I found a 1971 Cutlass 4 door in a local junkyard with a perfect Sienna dash, just what I need for my 1971 Cutlass Supreme convertible because a previous owner poked a fender emblem into the dash above the glovebox, exposing holes if I remove it. How hard is it to remove the dash pad? How many screws/clips/nuts and where are they? I've replaced the dash pad in a 1973 Road Runner, but I'm not familiar with the '70-'72 Cutlass dash pad. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Steve

John 2blu442 posted some nice pics of a removed dash that showed all the fastener locations...I couldn't find the thread right away but when you see where the fasteners are first it's easier to remove the dash.

 

It's not really that difficult to do if you have done it a couple of times.

I just removed two in the last couple of weeks.

I believe it will take an 11/32 socket along with a few other 1/4 drive sockets, a couple of extension, and a lot of patience.

You may want to take a couple sturdy boxes that sit high enough that you can rest the dash pad on as you diconnect the wiring harness and heater cables. It is hard to hold while disconnecting the numerous cables and wires that are attached to it.

Remove the following:

Glove box
glove box liner
lower a/c vents
Gauges
Upper vents (which are removed using a phillips screw driver to remove the screws which are found behind the vent grille)

After all of this is done you can feel along the front edge behind the metal dash for the zerk nuts that hold it in place. The one you'd expect on the driver's side is actually a slip nut which can be pulled loose by gently tugging on the dash after all the other zerk nuts have been removed.

If you need any additional pictures let me know. Good luck saving that valuable piece. And I hope others here will chim in and add any details I might have missed.

 

Take your time so that you don't break anything. The dash pad is attached to the lower plastic instrument panel, so you have to remove the whole dash, then separate the pad from the lower panel. If the radio hole isn't cut out you may be able to sell the lower panel to one of the members here.

This is an old thread with pictures from two different dash assemblies, both 70-72.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...2-cutlass.html

As Olds442redberet said not real difficult, but if you start getting frustrated then walk away and come back later. If you try to force it you can break off the studs. John

 

Thanks guys!

 

I took a couple of those dashes out and took pics but since the picture part of the site is down I can't help with that but I did not like taking these dashes out!

 

Definitely not a fun task..