dwaynemosley

Does anyone know if the Bose enclosure and lower carpet are easily exchanged from one door panel to another? Can I take my basic black vinyl door panel with bose sound and gray carpet (deviated carpet option), purchase a leather door panel without these options, and exchange the carpet and bose enclosure from my vinyl panel onto the leather panel? Dwayne

I have already gone through this with everyone at my local dealer who will listen to me. They sell the changer for a retrofit install and have no instructions. Still cannot get my hands on the TSBs to see if they are any help. That is why I want to have a car with the changer already installed to compare when we put in Raman's changer. We will just copy what we see. Then film it. No way could it take 8 hours to hook up a few fiber optic cables and an electrical cable unless you are doing it by trial and error for the first time. Below are the instructions that came from the Porsche Tech-Line. Some of the words are outside the margins of the fax, but I can make out most of it. I don't know if this tells us anything that we didn't know, but this is what they sent the dealer to use. I haven't tried installing mine again, but I will within a week or so. I'll let you all know my success rate. ____________________________________________________________________ From the Tech-Line: On a Boxster and 996 there is a plug connection behind the brake booster for the fiber optic line. It is at this point that you will run one line to the cd-changer, out of the changer to the amp, and out of the amp to the connection behind the booster. Leave the existing optic line in place and zip tie the new one to it to save time. You need to order the correct optical line depending on the components installed in the vehicle. The optical lines can be found in PET/Boxster/Main group 09/sub group 02/ illustration ???902-50. ( I can't make out all of the numbers, but Loren has posted this info.) The wiring is fairly easy. Three wires...one power, one ground, and a wake up diagnosis. I would run the power and the ground to the fuse box. If your vehicle has an amplifier, you can parasite the wake up diagnosis line from there. If not, you need to run this line to the back of the radio. Lastly, lock and unlock the vehicle so the the head unit recognizes that a new component has been installed. Go in the the PSTII and make sure that the MOST actual and MOST required control units match. Hope this helps.

Jeff, that's about how far I got--I guess I should have stopped taking things apart sooner! :D Seriously--anybody have instructions? I just did the exact thing you're wanting to. I purchased a leather covered airbag and removed a vinyl covered airbag. It was fairly easy. Loren told me to be sure that the key was not in the switch. I turned the steering wheel 90 degrees so one screw was on the top and one on the bottom. This gave me the most room to work. I put a towel in front of the gauges and column area to insure against a scratch. It is torqued down pretty tight. It scared me at first because the horn started blowing as I was trying to remove the screw, so I unhooked the battery. I'm not sure if the twisting effect of the assembly made the horn contacts "make" or what. Whatever it was, I felt better without the battery being hooked up anyway. Then it was just a matter of pushing pretty hard to break the screw loose. When it does, you know it because of the sound. I can't remember if I used a Torx or Allen wrench, but it is a common size. I was careful to back the screws out a little on each one until I got it loose. I actually put some tape over the bag onto the steering wheel to be sure it didn't tumble out as it loosened. The wire to the airbag easily prys up and off with a small screwdriver. Installation is the reverse process. Hope this helps. Dwayne

That is the power cable I have. It only has a connector on one end which I assume is for the changer. Using the post from mffarrell "The 3 copper wires from the CD changer are +12V rd/gn, (grnd.), brn, and (wake up diagnostics), wh/rd.", I think I'm going to attempt this once again to see what happens. Since there is a "wake up" wire, I think I can use unswitched 12V from anywhere inside the trunk area for power and ground it wherever I can find a grounding point. If there is a wh/rd wire going to the amp, I'll tap into this for the "wake up" signal. If I can get the changer powered up using that wiring info, and it'll pass the laser through the FO then I'll take it to see if they can code it into the MOST system. Dwayne

There is a junction box/connection on a hanger located just behind the brake booster on the right side if you're facing it. This will accept the T fiber assembly, and is where the short piece of fiber from the amp is currently attached. If the changer doesn't "wake up" until it's coded, then I'll reassemble everything and hook it to an inline fuse and to the battery to see if just powering up the changer will work. Several questions I still have are: Can the power and "turn on" signals be scavenged from the amp? If not, where should these type of accessories get power from? It would be great to get a switched 12V+ without having to cut the rubber grommet. With all of the wires inside the "weather sealed" area of the trunk, surely there is a switched 12V+ there somewhere. Without taking the car apart again, does the "turn on" signal to the amp using the same wire color coding as the harness for the changer? How about the 12V+? I'm positive I can get a ground somewhere inside the weather sealed area. Finally, if I have to pull the changer's wiring harness into the car, how do I know where to acquire 12V+ there? We are very close on this. BTW, my dealer wants 3 hours labor to do this. I'd like to knock this down to the minimal charge for coding the changer into the system. Plus, we really should know how all this works. There will be others behind us trying to accomplish this same thing. Regards, Dwayne

:)

jdm

The part number I have that was sent to me by Brandywine Porsche is 996.622.705.00. I have an '03 Bose system with external amp. The parts in the box are a pre-made fiber harness "T" that appears to follow daisy chain logic. (Hard to check it with a DVM :) ) I also have several other long pieces of fiber, several empty connectors, a black plastic insulator pipe, and a mounting arm. I know that I will ultimately need to have the dealer code the changer for it to actually function in my system. What I'm wondering is: does it require the changer to be coded or even powered up just to pass the laser signal through it and back to the amp? The T that I have connects to the radio at the connector behind the brake booster (which is where the amp is connected now on a short piece of fiber), then one fiber line goes straight through the T to the changer. The return starts at the changer back to the amp connector and then restarts back to the original connector behind the booster. Hooking this fiber into my system results in my amp just clicking. It doesn't seem to matter which item I hook up first or last in the daisy chain. The changer is not powered. I'm not sure where to get the power or turn on signal. The power harness for the changer is 3 wires. Which is which, does anyone know? I've seen the info on slitting the rubber grommet behind the battery to run the wires into the fuse block, but doesn't the amp have a large enough circuit/wiring harness to be able to carry the changer as well? There should also be some kind of trigger wire there to turn on the devices. Does anyone know which wires these are? Without a schematic of the color coding of the wires, I'm at a standstill. I hope I have the correct MOST fiber harness. Maybe we'll all figure this thing out together. Dwayne

OK. I've read all the stuff I can find. About 996's, 986's, and some stuff that Brandywine faxed me from Porsche. It is very cryptic at best. My MOST fiber connection kit came with a cable that already has 3 connections built into it. Kinda like a T. I can see the daisy chain logic built into this T. There is a connection behind the brake booster that comes from the Radio. I can plug my T in the radio connection at the booster, the green marked end into the amp and the blue marked end into the changer and nothing happens. The radio and amp no longer communicate. There's a lot of clicking at the amp but nothing else. Does the changer have to have power for this combo to at least work like it did originally? Hook it back up as stock, and everything functions. Where do I get power for the amp? Can I tap into the wires powering the amp for the changer? I have three wires with the wiring harness for the amp and no schematic to show which is which. They are numbered 1,2,and 3. That's it. I figured one is 12V+, 1 ground, and 1 some sort of "turn on" signal. Is there a standard wiring scheme for Porsche for example ground is always brown, 12V+ is always ??, etc. ? Can I use any of the feeds for the amp? This is a fairly frustrating effort. I stopped, put everything back together, and punted. I want to try again but need more info. Any help is greatly appreciated. Dwayne

I used the Targa "shade" switch to hook to my garage door opener and installed it into one of the blanks to the rear of the ashtray in the console. I used it because I too think it lools like a garage door. Fortunately it matches my '03 interior. I hooked one of the wires from the garage door opener to the switch's center terminal and hooked the other wire to both of the other terminals to allow it to function no matter which way I rock the switch. I also got power from the ashtray illumination lead and lit the switch by attaching those wires to the outside-most terminals on the switch. It works great and looks great. Good luck with yours. Dwayne

Loren, Thanks for the quick reply. Looks like it should work according to the part info you have. Now comes the attempt to avoid setting off the airbag light during the changeover. Dwayne

Hopefully I've set up the title and description correctly. I'm new at this. Is there a way to check out a part number to be sure it's a compatible part? The P/N is 996 803 089 02 A28. It is an airbag with a black leather cover. I'd like to be sure that I can install this on my '03 Targa before I go to the trouble of taking it apart. Advice is welcome. Dwayne

I will have a stock, black 3 spoke airbag for sale in about 2 weeks. It is from an '03 996 Targa. I'm replacing it with one that has a leather cover. If you're interested in this one, let me know. Dwayne

I have a 2003 Targa. I have read all the archives that the search routines will pull up. I want to exchange my black gauges for aluminum ones. I have found a set which includes a different cover. I'd like to exchange both items, I think. Can the dealer reprogram the proper mileage from my car into the new gauge set? Any advance preparation required to accomplish that feat? Is there any concern for using a gauge set from an earlier model car just so long as it's a 996? Is the cover easy to remove from the dash once the gauges are out? Any tricks or perils I should know about? I see several different messages about pulling the gauges, but I don't see anything that details how the cover and the gauges come completely off. Is it easy once the gauges are out? Any direction will be very welcome. Dwayne