2007 Honda Civic - replacing a/c system, how to remove dashboard so we can replace expansion valve?

[SunDog67]

2007 Honda Civic LX 4 door 1.8 liter, manual 5-speed, 145K, my daily driver.

We are replacing my entire a/c system and I need help with getting access to the expansion valve under the dash in order to replace it.

To give some history: the old compressor stopped working properly about a 2 months ago. The fan was ok and blew fine, but the air would start blowing warm for about 20 mins then gradually come back to cold, then warm for longer, then cold, until it mostly blew warm after a couple weeks of this behavior.

Honda initially diagnosed the suction line going to the compressor as having a leak at one of the rubber hose to metal line crimps. After getting the line replaced and the system recharged, it blew cold for the ride home but the next day it was blowing warm again, temp knob on coldest, fan on high. I took it back and they then said the clutch part of the compressor was failing. The cost to replace the compressor was too much for my budget, so I let it be driven (foolishly) for another several weeks until the compressor / clutch siezed. Oh, the smaller rubber hose / metal line also blew a week after getting the thicker one replaced.

Yesterday a good friend of mine was able to come over and give me a hand. We removed the compressor. We had to remove the alternator, as well as the driver side fan and top bracket for better access to and to make room for removing the compressor.

So, we got the new compressor in, alternator back on, new condensor in place, and we want to also replace the expansion valve. As it turns out, it is under the dashboard on the passenger side.

The dashboard needs to be removed, and it is in layers. The top layer is comprised of the dash panels themselves, stereo system, and instrument clusters, and a few other bits and pieces. It is critical to DISCONNECT THE BATTERY, being that the passenger side air bag is in the passenger part of the dash, which we are also removing as part of the right dash panel.

So, we have the top layer off. Then the next layer is an underlying metal bracket structure (don't know what else to call it) that spans the entire dashboard. We have removed any screws that we can see, we even removed the pillar panels (side upper airbags underneath). But, that metal bracket structure is still hung up on something.












We wonder if it is connected to the tubular reinforcement bars that are under this second layer metal bracket system? On the right side we have removed the long bolts that go into the metal tubular frame, and there are some threaded nuts that u have to use an open ended wrench to turn. We are not sure if it is necessary to remove this tubular structure, but this is where we left off:





We are stuck at this point at the moment and I am researching how to get this part out, or if it is even necessary.

Any ideas?

Thx