I got a coworker in the fabrication department to fix the clearance issue. He filed the interior of the panel. You can see the silver line to the right of the black line. This is where he filed.





Another coworker insisted I got some anti-seize since this parts uses aluminum screws on a casting, which apparently means after a couple of months of being mounted the parts might fuse (?) together. I wanted to be able to disassemble in case of... anything, so I bought this.





I popped these little gears from the old fascia first. You just press on the tabs with your fingers.





Next I unscrewed the 3 screws that mount the vents.





Although I should have taken the start dock out first. Not a big deal, just 4 more screws. Be careful when handling this part since you want to remember how it was mounted. There's a flap inside that should be DOWN when mounting it again.





It will leave the part behind the ECU. It's just sandwiched and you can just pull it out with no effort.





Amazingly the backing is a cast!!!





Next, remove aaaaalllll these screws. PITA.





Push on these two tabs inside the ECU dock...





While pushing it down from the inside





You get this.





Now take this assembly and transplant it





Coat alllll the screws in anti-seize.





Careful when mounting this. It's finnicky, doesn't fit super well, and requires to make the screws tight and massage them. Be super careful not to over tighten as you could crack the plastic bracket!





Just push the ECU dock all the way in





Mount the vents again. Just present the screws on top of the holes and barely press them down. The fit for this is also pretty bad.





How everything looks mounted.





Wait a minute.... The stopper doesn't make the door flush. WTF more bad tolerances.





I cut some of those felt pieces to put under furniture and put it in there. I did some tests before peeling off the tape and sticking it. now it closes flush.





Pop the part in... Don't forget to slot the metal spring, and if you have a felt pad like me, remove it. The backing is a lot thicker than before so the navi won't open as much.





Photo of the navi open before unsticking the felt.





Final beauty shot

 

So, the mod looks pretty good, but would I recommend it? Hmmm probably not.

There were too many fitting issues, the quality of the surface finish was fantastic but really, in some aspects I even prefer the plastic backed part (like seeing the side of the panel when you open the navi.

It felt like I was always about to break something very expensive, I've replaced interior trim in Mercedes, BMW, Tesla and I've never run into something like this.

At this point I'd suggest going the Karl way and re-finishing your fitted part. I did get mine for $350 on ebay, plus shipping and the fitting kit it was probably $500 after all was said and done. I would not pay anything more than that, and even that is pushing it imho. Execute at your own risk.

 

Wow,

Great write up. Thanks for posting your experiences, and the photos really help

With the fitment issues, I guess that is why they are still hand made cars