Diablo Refresh

Loving this thread sudesh! Also been on your NSX thread for about 2.5hrs already, You really do some great work.

Great thread Sudesh, thank you for taking the time to post such detailed descriptions

Loving this thread sudesh! Also been on your NSX thread for about 2.5hrs already, You really do some great work.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for taking the time to read the NSX thread, I've owned NSXs since 1995, an absolutely fabulous car to drive, way ahead of its time. NSX refresh work however, is like lamborghini refresh work in this country [ireland], very few on the road, so very few to look after; but suits me as I only do this on a friends basis, and not my full time job.

 

Im really looking forward to re-trimming the Diablo, and at the moment going through all the ideas/colors etc. I still don't know what to choose lol, was thinking dark grey Alcantara like the SV maybe? Or possibly a dark red and back combo in leather? Then I seen a really nice choice Wayne Carini went with on a grey ferrari Lusso, [i think] leather was a very nice Carmel/tobacco color.

 

Alcantara would last better around the window areas where the leather seems to shrink with the heat, leaving the panneling visible.

 

 

Great thread Sudesh, thank you for taking the time to post such detailed descriptions

 

And thank you for the kind words! Much appreciated.

To keep your climate working efficiently, its good to keep the cabin temp sensor clean. This can be removed from the dash quit easily with the need to dissemble the lower dash section, but for photograph purposes and as Im exploring the Diablo setup, I will also show the lower section removed.

 

So this is the cabin aspirator type sensor

 

 

Remove the little side panel [3 screws] and you'll be able to see the rear of the sensor and the connectors.

 

 

There are connectors that need unplugged, just clip out nice and easily

 

 

Once unplugged, the sensor can be removed from the white fastener by gently prying the 2 tabs back slightly

 

 

It slides straight out

 

 

To show some better pics, I removed the lower dash section, quite straight forward, firstly removed all your passenger carpet, and carpet side panel, [held in by 2 screws on my car] once that's removed you will see the nuts for removing the dash,

 

One her

 

 

2 here

 

 

One here

 

 

Once that's done, dash panel can be easily removed, leaves great access to working in behind too, or if you wanted to remove your centre console panel etc

 

Panel in place

 

 

Panel removed

 

 

 

Anyway back to the temp sensor, on the the panel you will find the whole aspirator sensor

 

 

Completely removed

 

 

The bits separated, nothing complicated here, it all just pops apart.

 

 

 

 

Im going to start with the aspirator unit first, this unit has a little motor and fan inside, which basically swirls air around the cabin sensor, this in turn lets the climate unit know the temp in your cabin, The temperature of the cabin air flowing through the aspirator controls the signal sent to the electronic control unit. Sometimes people talk about a little buzzing or humming noise indie the car, this could be related to the little fan whirling round.

 

To open the aspirator the tabs must be pushed back lightly, 2 at the front 2 at the side

 

 

Case open

 

 

I can already see bits of hair, and plenty of dirt build up

 

 

The sensor is just as bad

 

 

 

 

To clean the sensor and fan etc, I just use compressed air, sometime a cotton swab if its really grimes in, but the air was fine on this one.

 

So nice and clean now

 

 

I've put a little dab of coper grease on the fan spindle, this helps the the buzzing noise

 

 

Sensor all cleans out too

 

 

Be its all cleaned and buzz free, just reinstall again. I noticed that someone was at my sensor in the past as the white retainer had damage and poor repair job

 

 

So for the sake of a few quid, I order a new new

 

 

All replaced and cabin back to normal now.

 

My Passenger door lock, very suddenly stopped working with the central lock, only way it would lock was by the key, I checked the relay under the center console and it was working fine, so decided to inspect the actuator inside the door.

 

To access this the interior door trim has to be removed so the first step,

 

Remove the panel under the arm rest, 3 screws

 

 

Panel removed and you can now see 2 nuts that also need removed

 

 

remove the front panel, again 3 screws

 

 

Behind that is 2 bolts that need removed also

 

 

The the little triangle piece up near the window, 3 screws

 

1 here

 

 

1 here

 

 

and one right underneath

 

 

On the speaker box, there is an bolt underneath too

 

 

One bolt inside the door handle

 

 

NOW!! Here comes the slightly tricky one, you could probably access this bolt down through the hole where the dorr handle sits, but there is little movement if using a spanner/socket, so I went in through the front of the speaker box like so, with a straight on socket/screwdriver setup.

 

 

basically you have to get right in to access the lower bolt in this pic, [i have already removed the nut so you know which one Im referring too] this bolt comes out of the door armrest

 

 

Speaker pod removed

 

 

And now you can see that akward bolt I was talking about, plus another nut inside the handle to remove

 

 

So after doing all the removing, you are left with this

 

There are just 3 screw holding the panel in place, once you remove those, it lifts right off and then you have the bare door and weather shield, the weather shield on mine was beat and someone was obviously in here before

 

 

The actuator on this looked fresh, but also doesnt look OEM, so Im guessing its failed sometime in the past and someone found a cost effective solution maybe?? Not sure what this actuator from? maybe just a universal type going by the plug.

 

 

Anyway I spotted the problem to the door not remotely locking, the plug had just disconnected.

 

 

I connected this back up and taped it together, I then used duck tape to secure the wiring to the door as it was just dangling free and possibly vibration or the window going down pulled the wire out, who know?

 

 

 

 

I then removed all the old weather strip, and made a new one from some heavier grade outdoor weather sheeting, purchased at my local hardware store for £2.00, and that was enough material to do 10 doors or more lol

 

 

Started to tape it all round the door, pushing the bolts through in place and trimming to shape as I go, Cut the section for the handle and speaker

 

 

feed it through and then tape in a square to close the hole,

 

 

New weather shield done

 

 

 

Now just install everything in reverse! Glad now I took the door card off and repaired that shield. Ill be doing the same on the other door later tonite.

As our climate control unit on these cars are fully automatic, so we dont have the ability to switch the A/C off when needed, most cars Ive owned in the past have a button for AC on/off. Been able to switch the AC off, means the compressor wont turn on, which can help in keeping the engine cooler [no extra load on engine] plus will help fuel economy too.

 

I like the idea of controlling this, especially in this country as we rarely see temperatures high enough to warrant switching AC on, but its also handy if you were just cruising late evening with the windows downs and blower on low setting or even off, because even in the off position [no fan speed] the compressor still kicks on.

 

I decided to make this a simple install by basically going straight to the power source, the compressor has one single wire under the little cover over the ignition/distributor

 

 

remove the single screw and lift the cover out

 

 

I have the same type of single pin connector on the shelf, so made up my own wiring to connect into the OEM plugs [1 male 1 female plug/pin]

 

 

New wiring connected to the compressor plugs

 

 

 

From here I traced the new cable across and under the airbox on my passenger side [RHD car], I used twin black insulated cable, so it looks OEM in the engine bay

 

 

 

Then down under the fender and over to the bulk head where there is a factor hole for cabling into the cabin, The wheel and battery panel need to be removed to do that, Then inside the cabin the cable will come through the firewall behind the bass speaker box, just 2 screws and the box lifts up and out, push the seat all the way forward for better access.

 

 

Lift this carpet to reveal the 2 screws

 

 

Lift the box up and out

 

 

Now you can see where the cable comes through

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Im planning on doing a complete interior re-trim at some point, I decided to just run the cable for AC under the carpet up to the center console, and in behind the ash tray unit. I then made a little block to retain the new button for switching the AC on and off, and plugged the new AC cable in.

 

 

With AC on, the button lights up

 

 

So another job done for now, and the button is neatly hidden away, and the tray door closes perfect. Plus it can all be reverted back to standard very simply if required. Also this doesn't affect how the Automatic climate control works, with the button switch to ON, the unit works just as it would have previously; but you have the added benefit of knowing when the AC compressor is cycling on and off, as the little red light will automatically come on and go off every time the compressor cycles.

While I was doing the above, I noticed the little triangle interior trim pieces, just behind the quarter glass, was loose and could be lifted out.

 

These pieces are easy enough to access and doesn't require removal of the wheel well covering, but for purpose of photographing, I have mine off for a better pic to show people.

 

Basically there is a hole just under this silver engine bay panel

 

 

Here it is from underneath

 

 

And in this pic I have put a screwdriver to indicate where the hole is exactly

 

 

The triangle piece is held in by a bolt and washer, so I set mine back in and used a large washer and nut.

The interior triangle cover was also sitting loose on the opposite side,

 

 

 

Its a bit harder to access on the other side, mainly due to the coolant tank being in the way, but I was able to get a nut and washer on by first accessing the interior panel bolt, through this gap

 

 

However trying to get it bolted up tightly is just tough going in there, so I had to do this lol

 

 

And went underneath the tank with a mini socket set, was straight forward and now the both pieces are nice and tight, so a few less rattles to worry about

Orderd a new coolant tank cap from Lamborghini

 

New one on left, surprised to see its not the same as the old one? guess that was changed at some point too. Old one was showing signs of corrosion.

 

New one is a very nice tight fit too compared to the old one.

 

Well done all around! If j ever redo my interior it will be full alcantera for sure.

I wanted the upgrade the wheel to the SE30 one, and after looking at my old wheel, I noticed it was manufactured by Raid

 

 

I decided to hunt around on ebay, and sure enough I came across a Raid wheel that looked identical to the SE30 one [minus the spoke pad and badge] I took the chance and purchased the wheel £40

 

 

I then purchase the center pad and badge from Lamborghini

 

 

Rear of badge has sticky backing, but Im not going to remove it just yet, The pad comes as basic black rubber type finish, not covered in leather or alcantara, suits me as Ill do this when I re-trim my interior, the badge fits snuggly into the pad anyway

 

 

The whole lot comes together nicely

 

 

 

 

Now to the install!

 

So this is the old wheel style I have

 

 

You can see the little lip I refered to on the pad from behind the wheel

 

 

Get you hand around the pad and grab the edge and carefully pull it off

 

 

Pad removed

 

 

This is what you will see behind

 

 

Steering wheel made by Raid

 

 

Pull the wiring out from inside and you will find a small 2 pin connector

 

 

Disconnect connector

 

 

Put some tape around the 2 pins connector as its no longer needed,

 

 

 

 

 

Remove the wheel bolts

 

 

Wheel removed

 

 

Now just install the new wheel and fit the center pad and job done

 

 

Much nicer in my opinion and feels better too.

 

 

So i take it you have no horn on the car now?

So i take it you have no horn on the car now?

Look at the light switch/handle on the left on the last pic

So i take it you have no horn on the car now?

 

OEM Horn is on the indicator stalk!

 

 

Look at the light switch/handle on the left on the last pic

 

Woops! Sorry didn't see your reply lol

 

But yeah, what "Placid" said.

 

Well done all around! If j ever redo my interior it will be full alcantera for sure.

 

Thanks Chipster!

 

Im seriously thinking of doing the alcantara too.

A member sent me a PM regarding the wheel and part numbers etc

 

So I'll post it up here

 

There was no model name or part number listed in the eBay add, it just said Raid 340mm wheel, but I was 99% sure it was the same as the SE30 wheel by comparing loads of photos, plus my old wheel is made by Raid, so the chances were even greater.

 

On the wheel I purchased there was only this

 

 

And this

 

 

Stamped on the wheel, it was the only one of this type on eBay UK too.

 

The center pad is part number: 004335063 £60 GBP

the badge is: 004301790 £30 GBP

 

The OEM SE wheel is 004335058 about £300 GBP, mine was £40 GBP, so good saving.

 

Believe it or not, the old style wheel is allot more expensive, around £730!!!