What's up everyone. I typically don't post much and I lurk more than participate lol. A little back story, my wife has been driving her 2012 Kia Forte for 8 years and I thought for a anniversary gift I'd find a car to fix and replace it. I talked to her about upgrading her car and brought in the idea of a CX5. I've been a huge fan of the CX5's the moment they came on the market and I patiently waited for the right one! It HAD to be white per wife's request. So I picked up a 2016 CX-5 about a month ago with minor front damage and 51k miles. Both bags blew unfortunately, so I knew the most time consuming job would be replacing the dash. I've been working on the car over the past month and thought i'd share my progress.

Here's how the car looked when I bought it.



I was able to find a dash and passenger airbag fairly quickly and fairly cheap! So before anything else I tackled the dash...
TADA! It was pretty straight forward for the most part. I've replaced a few dashes before from other vehicles and this one came out in no time. Installing was a different story lol.


You can tell from the photo above that almost everything had to come off to remove the dash. By the way, removing and installing the dash can we a one person job. I was able to do everything myself throughout the whole thing. IMO two people are useful when carrying the new one inside. Other than that, one person job all the way.
I ran into a small issue with the front defroster duct and unfortunately what I think happened is I broke a clip that attaches to the duct to the dash. Everything lined up where it needed to be however the duct wouldn't stay attached. So I took a few pieces of duct tape to the duct to make sure it doesn't vibrate when the air is on.
Here's a photo once I got most of it mounted


Bought a used driver airbag from ebay (which has been the most expensive part throughout the whole project), put everything back together and here's the interior done!


Now that the interior is done it was time to work on the exterior. I took photo's of everything I needed before removing the parts. You'd be surprised how many times I've had leftover bolts hanging around in the past. Not this time lol!


I had to find a headlight, front bumper, hood, and radiator support. Thanks to facebook marketplace, I found a pair of OEM halogen headlights for $50 and the radiator support for $50 as well!
I went aftermarket with the hood and fender and crossed my fingers the fitment was going to be close. Luck was on my side and they fit just fine. The front bumper I got for free so things we're just falling into place quickly.


Time to prep the parts for paint. If you're wondering, I sanded the lens with 1000. The clear was so thin it didn't take much time to go through the whole thing.




I dropped off the car earlier this week for paint and received it last night. I forgot to take photo's! I couldn't believe myself...but here's one right before I drove it over.


I'll have more updates here soon.

-Matt

 

wow!!!
That third pic looks like a bear got trapped inside.

 

Good Job 👍

 

Good work, I'm interested in seeing the updates. I'm sure your wife will like the car.

 

Well done sir!!!

 

Another update!
After dropping off the vehicle to get painted I forgot I was missing a few pieces. So I drove over to the dealership to buy the emblem bracket and emblem. Whopping $64 all together... sheesh.


I didn't have enough time Friday or Saturday to put the front end back on after reassembling the front bumper. I ended up driving to the Bay Area to hike Mission Peak with my wife and picked up an exhaust for my S2000. WooHoo!

Anyways, yesterday I was able to put the new emblem on the grille and mount everything back on the car. Here's how the headlights turned out after a couple passes of clear coat.



Here's the front end after mounting everything.




I took it outside to clean more of the outside and the interior since everything was covered in dust & dirt.





She looks great right? I haven't showed my wife any photo's of the car yet. So I'm excited to show her once everything is done.
The last couple things I need to take care of is the windshield. Which is scheduled later this week. Annnnd I need the airbag control module reset. Once the vehicle is in a crash, all the information is stored within the module. This module has to be rest for the restraint system to work properly. So these last two things and I get to unveil my anniversary gift =)

 

Beautiful job, I know your wife will love it.

 

Thanks Chris!