Started pulling dash and now i'm confused....
 

I got the a pillars off and then the top piece that's velcro'd on and then the piece of plastic that covers the gauge cluster that's held in by two screws. So then I see there is 4 screws around the perimeter of the gauge cluster, so I took them out and the cluster doesn't wanna budge, is there something else I have to take out first that's hiding other screws that hold the cluster in?

Also, did anybody have any issues with some of the bolts not working with a 7 mm socket? The fucking top bolts on the dash under where I pulled the velcro'd piece off of aren't coming off with a 7mm, it's slightly too big, and a 6.5 is too small! I'm gettin annoyed already and I haven't gotten much done!

try pulling on it it should come right out (only has 4 bolts holding it in)but you do have to drop the column down also...as far as the bolts try non metric sockets

Ok, pulled on it and it came loose now, must have been snapped into place on something. Took out all the bolts I could see and now everything is loose, which bolts drop the column down? Cuz I can't get the gauge panel out with the column in the way, like you said.

Bye the way, now I know why people by the better tools like snap on, I borrowed a buddies 1/4 inch snap on socket set and that 7mm fit like a fucking glove and got all the bolts out!

pull the cover off from under the dash and then theres brace with 2 10 mm nuts on each end (black bracket) and then you will see the 2 nuts that hold the column up I think they are 13mm take them out and then the column will drop down about 3-4 inches.

She's all out and hvac box too! Just gotta get the mat thing out and she'll be all ready to go in!!! Thanks for the help guys! I'll get some pics tomorrow, the wiring behind there is a fucking mess, it's rediculous! I wanna get rid of it all, but don't have the patience to trace shit! :bang:

now is the time to do it...I wish I had done mine while the dash was out :bang: much easier to trace with nothing in the way. Anyways glad I could help :chug:even if I didnt have to turn any wrenches :)

Getting ALL of that "mat" out is a huge pain in the ass. And chopping the wiring i lost about 20 lbs. :eek:

I should be able to get that mat out, it doesn't look too bad! And i'm just not gonna fuck with the wiring, my luck i'll fuck something up, i'm just gonna leave it alone, I don't wanna open up that can of worms!

I just pulled mine the other day and put it back in this morning, took a good 40 mins to put in, a good 4 hours to pull out for the first time, lol. I thought the airbag was gonna weigh more. There were so many screws and bolts left over, but damn do I love weight reduction.

The wining harness weigh's a TON. A few of the guys I know went with the painless one, and they saved about 30 lbs from swapping the harness. If the painless sint' somethign you want to do, I'd at least pull every inch of wire for the radio if you don't have that or have removed, it, all the speakers while it's apart and all the wire for that, I plan to do that to mine probably this summer, as soon as I find a plate that I can install in the dash so there's not a gaping hole there.

VFN makes a firebird fiberglass dash too, of ultra light is the path you are taking, might be something to thinka bout too.

Maybe one day, I just don't feel like dealing with the headache of all this customizing, that dash will be a little bit of a pain to do and put the gauges in and shit, I just wanna get the car legal and get back running again for now.

Bye the way, here's a little pic of what I did to cover that gaping hole, hehe! :) I've added a few things into that panel since that pic, but you get the idea, it's nice and clean and gives me plenty of switches for stuff in the future!

Devon,

Guarantee if you don't do it now it won't ever get done. Always being in a hurry only means you'll have a car full of temporary projects.

I'm a Example of this.. i have like 10 projects laying around... :bang:

Luis,

I think most all of us have been guilty of this :emb: That's why we and others can learn from our mistakes.

If you think you will cut up the wiring harness one day, then just do it now. Because once the dash is back in you'll wish you had. It really isn't that hard,just a little time consuming. But every little bit of weight adds up!

Eric, too be honest i'm scared to try and cut up the wiring harness. I don't really know what I need and don't need and don't wanna cut the wrong thing and then have the major issue of having fucked up wiring! Wiring problems are the worst! So to be honest, I think i'm gonna leave it and never touch it unless I one day buy a painless harness and can just rip this entire one out and put the new one in.

How do I figure out where everything goes, if I were to give it a shot, cuz right now, there's just a big mess of wires everywhere! :(

don't be a wimp, do what I did :devil: