How to take the dashboard down

[craftsmen22]

Hi there,

I have a few problems with my dashboard. The speedometer and mileage are dark, I got a rust pit on top of the dash, and my gas gauge is not working even the ground connection to the tank is well done. I used the sear option with dash apart, dashboard out, etc, but no good hint. Now, how should I start, where are the screws to take the board apart.

Regards,

Tom

[Lady72nRob71]

What year and model car are you referring to?

[csstrux]

What year and model? All are a little different.

[gearheads78]

All are different but that all pretty much come out the same way. Nuts and friction clips on the inside of the dash. The easiest way is to pull the column first. You can see under there so much better. An extension mirror works great to be able to see some of the hidden ones. If you think you have them all give a very light tug from the front. Don't force it if it does not move. You probably missed one.

All in all its not as hard as people tend to say. Just have to take your time and be carefull.

-Richard

[Olds64]

Welcome to our site.

Tom, koennen Sie Deutsch?

[craftsmen22]

Hi guys, sorry I missed to write about my car. It is a 69 Cutlass conv. 350 V8. How many screws should I find? Where should I hold the mirror in.

@ Olds64: Yes, since I am from Munich, Germany I speak German, and Bavarian, too.

Thank you all for your help.

[gearheads78]

The telescoping mirror helps to be able to see some of the ones up in the instument cluster and headlight switch area. Unless you have a 3" head you cant see them.

[Oldsguy]

Originally Posted by gearheads78

The telescoping mirror helps to be able to see some of the ones up in the instument cluster and headlight switch area. Unless you have a 3" head you cant see them.

HA HA, sometimes I wish! I hate under dash work.

[csstrux]

I have a 68 dash cut clean out of the car, I will post pics later. They should be the same. As I understand the dash is common between them

[csstrux]

It looks like it took 12 screws, or actually those cheepy nuts either 3/8 or 7/16 I don't remember anymore. You should be able to feel most of them, or get a good idea of location from the pics. Hope this helps.

[craftsmen22]

Hi there, great effort so far. Yes I have an idea where to look now. What about the Service Manual. I didn't find it there. Am I not concentrated enough, or is it really not in there?

Again, thank you for your help.

Tom

[csstrux]

To be honest my chassis manual is in about the same shape as my car, so I try not to open it up unless I absolutely have to. I'm still tearing it apart and doing a lot of work that I am at least semi familiar with though so at this point it's not a problem. Once I start putting this pup back together I'm going to have problems. I have actually been considering scanning the entire manual to a disk To answer your question I haven't looked

[2blu442]

Hello
If you've not got your dash out yet I can share some more photos. I took several showing the locations of the mounting studs for another member last year. Go to the following link, select view all, scroll down about half way. There are several of the dash and several more of the metal behind the dash. There are a couple that didn't have nuts on them, just metal clips in the holes that the studs pressed into. I believe the drivers side end was one of these. Be really careful removing those, its easy to break the studs off. John

http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...442/?start=all

[Aceshigh]

70' dash removal.....in process.....and OMFG dude I want to break this MF'r so bad.
I have my manual.....but it's still absolutely RETARDED hard.
All I want to do is replace the lower dash wood trim.....and put a new stereo in.....
and I can't BELIEVE I have to go through THIS MUCH trouble to do this.

The location of these bolts with these cheap nuts is unreal.
I have absolutely NO IDEA how GM got this thing together so simply.
I still have the 3 lower bolts to get to between the radio and ac, ac and column, and wiper control / headlight.

These 3 have to be damn near IMPOSSIBLE to get out.
To top it off my Speedo will not move more then 1" out of the cluster.
the speedo cable is so tight.....and I can't figure out how to remove it
and I can't even SEE the damn thing because it won't come out at all.

I've done my interior on my '78 Camaro and it's 1,000% easier then this royal PITA is.
How did you guys overcome getting these last 3 out ?? 2 of them you simply can't see
without some kind of extension mirror searching for them, and when you DO find them
it's almost impossible to get a socket on them from these weird ass angles you have to
contort to get them out.........I have no idea how the hell the factory did this.

The headlight / wiper one I'm assuming you go in through the 4 gauge panel but there's NO ROOM
to move a socket around in there with all the wiring harnesses right there.

The other 2.....I've just totally given up on befure I start kicking the dash to pieces.

[2blu442]

I used a 1/4" drive ratchet and several different lengths of extensions, standing on my head on the floorboad reaching in from the back. Yes it's difficult but I've removed several of these and the only problems with breakage are the two studs, one between the vent on the far left of the dash & the end of the dash, and one on the passengerside in the same place. They are threaded studs that press in to a clip, and if your not careful it's easy to break the stud off the dash.

The speedometer cable is held on with a clip that's at the 6:00 position on the gauge. You have to reach in and press it in, toward the gauge face while pulling the cable away from the pod.

It sounds like you've already found the points where the dash fastens to the metal frame, but if it would help I have photos of the back side of both a 68-69 and 70-72 dash assemblies on my photobucket site. Your welcome to scroll through and check them out to see if they'll shed any light on your project. John

http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...er_id=28547257

[2blu442]

Here's a speedometer head from a 1969 but it does show the clip on the back of the pod where the cable attaches.

[Aceshigh]

I ended up giving up on it.
It just aggravated the absolute sh** out of me going at it for 4 hours.
I ended up just breaking off my wiper switch cover to get the remainder
of the OLD wood trim metal off, and then I put the dash back together.

Getting the dash COMPLETELY off is not a simple task at all.
I have my Assembly Manual that clued me in as to a general location of each bolt.
The angles with which you have to contort your body, reach in, TRY and grab
these is unreal. Once I saw that there was another bolt on OTHER side of the left
vent......that was what killed it for me. I couldn't even reach it. let alone the other 3 lower one's.

I'm 5'11" and athletic at 185lbs, so I'm no tub of lard running out of breathe.....
I got everything pieced back together, and the new wood trim on the lower dash.
It's all good. I just have to glue my windshield wiper fascia in place now.

I was close to blowing a gasket before I just used plan B.
I did some searching and found out how to remove the speedo via the clip......
It was so easy I felt dumb afterwards.....lmao

[2blu442]

If your happy with the end result, that sounds like the bottom line. It can be done, but sometimes I put the wrenches down and go do something else for a while. The bolt on the outside of the vent is the stud that just pushes into the clip, there's no nut on the backside of that one. John

[Oldsmobilliam]

Does this apply to the 1982 C-body as well?