Well after the bout of bad video uploads I decided to stick with photos for the rest of this project.
This blog entry (I like the sound of that…’blog entry’) I’ll show some pic of the area behind the dash and the removal of the gage panel and bulb replacement.
As I suspected and as to be expected, the dash and gages have been out of this car before. No big deal, it 40 years!!! Clearing you can tell that because the screws are not matching that hold the gages in.
Right side of the gage cluster had philips screw with washer.
After the dash pad was removed there were really only 2 screw left that held the panel/cluster in place – seen above and below.
The Left side was not a philips
After these were removed the gage panel/cluster (ok….I’m just going to call it a gage panel…if you like cluster…read as “cluster”). The only thing holding it in were two connections to the wiring harness. Those just clip together..sorry….I had those on video… and pull off easily.
Part of the wiring harness
As you can see other than just being dusty, all the wiring was in good shape. I had expected some issue due to age, but nope..not a one. (That’s not a complaint…no way…I hate electrical work…..I had a bad experience 🙁 )
This pic is of the panel on the right side of the and there is a LOT of space behind there. A cd changer should slide back there as well as adding a dvd player to the plastic panel. No I don’t believe I would, actually add one…..hmmmm…..I guess if someone donated an item I might consider putting it in…..or not.
The right side panel...lots of empty space.
Look at that room...for a donated dvd player....:)
So I did blew that out to get rid of some of the dust and wiped it down with citrus cleaner.
As I removed the two screws from the panel I thought it would pull right out but nope..the cover for the steering column had to be removed first. Simple enough.
Cover for the steering column
Then……( insert…dooms day music)…a piece fell out!!!!! See below
queue the dooms day music...the loose piece.
Ok..not really a big deal. It was just a clip that held the to pieces of the steering column cover together. It screwed back in slide of the two ends.
Now I didn’t take the gage panel out of the car didn’t really need to since the wiring was all fine. I pulled it out enough to allow my had to go behind and pull out the bulbs.
The position of one bulb.
Here is what the bulb and socket look like, together and apart.
Bulb and Socket
Bulb removed from socket
They come out of the housing by a simple twist. The socket has two copper conductors (you can see them in the pic above…one on each side) that come into contact with the electrical ribbon and provide the power to the bulb. Most of the bulbs were still functional, very dusty..but I replaced them all.
Ok that’s about if this “blog entry” (come on..you like it too!!!…say it with me “blog entry”….I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!….BLOG ENTRY!!)
I’ve actually placed it all back together today and I’ll post more tomorrow. But you want to see it before that, I’m driving it to work tomorrow…it not that long of a drive to Tucson…come down…I’ll spring for lunch….. 🙂
Thanks for reading.
