Yep, you have to paint panel # 12 in the illustration below to get a black one. Again, you could modify an NG900 panel to make the key antenna fit in... but I went the easy route and it worked out great. Key antenna from a black interior OG 9-5 so that you don't have to paint that.
The ACC isn't that difficult to paint. You need some mini-torx drivers. Just be sure to remove ALL the fastening screws as you try to disassemble it. There's a couple up on the side that hold the screen unit in place. If you neglect to remove them, you'll pull the cable off the board. Ask me how I know. Worse comes to worse, you can send it to Pavel and he'll redo the cable for $50. Most of them need it eventually anyway so it's not a major crisis.
Rear console removal:
Here's a write-up I did on rear console removal. Not hard... and not anything you can break. It's all large scale stuff. This was as part of moving the security antenna to try to get better lock/unlock range. Console details start at post #3:
The Remote range in our cars is terrible. I've always assumed it was due to the design having the antenna buried down low. in the body Sort of like trying to listen to a radio in a basement, the waves are stopped by all the steel of the body shell. Holding the remote up high would always get...
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Front center console removal:
^ That covers up to the shifter area. Once again from memory, removing the front console once the center/rear is out:
- Pull out the ACC unit. Nothing holds it in. I like to pry the edge with a very thin putty knife sort of tool with masking tape on it to avoid scratching anything. Unhook the connector. IIRC, it unhooks on one end and pivots out (like the console window switch unit.
- Pull out the switches (seat heaters, TCS) and unplug them. The connectors are all color coded to the switches so no worries on remembering what's what.
- Pull out the On-Star switch if you still have it and disconnect.
- Pull the cover off the ACC dash fan thingy from the front.
- Reach in through the ACC hole and grab the ACC dash fan unit. Use a medium to large screwdriver to pry the "clips" on the top and bottom (from the front) that are holding it into the console. Release the top clip and pivot it down in the rear; Release the bottom clip and pivot it up; then
pull it out from the rear. Be careful with it while it's out: You don't want to break the thermistor tab sticking out the front. Disconnect connector on back (it has "clips" holding it on as I recall) and set aside. Again, unique connector - no need to label anything.
- There are two fasteners - and only two - (expanding rivets) that hold the console in at the front. They are upside down, in the upper rim of the console. They are #28 in the diagram below and I included a photo below of the rivet itself. They are removed by pressing
IN (yes,
in) the center of them about 5mm, maybe 8mm. Once you press in the center, the connector is released and you can pry it out from the edge like most.
I forget if the center of that fastener can come completely loose and fall out the top while you are working... then get lost in the console area. I think it's mostly captive in the connector. But don't push the center in too far.
- You need to disconnect the cigarette lighter and its light-bulb. It's easiest to do that once you start pulling the console out as it's hard to get your fingers in there
before you start to pull the console out. But you can do it at this point if you like. Just one two-wire connector that pulls off the lighter (no clips) and a single wire connector on the light bulb (no clips).
- There might be a single screw holding the front console to the metal shifter housing. I forget the specifics on that. OG 9-3 might not have the screw installed. Or maybe the NG900. But the tab is always there. In fact, you might have had to remove that screw to get the rear console out up above. I circled the area in the illustration below.
- Pull up the shifter boot from the console. It hooks (elastic) to a black ring that snaps into the front console. You can either unhook the boot from the black ring stuck in the console or pull the black ring out of the console. Doesn't matter. The black ring comes right out, no fasteners to worry about. Just pull one or the other up so the the boot is loose from the console.
* Console front should now be loose. Be on alert for anything I forgot to tell you to disconnect.
Nothing actually holds the front console to the sides of the front console. There are three tabs on each side panel of the front console that fit into the center console. But, the only fasteners are the two expanding rivets and the single screw into the shifter that you already took out. It will slide off the tabs as you pull it to the rear... no unclipping needed.
Pull the console towards the rear of the car. Pull it up and over the shifter, sliding the boot through the shifter hole. Might help to be in some particular gear but I can't tell you which one. Start with neutral.
Expanding Rivet: