caccobra

I installed the factory carbon fiber dash surround and the carbon fiber shifter console in my A8 Z06 yesterday. The dash surround was ordered from a dealer and the shifter console came from American Hydrocarbon. The American Hydrocarbon piece matches the factory piece perfectly. The installation of the shifter console for the A8 was pretty simple compared to doing it on the M7. You don't even have to try to remove the shift ****. You just pop the black plastic shifter boot bezel up with a plastic interior removal tool and then angle it so it can pass through the shifter surround as you remove or install it. Here are some before and after pictures:

FrcFed8

How much?

Paulchristian

Looks great, but the pattern does looks different. Close, but different. You said it matches perfectly, so perhaps it is just the angle of the photo that makes them look somewhat different.

caccobra

I think the close up distorts it a bit by making the part that is closer look bigger. Not the best camera lens and I'm not the best photographer. It really is a perfect match.

Bmbarney

Looks great - I'm in progress of some of the similar things ... Received the dash and console from American Hydro yesterday. A small issue with the console, so I need to send it back. But it appears that it will look great once I get the final product. I also got the shifter plate with carbon too. And the door locks.

caccobra

You can get the price for the American Hydrocarbon piece from their web site. The factory piece was $480 from the dealer. That is less than half the price that GM charged for that option. If you ordered it with the car it was a $1,000 MSRP. When I found that out I decided I would just order the part and install it myself after I got the car. The money I saved paid for other mods.

george vee

looks good

Babaron

Looks great. Any chance you could do a DIY video? There's one out there but it looked to complicated to me.

Bmbarney

If you go to You Tube - search for C7 Dash - its there. I had my center console out when I installed my MGW shifter. That was not a problem. Watching the dash video makes me cringe a little. I spoke to the dealer today, they said its 1.5 hours of effort for the dash, I think I will let them do it.

spicoli25

I ordered the dash from GM. How Much was the cup holder piece. Was the install easy for that part. Was thinking about getting the silver piece painted to match my Laguna Blue. Did you think about color matching it?

TON C7S

Looks good!

caccobra

You can check the American Hydrocarbon site for costs. Their options on the shifter console are to keep the silver part silver or make the whole thing carbon fiber. I left mine silver to match the silver on the grab bar/dash surround. I believe there are other vendors that offer color matched painted parts. That wasn't 't the look I was going for.

The removal and install of the shifter console on an A8 is literally a 10 minute job. The only thing that slows you down is disconnecting the electrical plugs. On the M7 you have to remove the shifter **** first and that is a little tricky. On the A8 you just pop up the black plastic shifter boot surround and angle it and the attached boot through the larger shifter console as you take the console off or put the new one on. If you already have the factory carbon fiber dash installed, the shifter console is a piece of cake to change.

The video that was done is pretty good to follow for the dash surround removal and installation. The only thing he didn't show was that you also have to remove the other plastic piece on the outside of the grab handle ( it just pops off) to get at the last bolt that holds the silver dash surround piece on. That was why he was not able to remove the silver piece early in the video. You will notice that he later figured that out, but didn't show actually removing that grab handle piece and that last bolt holding the silver piece on.

Hope that helps.

caccobra

That's about right on the time. I took my time on everything and total for both pieces was about 3 hours for me. As you can see in the video that was done, you also have to swap the various component switches, etc. to the new dash surround before you install it too. That takes some time too, but is pretty easy, if you have the proper tools as the video points out. Don't sell your self short. If I could do it, anyone can.

1bdvet

Nice!

Steve Garrett

Congrats.

zhopper05

I am not sure I would call it a perfect match - the dash is carbon fiber and the console appears to be hydro-dipped; two totally different finishes.

KJ Z06

Looks great thanks for the help

caccobra

After having seen the OEM dash from both sides of it, I'm not convinced it is actual carbon fiber either. It looks like just black plastic on the back side and it is fairly flexible too. It looks more like plastic with a carbon fiber overlay on the front side only to me. Maybe someone more experienced with actual carbon fiber can fill us in on how the OEM dash piece is made, but I figure if it is actual carbon fiber, GM is leaving some money on the table, since the large complicated shaped piece only cost $480 from a dealer. Compare that to the prices being charged by the vendors who sell actual carbon fiber pieces that are much smaller than that for a lot more money than that.

The OEM dash and hydrocarbon shifter console look the same to me when they are next to each other in my car.

Bmbarney

I ordered the Carbon dashboard on my C7 Stingray. I liked the look. I have also seen others that have applied the HydroCarbon in their cars. I felt that the Hydro carbon looked great. When I ordered my C7 Z06 I decided not to order the dash and just have the hydro Carbon installed including the center console and door switches. I now have the parts but have not installed them yet. Waiting for one more piece to arrive.

American HydroCarbon has a good post explaining the dipping process.

http://www.americanhydrocarbon.com/The_Process.html

American Hydrocarbon

The shifter plates come complete with the cup holder door and power socket. We can paint the silver part if you like.