1978 Dash removal

[wwilkins]

I need to take the dash out of my 78. Has anyone else done this and have any tips or helpful hints?

Bill

 

[Ryan]

As far as i remeber you have to disconect the electrical wiring or connectors from the tach and speedometer, center console gauges,light switch and the wiper switch. Take out the glove box and the tach and speedo cluster.

Good luck,

Ryan

 

[tcarollo]

If it's like the '77 this might help. It's not fun and it's easier if you do things in the right order. First you take out the center console. Then take out the passenger side pad. Then you can take the screws out of the top of the drivers pad and the screws in the bracket that holds the dash pad down behind where the passengers pad was. You should then be able to work the top pad out. However, It may be easier to get the dash pad out with the pilliar pads removed. With the top pad removed you can reach behind the drivers pad and pull the speedo cable, etc from the gauges, and start working the drivers pad out. The drivers pad is always a pain to get in or out just because of all the wires, etc. behind it. I personally found it a little easier to get the drivers pad out by lower the column just a bit. Good luck, hope this helps.

 

[paintdaddy]

Are you taking the entire dash out or just the upper dash pad?If you are doing the whole dash I have found it is easiest to remove the pass. side first,then the center guage cluster,then the drivers side ,then the top.This sounds back asswards but Ive done it this way numerous times and it has always worked best for me.

 

[wwilkins]

I have to pull the whole dash pad out. There are only 4 screws on the sides and 2 brackets in the middle that I have found so far. The pad is loose but I have to take the car out of my little british garage to get to everything then I am pulling it out. My car has the wrong windshield in it and you can see the backside of the retainer so I am going to paint the back side of the glass to cover it up. If you look at the bottom of your screen the black paint doesn't come up quite high enough on mine. I already had the gauges and other stuff out so the pad doesn't look like a big deal. I had a guy tell me to use a heat gun to warm up the edges before I pull it and that would keep things from breaking. That's my plan for this weekend as long as the snow quits.

Thanks for the help.

Bill

 

[Full_Blown]

The heat gun's probably not a bad idea. Even a hair dryer might work. Just make sure it's not to cold where your doing it. I took mine out this past weekend you'll find the edges near the windshield a little frail and anything that's exposed to prolonged sun may spider easily to the touch. The only difficult I found was disconectting the wiring harness from the the guage pod. The harness was a little short and did pprovide aot of room to play with things. Other than that you'll be working blind on a few things. i.e. wire connections and fasteners. It's would definitely been helpful if I'd removed on before. It's amazing how simple an item is when you see it in the open compared how difficult it seemed to be after you've been screwing with it in the dark for 30 minutes. Just take your time and DON"T FORCE anything. Replacement parts aren't cheap.

FB

 

[drduckster]

1978 dash removal

I agree with paintdaddy, about pulling the pass side first. also I put the center in first when installing, this works on my 76. Take your time, Save the Wave