The task for this week was to do the first attempt to install the RS3 dashboard into the new #RScirocco body. As you can probably guess – not an easy one.
Not to ruin the original RS3 dashboard, we took just a regular A3 8p dash, from the first junkyard we had to think of. So now the cut and crop can begin.
To our surprise, it turned out that the dash fits fairly well in terms of length, but its depth caused our biggest struggles. We had to cut about 80mm from it in so that it loos properly fitted – like OE. Cutting was the easy part, the main problem was that underneath the section that we cut there is the RS3 windshield fan grill, and we had to again become creative not to lose the #RScirocco windshield airflow. As you can see from the photos we have moved the fan openings and grills as far back as possible.
Now we have a pretty good idea of how exactly to cut the original RS3 dashboard so that we can have “the perfect fit”.
Execution
This week we have been working on the front fenders and the front end support.
As you can see, there was almost nothing left from the original front of the Mk2 Scirocco. We had to design and build brand-new attachment supports for the front fenders. Also, we have designed the front end support to be able to be unbolted easily so that the engine bay is easily reachable.
Challenges
This week we are working on the outer side skirts. In the original RS3 side skirt frame, we have installed flanges. This will be the support for the main arc of the roll cage. The design of the cage is bolt-unbolt. The frame of the side skirt was shortened from the back side. Then we used a spot welder to install the side skirt to its original location. Pretty cool ha?
Results
RS3 has a far larger frame in comparison to the MK2 Scirocco. Therefore we had to remove the A-pillar before we begin assembling the front end of the new car. The bar under the dashboard of the RS3 is connected to the A-pillar. To remove re columns we need to craft a frame attaching the bar to the points of the chassis that will remain uncut.
This is how we tend to maintain the original placement and positioning of the structure so that afterwards we can reassemble the RS3 parts conveniently.