into - I'm the newish owner of a 205 GTI Mi16 conversion (one of JRs old cars), purchased with not quite the right amount research but enjoying immensely none the less. Car is mechanically good and drives really well, but has some cosmetic issues which I'm working through.

One of these was that the bits that held the lower console facia flush with the bottom of the heater controls had all broken, resulting in a 10mm gap below said controls. I managed to source a new lower console facia, as well as the white fan/heater control module thing, and after quite a lot of fiddling around to remove the old bits, complete some unexpected side quests, and re-attach all the ventilation and heater cables, I thought I was on the home stretch. As per the picture below though, I can't see any way that I can attach screw A, have the white pin (obscured) at point B go through the hole at the top of the facia panel (which is the case in the picture), and not (still) have a 10mm gap at point C (which if you are still reading was one of the reasons that I started the exercise).

Does anyone who has done this before know if I've missed something, or if I have parts that aren't compatible? Happy to post more pics if that will help, or clarify any terms I've used that aren't clear.

 

[Richard W]

Fixing 205 dash plastics is difficult and frustrating.

First point is that you seem to have the centre vent and instrument binnacle on already. They need to be removed to access all the screws here - they are the last things to go back on.

The next point is that, more often than not, the cause of the breakage and the gap here is that the main dashboard (ie, the whole assembly that bolts to the firewall, and onto which all the other pieces attach) often breaks around the area of the heater controls. That means that the surround that goes over the heater controls, down to the stereo etc (which I think is what you are replacing) ends up bearing all the loads of holding the two sections of dash together, which is what makes it crack. I'd go back and check this. If the main dash assembly is broken you'll never get it all to fit back together with tight gaps - you have to remove and replace the whole dash.

You get quicker at it when you've done it a few times :-(

 

[flock]

The black plastic bracket which holds the heater controls in place is broken off as Richard said. It is critical to holding everything in tension. I cut up some very thin sheet metal and JB welded it. You can't see it once the centre fascia is back on.

Don't throw your dash out whatever you do, everything can be fixed with time and patience.

 

[davidxw]

Thanks Richard, I figured it out - the white pins don't go through the holes, they seem to just rest in the space beneath them. Or at least I was able to make it work this way! Dash is all back together with minimum gaps (and it seems pretty solid).

RE your general comments about the actual root cause of the issue - in my case the dash was intact, but the middle bolt that holds the dash to the bulkhead was missing. This would probably have been putting a lot of stress on the middle dash bits and may have caused them to break previously.

Discovering the missing middle dashboard bolt has been the most glorious side effect of the entire exercise - most of the crashing and creaking that came from the dash (which I had previously just written off to age and French plastics) has gone, transforming how the car feels to travel in.

 

[davidxw]

The black plastic bracket which holds the heater controls in place is broken off as Richard said. It is critical to holding everything in tension. I cut up some very thin sheet metal and JB welded it. You can't see it once the centre fascia is back on.

Thanks so much for that picture - I knew that something was missing there, and now the white pins and lot of the other mystery holes make sense. I'll see if I can do something similar a bit further down the track.