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….. 🙂
This last is the rest of the removal. I tossed a little humor in there about feed my son Ryan only if we worked for the meal. Not sure he thought that was too humorous..but I’m his Dad..he has to deal with me. 🙂
So the process was fairly straight forward. Only thing not obvious was the removal of two trim pieces that hid the front bracket.
Philips screw..wow how ugly was that old dash???
Top screw removal
There were 3 philips screws along the dash next to the windshield. A nice long screw driver worked nicely. The holes in the dash cover for the screw were pretty deteriorated, but it was good do know that the dash was really metal covered with the padded vinyl so the screw would hold forever.
passenger side screws – remove and done!
There were 4 more screw on the passenger’s side. Now if this were a Mach I it would have a clock located there, but instead there is just a plastic panel. You could actually place a LCD monitor there for DVD player. The panel is below:
passenger’s Side Panel
The next set of two screws that needed to come up were located above the radio. These were a bit awkward to remove. But they weren’t philips screws..that pieced together with what we found after taking the dash pad out led to a conclusion of…well I’ll hold off mentioning that until I give you the other piece.
Arrows show the position of the two screws
After removing these two “non-philips” screws (flat) the dash pad would lean forward and you’d think it would pop right off …but nope!!! The next photos show why.
Dash Pad leaning forward.
Additional Trim piece that needed to be removed.
One screw and off it came.
Caption is wrong here the side screw was removed but there was still one below.
Bottom screw had to just be loosened and the pieces sliped off
One this pieces of trim was removed you can see the screw/bolt that need to be removed.
Not a great pic..but you get the idea.
One on each side and the dash pad was ready to go. Check out the videos. If the videos don’t work..let me know.
I enlisted the help of my son Ryan. He was over for dinner and he lent me hand, so I could film as well.
This first video shows us discovering the front brace hidden under the trim piece.
Here is the backside of dash pad.
The paper tag on the bottom of the dash pad.
Reading that you can see the date of 1972 on the tag. Since the Mustang is a 1970, the date doesn’t make sense. Adding that the screws near the radio that don’t match (straight vs. philip for the rest) I wondering if the dash wasn’t replaced. The original owners didn’t mention it, but there was no real reason too. This could mean that the dash was replaced with what appears to be NOS (new old stock) (from 1972)..that’s a possibility. I’ll do some more research just to find out.
The last few pics are of the other markings.
The two eights – one upper in maker and the one in the glue.
Parts code perhaps 3 24 (d) 2
Sorry..that one’s upside down. 🙂
The original Ford speaker.
Speaker with part number.
So what’s next? I’ll check out the wiring and pull the gages if I need to for repair (although all the gages are working fine). Oh..yeah..do a bulb replacement.
Many of our cars have worn out emblems that were once painted…Ok..I’m a lucky average guy…the Mustang’s emblems are all chrome and my Corvettes are mostly plastic.
But what about some those that need painting. Look for a flow pencil.
Flow Pencil for paint your emblems.
These are pretty reasonable and make painting small areas a bit easier.
I’ve been think about doing this but the rules seem a bit tough to come up with. But I’ll give this a try.
I’m looking for some project car posts from the readers. Your projects. Anything from a huge wreck of car project to something smaller (bigger then an oil change). It has to be your car and you are doing “some” of the work on it. That the only hard and fast rule.
I’ll need a couple photos and some brief details. You can post them up here or find me on Facebook and post the them up or email them to me (timsweet@cox.net). I’ll post them here and then on my website (www.tucsoncarevents.com) for everyone to look at.
If I get enough entries I’m pick a car of the week the week and then out of the we’ll vote on the car of the month (if I don’t get votes posted up I’ll have one of my regular readers pick it. The winner the car of the month gets a $100.00 online gift card as an auto parts dealer (Summit Racing or even on tailored to your car). Simple as that.
So let’s get started. Remember anything from a total wreck to just a transmission swap, body work, paint, interior upgrade, hood swap. That all works. Sorry Pdawg giving Burt a bath and vac isn’t going to cut it (but he could use one!!!…just kidding). It doesn’t have to be done and I don’t need a before and after, just what you are working on.
I’ll this run until I get at least for to choose from, then we’ll vote.
Note: If you noticed my site is not commercial, there are no ads, no click through links, no pop ups. It’s just me type to hear myself type and a few of you reading it. I like it that way.
3/15/1960 Mercury Comet is brought to dealership windows.
3/17/1949 Porsche appears as the Geneva Auto Show and Gottlibe Daimler born in Germany in 1834.
3/18 a couple of notable birthdays. Andy Grenatelli was born in Dallas (1923) and a little bit before that Ruddy Diesel was born in France in 1858. Ok..Rudolf ….only close friends were allowed to call him Ruddy. Guess what Ruddy is famous for?
Follow the steps and you’ll be able to remove those rusted exhaust bolts and it makes using an easy out on broke bolts…um…well… easier!!!!
1. Heat the bolt or stud with a torch errrkkk….”Yo…us averaged guys don’t have a torch set!!!!” Yeah, I know…I use a regular propane torch from ACE Hardware. ….errkkk Double nut the studs.
2. Once it hot…doesn’t have to be glowing red, touch a candle to it, until there is wax penetrated between the threads.
3. Remove the bold or apply the easy out and you are home free.
