Dash Removal

[eulle]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me the proper way to remove the dash from the sol. I was hoping to be able to paint it, and was wondering the best way to get it out of the vehicle. any instructions or links to something that would give me a step by step guideline would be great. Thanks

[Tranzlogic]

you have 3 main 10mm bolts on the dash itself they are located behind small trip plates that pop out with a blade screwdriver theres one on each side of teh dash that are visable if you open teh door, then the 3rd is located where the windshield meets the dash in the center....

after that there are 3 or 4 screws that hold your upper dash trim bezel in place, this is teh panel that goes around your hazard switch and so forth..the screws are located if you look up under neath of this panel by the cluster..remove these screws and pop it out with a driver..your also gonna need to pop the switches out with a driver and reach behind and seperate the connectors before you fully pull it out.....

after that you need to take the 5 or so screws out from the instrument cluster itself and pull that away..behind that you will 5 or 6 connection plgs that you will have to seperate..now there is also a ground wire that runs down behind all that down into the internal knee cluster area..you will see this when you try to pull the cluster away..it will hang up..follow that wire down the knee panel and unground it..now your gonna have to lay on the floor looking up in oder to do this part...then pull the cluster away

now you need to pull your radio and bracket away.do this by removing your upper console surround with a driver and taking out the 6 or so screw/bolt combinations that hold all of it in place..this is after removing the stereo of course thats easy if its factory then unscrew it and unplug it..if its aftermarket then use your removal tool.

now your heater controls are not going to come out before teh dash is removed....but you need to get on the passanger side and lay on the floor facing up behind the dash and find your heater control box its right by where the opeing is between driver and pass side..there will be a black cable that is attatched to a silver lever, you need to pop that off..it just wraps around it..but dont mess it up..

after that your dash should slide off with a lil pulling because it will hang on the side braces a lil bit....after that flip it around and there are 2 screws that hold the heater control int eh back of the dash..remove them and your GOLD

i do hope you realize that your gonna have to wrap teh dash pad in fibergalss in order to paint it ? cause paint wont adhear to that vynal pad..and that vynal paint doesnt work!! if you just paint teh plastic make sure you hit it with some 300 grit so scuff it up a lil bit and tehn use some spray on adheasive promotor before priming and spraying.

if you need anything else hit me up..my email is [email protected] and my AOL AIM name is wastedgargoyle

[dejoux]

Cheers
Very useful

Hopefully my dash will be coming out soon too so at least I have a start on how to do it