Before we can remove the dash we have to remove the center console. I'll use green arrows to indicate screws and red arrows to indicate nuts or bolts. To start we'll remove the glove box and right speaker cover. Their is a metal bar underneath the glove box remove the 2 screws and 2 bolts indicated. Then remove the glove box and right speaker cover. Remove the screw indicated and then you can remove the metal bar and speaker. Now on to the drivers side to remove the plastic undercover. First remove the speaker cover by removing the screw at the bottom of the speaker cover. Once the cover is off their should be 5 more screws and one bolt. The blue arrow points to the dimmer switch, pry off the knob and remove the 12mm nut. The yellow arrow points to the hood release lever, pull the lever forward and you'll find 2 screws that need to be removed. To remove the center piece that covers the radio/heater/ashtray remove the 3 screws on each side the top screw on each side is not visible in this picture but the top arrow points to the general area you will find it. Remove the ashtray and the 2 screws behind it and then remove the center cover. Remove the bolt so you can remove the wire and remove all the screws for the radio and heater control units then remove and unplug the heater control and radio. Pull out the hazard and defrost switches and remove the 2 screws behind them and the 2 screws in the top of the instrument cluster cowl. To remove the instrument cluster remove the 4 screws indicated by green arrows. Their is 2 more screws that need to be removed from the dash indicated by yellow arrows. To disconnect the wireing harness from the dash push down on the light blue plastic housing at the spot and in the dirrection indicated by the dark blue arrow. To remove the speedo cable push the white tabs in and pull the white plastic houseing towwards the back of the car about 1" and then lift the housing up until it clears the dash. The wiring harness is also connected to the dash at the spot indicated by the green arrow. There is a screw behind the little black circular plug. You probably can't get at it yet, we'll remove it later. Back on the passenger side you'll find one bolt to remove. Underneath the dash on the passenger side you'll find 2 nuts that need to be removed. Back on the drivers side behind the speaker you'll find a light blue box with 1 screw that needs to be removed. Remove this piece of vent tubing on the drivers side. Their are no screws or bolts just wiggle it until it comes free. You will be left with this piece of the vent still attached to the dash on the far left side. It has 2 screws that need to be removed from the back. One of the 2 screws that need to be removed from the vent. The vent needs to be removed because the wireing harness is routed through it. The dash should now be pretty free so try to lift it up and back. Once you have it free this is the screw I told you about earlier. Remove it and the wiring harness on the drivers side should be free of the dash. Back on the passenger side of the dash you'll find another light blue wiring harness tab that has to have its screw removed. Again on the passenger side remove the 2 screws you can see and one more underneath that is not visible in this picture. Press in on these 2 tabs and pull the switch out so you can unlug it. Unclip the little clip that holds the black couregated wiring harness to the dash. If everything went well you should now be able to remove your dash from the car. Have fun
Niiiiiiiiiiiiice write up. Definitely will do this soon and clean everything up behind the dash and remove whats left (if any) of the AC system. Anyone have pictures of whats needed to be removed for the AC by any chance?
I can help there - your stuff is backwards so may look confusing at first but it's all a matter of mirroring the images Aircon rad removal It's a pointless excercise, the plastic boxes have no weight, the aircon radiator is bulky but not heavy at all and was fitted on all JDM's whether they had aircon or not. The radiator itself acts as a filter for the system If you said you wanted the firewall blanket gone, that's another story altogether. It's a heavy M/fukr (20-30kg) and I'm sure some Dynamat or similar would be just as effective, cleaning and sevicing the units is a must Removing the Ventilation system Next step is to remove the steel bars which hold the steering and centre console together You cannot remove the ventilation system without doing this 1) Remove all pipes - water and aircon 2) Disconnect all heater related plugs, radio, heater control etc 3) Remove all harness holders from the steel frames (a small long nose plier to squeeze the expander together) as well as any earthing wires 4) Unbolt the 4 steering mount bolts and lower the steering onto a box or similar (1st remove the covers or break them) 5) remove the centre console braces 5) Unbolt & remove the dash bar, think of ways to lighten it! - then let me know Now you can get at the ventilation units, 1) first you must remove the main air routing box, see pics for mounting points. (10mm socket on a long t-handle works well) You cannot do it out of sequence! Remember the heater hoses go through the firewall as well as the valve cable 2) followed by the aircon box 3) Then the blower motor unit 4) Now you can remove the firewall blanket 5) Service/clean all units, rustproof the firewall/screen from the inside as well as the blower 6)The heater radiator needs aggressive hosing and radiator flush in order to remove the 22yrs of mud resting inside, it slides out the top Hope that helps, it's not difficult at all
whahaha looks familiar, it's a real pita when you've never done it . I also notice that the whole cooling/blower thingy is different when it's electric. Must find a car with it
Ventilation system cleanout (in car) Yeah, I imagine so I don't have the early cable type to compare with, but this should help 80-90% of the guys Here's the quick fix for guys who have blocked ventilation systems Ventilation System noisy, not blowing properly? The TEMS had it's heater blower filled with leaves and making strange noises when you put the fan on & little airflow. I pulled all 3 units from the spares car (1 Blower, 2 Air con condenser, 3 Main air dispersal unit) and re-conned them, also gave me a chance to see how everything goes together and works. Unfortunately you cannot remove the blower unit without first removing the other two. The problem was the aircon was working (on 20+yr R12 gas!) and no way was I going to drain and re-fill the system. The only solution I could see was to create a window into the condenser unit and remove the leaves (the condenser itself acts as a filter for the rest of the system and traps 99.9% of the junk) Problem is the radiator is flimsy aluminium and there is an expansion valve, pipes and a sensor located on the inlet side where the leaves were collecting. the solution I devised is as follows: Step 1 Remove the cubby from the dash Remove the fan from the bottom of the blower unit (Large black plate, 3 screws, rubber cooling pipe), Remove the blower resistor as well or risk damaging it, reach in and remove whatever leaves you can. Rustproof the resistor heat sink as no doubt it will be badly rusted. Be very careful removing/replacing the resistor as the coils break easily. Step 2 Drill a hole in the Condenser casing, CAREFULLY, don't allow the bit to go past the plastic or you may damage the expansion valve or aircon pipes Step 3 Slowly expand the hole to the size of the grommet you are going to plug it with, use a dremel, small file, small grinding tip etc Step 4 Remove whatever leaves you can using tweezers, a small pipe attached to a vacuum cleaner etc. Re-fit the fan and switch it on to help blow out the leaves Step 5 Once the leaves are removed, close the hole with the grommet. I used a floor grommet removed from my spare car Step 6 Re-fit the cubby and enjoy your heater/blower at it's full capacity I'm now looking at making a wire filter to fit over the fan entry hole below the windscreen and stop this happening again, luckily I now have a handy trapdoor for cleaning my system as well.
oh man! thats a lot of work for both stig and st165. props to you both! seems like these things have more to it than it seems. like little ninja's hiding behind panels!