I've pulled the dash from my 1965 Impala for refurbishing and repainting. I'm not sure I removed it using the best approach, since I scratched the aluminum trim a bit. It was also not much fun. I first removed the plastic dash insert with the gauges still attached, then removed the metal dash outer ring.
I've painted and refurbished the metal and plastic parts of dash, converted the clock to quartz, upgraded stereo, etc. and am now ready to re-assemble.
Any experts out there, or anyone know the proper order for reassembling? I wonder if I am better off trying to reassemble the plastic and metal dash pieces as a unit, or should I put the gauges in as the last step?
I'm going to try the "assembled approach". I'm taking a bunch of pictures of the process, and will share when finished. I've already learned a lot about the interior of this vehicle.
How did you manage to remove the center piece with the gauges!?!?
I need to change some lightbulbs and I've located screws and took them out but no luck and I didn't want to pull because I was scared of breaking something. I didn't see any screws on the bottom part of the plastic centerpiece.
If all you need to do is change lightbulbs, you don't need to pull the dash. Just get up under the dash with a flashlight (or better yet, my Christmas gift from my wife was a headlamp, very useful), locate the bulb sockets and gently wiggle them out. Bulbs are very common, Sears, Walmart, etc. If you need to pull dash, the entire dash (metal outer ring and internal gauges) all come out as one piece.
I also HIGHLY recommend plastic polish I bought on Jegs website. My gauge lenses were pretty scratched and foggy. I few treatments with this polish (and a microfiber cloth), and my lenses are shockingly clear...like glass. When I re-assebembled my dash, this was one of the most noticeable improvements.
Mothers and Meguiars also makes some great plastic poilsh for your lenses.
One thing to remember is don't over tighten any screws that secure the clear lense(s). Over time this plastic gets brittle and one squeeze on an edge will cause stress cracks that will grow.
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