66 dash removal. How?

[preS]

I would appreciate any advise on the removal of the topdash from a 66 (it concerns a 912 but 911S is the same I guess ..).

I removed the 2 nuts in the trunk compartment and the 5 springclips in front of the dash are loose as well but some how the top remains stuck. By the way the frtwindhield is still in place.

I have checked the shopmanual but wonder if there is a trick. Can it be stuck due to time?

Thanks,

Richard

[pwd72s]

I'm not 100% sure on a '66, so hope some of the SWB guys weigh in...but the general concensus on '69-'73, and probably later cars is, gotta pull the windshield to reach all the fasteners. Sorry...

[NeunElf]

On my '65 911, I undid two nuts in the trunk, removed the steering wheel, and pulled the upper dash backwards. There was no need to reomve the windshield. Except that the nuts in the trunk are hard to get at, it was a very easy job.

By the way, I know '65s are supposed to have a "four button" dashboard which would have a different remove-refit procedure. I think a previous owner might be responsible...

[preS]

Jim is right, according to the Workshop manual is it not necessary on pre 68 cars (SWB?) to remove the windshield. The problem I enncountered is that it's stuck somewhere on the top. Most likely due to never being removed. I don't want to mesh it up so I am looking for some pointers. BTW Jim what do you mean by "4 button"? Are these the 5 (I thought) that are on the side? Those are loose.

Richard

[NeunElf]

BTW Jim what do you mean by "4 button"? Are these the 5 (I thought) that are on the side? Those are loose.

Richard

The first 911s had their dashboards held by four screws that came down from the interior of the car and engaged captive nuts in the trunk (two of those captive nuts are where you remove non-captive nuts on the newer cars). Those four screws are covered with plastic buttons.

I rechecked Dr. Johnson's book The 911 & 912 PORSCHE, a Restorer's Guide to Authenticity and he says the newst car (he knows of) with the "four button" dash is 301175--built a little before my car. But, I still have two unused captive nuts down there!


Here's a picture of 300149. You can see two of the buttons at the bottom edge of the windshield, right in front of the frog:

[Bobs 67S]

Jim, on the early cars there are the four screws at the center of the dach and one each out by the window posts. Total of six.

There is always the possiblity of rust holding the dash pad. The covering is wraped around two metal panels so go easy and see if all the snap clips have released and there isn't some rust fusion going on.

Judy has the mascot frog on her dash of her ford product after out trip to Wisconsin. I have to ask for traveling privileges to bring him with in the 65.
Bob

[gruen911]

304678,
When I removed the dash on my 67 last year, the nuts on my 67 two bolt dash were hard to loosen. Assuming you have the two bolt dash, and you have been able to remove the nuts already, it should pull away at a slight anglea from the metal underdash area. Try tapping on the bolts with a hammer to see if they come loose or have any movement. Mine definitely took some work to remove as well, but fortunately no rust areas just some rusty mounting bolts.
I would also suggest that if the dash is really firm and won't move at all that you add the headache of popping the windshield out and use a flat putty knife from the vent area to see if you can work it loose. The dash base underneath the vinyl covering is metal, so short of damaging the vinyl itself you should be able to apply some pressure without doing ny real damage to the dash underside. It's hard to find a nice clean early dash (cheap) so BE CAREFUL!
Just a thought, but once you get the dash off, you may want to double check the number on the underdash to confirm that it matches you VIN.

[sithot]

The lovely thing about a SWB dash is that it can be RE-COVERED and back in your hands in a week. Autos did mine last year. Shawn scared the cover off of "Shorty" by taking the car to Alaska and then moving to Arizona. (What were you thinking, Shawn?)
The cover gave up and I had to remove the dash. It took about a half hour to figure it all out. The re-entry was easier. Check that all of your clips in the front part of the dash that secure it are intact and in working order.

-Take off the wheel
- Find the two nuts under the cowl (windshield area under hood)
- Gently pry the front away from the areas around the instruments and the pad along the ridge above the glove box. I forget how many clips there are but it's important not to get carried away pulling on it. The 2 studs that were poking through the cowl under the hood might put up a little fight but it's because they are threaded and coming out of a small hole. The threads might drag a little.

While you're under there, check the top of the dash for your serial number. On later cars it's a production number; on the early cars it's usually the car's serial number. Also, you may find some dash material over the binnacle just laying there covering the number. I had a couple of pieces laying on the top of the dash. I put them back in just like I found them. I wanted to leave a "message in a bottle".

Good luck,

Tom

[gruen911]

Tom,
When Autos recovered your original dash , did they replicate the speaker holes as well?

[preS]

Thanks for the pointers. All 5 clips came loose as did the 2 nuts. Since there appear to be no mounting hardware on top of the dash, I will try tapping the studs later today ..

Thanks, Richard