[gardidien]

My question is, in what state can I leave the dash and still drive the car? This is going to take me a few days and it's 105F out. I can't go all day workin on it and I have other commitments to go to over the weekend. If I tore everything out, can I still drive the car, safely?

Any guides or pictures to make the job easier or faster? Any mods, upgrades, other replacements, I can do at the same time?

My AC has turned into nothing better than a fan... And I'm dying in this heat

[Adpros]

If you have the dash out and can still drive the car, I'd say "What state requires a dash"? Better yet, who's gonna know unless you take the doors off too?

If the cops ask you "Do you know how fast you were going"? You can honestly say Nope!

[gardidien]

I could hook up the gauges with the rest out no? Tape it up there? Lol

[peva]

IIRC, the steering column has to be dropped to pull the dash - so driving might be difficult. Serioulsy, for the time it would take to bandaid things during the job so you could drive it, it might be worth it to rent a car for a couple of days.

As far as upgrades, if you don't have ATC, then would be the time to swap the body harness and blower power module.. That's what I did when I rfeplaced my evap. (along with replacing the steering column due to a couple of minor problems with the original one - so my evap. job was a three-fer). But I suspect your car already has ATC?

[DrDodge]

you could,, but why not wait till you have the time to do it right? toss a can of 134A in it till you have the time

[gardidien]

No ATC but it's something I want to do. My main concern though is that I have a remote start and I don't want to mess that up. Would they have tapped into that harness at all?

A can of r134 lasts me about 12 hours. :-p

[tgs]

No, seriously, there is no way you can do that unless you take the dash out, remove the wiring harness and then reconnect all of the connectors without the dash.

That would work.

If you think about it, the dash is a cosmetic hangar for the wiring harness behind it; well, and the vent piping.

Damn, man, you couldn't have done this back in February or March?
You couldn't have picked a worse time to do this.

You can read the how-tos and the FSM for removal instructions.
It's very time consuming -- especially your first time.

And one more thought: It's supposed to cool off into the upper 80s next week, down here by Indy.
Maybe you could wait a week. Something to consider.

As Peva said the steering wheel has to come down but it can go back up after the dash is out.
Your remote start is spliced into the original harness for sure. That's how all the aftermarket ones are done.
That would all come out with the dash harness and dash.

Good luck.
.
.

[ludvig]

Dont do it!.....hehehe

[gardidien]

Ugh, even if i just replaced the evap then, without mods, I would be messing with the remote start. This sucks... I don't want to mess that up at all.

I really wanted to do it earlier in the year, but I was in my last semester of school before graduating. Now I have time on weekends, but its 100+ degrees.

[Ronbo]

Car rental is the way to go while you do the work on your car.

[Mister 300 M]

I don't think so Tim.

[Scooter-Man]

This is a SOLID day job meaning 4+ hours. Your front seats have to come out, center console (if you have one), the entire dash comes out, drop the steering wheel. that's just the interior. Then the upper windshield cowl comes out and hose removal time.

Your remote start may make this harder, hard to say.

Tough decision for you in this heat. Good Luck. (I've done this change and my Photobucket acct lost those pics...)

[Scooter-Man]

I found a picture..

[Patel.748]

CaptainMorgan and I got my ATC swap done in about 3-3.5 hours.Your talking about 2 senior LH members here that know the workings of the LH model. If you don't even know where to find the correct screws/connectors to take out an LH dash your gonna spend 3 hours there just finding them. You have to drop the steering column to get the dash out. I would not recommend driving without a dash. What if you get in a wreck and there is a passenger?

Also in this heat, I would do what Tom suggested and thrown a can of R134a in and do this job in the fall. It worked out great for me when we did mine in early October.

If you must work on it...rent a car.

[ludvig]

In my 94 Vision with an evap leak, i used this product i got from the states.it has the drier, oil, sealant freon in one can..after using it, the system kept its pressure throughout the summer......my hands would be bone cold if i put it in front of the vent.....its called "Nasa Arctic Freeze Ultra Synthetic 134a+". Just another option which you may not want to use on a newer car.