Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (October 2010, week 4)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:32:36 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: FW: Dash removal - how long
In-Reply-To:  <4cc35947.c78de50a.1f4a.ffffac4a@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I have taken several out in half an hour, so that may have been me. Working by myself, I might add :0

It's not hard at all to get the dash out, in fact it is surprisingly easy. But as several posters have pointed out, that's where your work BEGINS. Cracking the heater box, getting new foam on all those pieces, marking the control wires and keeping up with little parts all take time. It's a two day job if you are facing it for the first time.

Next time your heater motor goes out or your heater core starts leaking, you'll fly into it and have it back together in an afternoon because everything else has been done, and you'll know what to expect about getting things to line up. It matters a little if you have an older vanagon, because the heater box screws come out from the inside, which is more difficult to do and takes longer. The screws (at least two of them) on later model vanagons come out from the front after you pull the grill. Much easier.

And BTW you don't need to remove the dash, you can flop it over with a lot of stuff connected face down onto the seats. There's enough room left to work on the heater. No need to pull the steering wheel either.

Jim

On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 4:52 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote: > At 04:52 PM 10/23/2010  -0400, B Feddish wrote: >> >> Thanks for everyones suggestions.  So I've got estimates from 3 >> hours to 2 years. :)  That narrow it down. hahahaha OK,, I'm too >> tired from doing leaf cleanup for the last 8 hours so I'm not going >> to start it tonight. I'll review Ben's page I have saved somewhere >> and think about maybe starting tomorrow.  It's > > Bryan, if you look back Joel Cort and I among others have written in > some detail about this.  You'll also, if you look hard enough, find > one of our well known members (?possibly Mark Drillock?) say that > he'd just had a dashboard out and back in a completely ridiculous > time -- half an hour maybe?  I forget. > > A few points: > > You can drive the beast perfectly* well without a dashboard, just > hook up the steering column again (make sure the rubber coupling for > the collapsing column is fitted correctly).  So you don't have to > panic if there's a sticking point.  This will let you give the heater > box the loving attention it surely needs. > > * for some value of "perfectly."  No gauges, of course. > > You don't have to drill out the antitheft screws holding the column > up.  Good Vise Grips work just fine.  And you don't have to pay VW > $10 apiece for replacements, just use normal M8 bolts.  The thieves > no doubt have Vise Grips. > > You need space alongside for the width of the dash as it comes out. > > The large screws on top of the dash hold the wipers on.  The small > sheet-metal ones that you care about require a screwdriver that can > pass through glass -- I'm sure the dash went in before the > windshield.  Since you can't line up the screwdriver, the heads try > extra hard to mangle themselves.  OTOH once you've Dremel'ed the head > off the one you just mangled, the rest unscrews easily from > below.  For replacement I shifted to hex-head screws. > > It isn't coming out until you've removed those two defroster vents on top. > > The heater box mounting screws are M6 with P3 head, and the other end > of them is exposed to weather.  PB Blaster and a hand impact tool are > your friends -- a regular driver will try awfully hard to cam out and > wreck the screw.  I replaced them with hex/washer. > > There's a ton of stuff in the wayback about restoring heater > boxes.  For some reason hardly any attention is given to the two > delicate pressure flaps that allow ram air to bypass the blower.  The > mounting clips and pins grind each other from round with a medium gap > at the bottom to triangular with a large gap at the bottom, at which > point they stick.  Ram air still works, but blower doesn't.  I've > made the point elsewhere about how hard they are to get to and fix -- > looking at it now I'm wondering if there was a reason I didn't simply > make a hole alongside to work through and cover it up after.  I > expect I'll find out soon when my present one comes out. > > Remember the clevis on the clutch pedal that needs grease if it > hasn't already worn out. > > Yours, > David >


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.