help removing instr. cluster

Hi Jake- I did cluster on my 70 Dart a year ago. I assume that's what you're working on by your screen name? It was a bit of a bear getting the column down far enough to get the cluster to tilt forward enough to get it out. The gear indicator hump was in the way. I kept working it and loosened up everything mentioned above and finally it cleared and came out. It helped to have my teenage daughter hold the column down while I could get my hands on the cluster and finesse it about. Some guys will tell you it was just drop out and others will tell you it's tough. Both are true- depends upon your car and technique a bit.

As previously mentioned, take the fifteen minutes to remove the front seat. Most of that 15 minutes is spend feeding the seatbelts through the seat back. Have two people to help lift it out or you might tear your carpet and gouge the door sills with the studs on the bottom of the seat. I put down a nice piece of foam and it was so comfortable to work on the the underside of the dash at that point I could have easily taken a nap.

I'm really serious about the next part too. As long as you're already tearing into it, take this time in the winter to also take out the glovebox and pull your heater box. There will be a ton of leaves and other crap in there. While it's out also remove the vent tower on the drive's side and with these out you can reach up and give the underside of the cowl a really good cleaning because it is also likely full of debris. After I got mine spic and span, I bought a sheet of rubberized magnetic sign material and cut out a cowl vent cover for my Dart. When I park it at work in the fall I lay that over the cowl and it keeps stuff from dropping in. Repair any other issues with the heater box and reseal it. Check the heater core for tiny leaks. I simply replaced mine not knowing how old it was.

You may also have jute hanging loose. Take the time to glue that back up to the underside of the dash. Pull the radio and the heater control head too.

Check your wiring really good now too and look for anything suspicious. Overheated distorted or cracked insulation. Most cars this age have had somebody hacking on the dash wiring at least once. This is the time to fix and clean-up any wiring issues and to get all the harnesses back up in the proper clips they once were in.

I also repainted my dash at this point as long as everything was off it. That made my interior look so much better. It was kind of the finishing touch.

Now is the time to do all this and you will be rewarded with years of less trouble from these components. Take everything out and off and access is very good from the underside and through the front openings. It looks much worse than it is. The more you take off the easier it is to get to the next item. Just put it all back in the same order. It seems like much more than you probably intend to do at this point but you'll be happy when you're done. Don't forget to clean the dust out of the inside of your cluster lens so the view is clear. If you're not going to repaint, tape up the top of the column with masking tape so that you don't scuff or gouge the paint when the cluster comes out. By the way- after the trouble it gave me coming out, it slid right in without any resistance. Who would have thought.

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