Dash removal tricks L-series

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:47 am

I've finally changed the heater core last weeked. Yeah, thanks for the excellent write up Bennie

One thing though. My tacho stopped working after I put the dash back on. any ideas why this might have happened?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:56 am

GTlegs wrote:My tacho stopped working after I put the dash back on. any ideas why this might have happened?

My tach needle gets stuck depending on what the temp is at the time (hot temp usually does it). In this case it could be that one of the pins at the back of the dash hasn't engaged properly.

Easiest fix is to undo the two screws above the dash display and take off the backing cover to the dash - its the one near the windscreen and is the same colour as the rest of the interior. This will allow access to the wiring pins at the back of the dash. You should beable to view what your doing from through the windscreen...

Other than that check all wire connections under the dash, make sure all fuses are in GWO (good working order) and maybe check the wiring at the coil end of things.

Also wiggle the connections - may be something not contacted properly...

Hope this works out for you.

Cheers

Bennie

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:39 pm

Just found what the problem was (this is after taking the front of the dash off)........ I didnt connect the plug. In case anyone has the same problem, the plug is for some reason on the left side of the car, and is located kinda between the side wall and the fan enclosure, so its hard to see.

esray71 · Post by **esray71** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:47 pm

how much and who does these kind of repairs? radiator repairer?

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:52 am

esray71 wrote:how much and who does these kind of repairs? radiator repairer?

You get a new heater core from a radiator place. You need to make sure its all metal. Cost of the core is between $200 and $300 depending on the place.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:02 pm

GTlegs wrote:You get a new heater core from a radiator place. You need to make sure its all metal. Cost of the core is between $200 and $300 depending on the place.

Makes my 3 core radiator for the engine cooling sound cheap at $450 when you compare sizes...

Bennie

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:36 pm

El_Freddo wrote:Makes my 3 core radiator for the engine cooling sound cheap at $450 when you compare sizes...

Bennie

BTW, do you wanna have your heater core back now that I've finally installed mine?

Also, how cool does the car run with the three core?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:19 am

GTlegs wrote:BTW, do you wanna have your heater core back now that I've finally installed mine?

Also, how cool does the car run with the three core?

Hey GT, you can keep that radiator, its no good to me - maybe someone else in melb might want it to give to a radiator shop to have one made up too...

The three core is awesome. The hottest it got (during melbourne's heat wave a few weeks ago) was on the freeway where the temp seemed to be hotter than anywhere else and i was up the arse end of a truck in peak hour. It got up above 93C which is where the thermo kicks in. Its only got the thermo to do the work as I havn't got a slim line thermo yet (mechanical fan doesn't fit any more).
In this weather I won't get past 82C unless your sitting there idling with no airflow through the rad - at which point the thermo will kick in for 30 sec to a minute then switch off again for a few minutes...

I love it, best thing i've got for the car so far!

Cheers

Bennie

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:17 am

Well i swapped my heater core yesterday. took the whole afternoon until about 7pm to do, but there were many drinking stops and tv watching stops in the process. wasnt actually hard to do but just fiddly. theres still a fair few things extras i have to hook back up but they sorta need re doing anyway. i dont know if the cluter had to come out but we took it out anyway. the most annoying parts were trying to put the vacuum lines back into the circulation and different vents- were too short. and also acutally hooking up the heater core lines from the engine bay when you have a WAIC with lots of sharp bits of metal on the bracket.

cheers to andrewt, matatak and alex for helping out.

celicapain · Post by **celicapain** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:24 pm

Howdy people,
Just wondering about the right way of removing the speedo cable from the back of the cluster-does it pull straight out, or is there a threaded collar or somewhat.
Thanks very much
P.s Excellent guide, its made the job much easier!:)

GOD · Post by **GOD** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:49 pm

celicapain wrote:Howdy people,
Just wondering about the right way of removing the speedo cable from the back of the cluster-does it pull straight out, or is there a threaded collar or somewhat.
Thanks very much
P.s Excellent guide, its made the job much easier!:)

Mine just pulled straight out. Have you got the two round wiring plugs off? They've each got a little tab in the middle that needs to be pushed one way to unclip.

Dane.

celicapain · Post by **celicapain** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:07 pm

Thanks, I managed to get the electrical connections out, was just the speedo input that was killing me-ill get back into when i get home tonight and get the bastard job finished:(- again, thanks to all the contributors on this thread.

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:12 pm

Someelse which won't effect most people, but the 85 models had a manual choke.
This needs to be removed as well:

very small philips screwdriver to undo the handle from the shaft (from the bottom)
use a small blunt round object (nail head will do) to unscrew the piece around the mechanism
find the plug which connects to the dash loom & unplug it
pull though the back of the dash

Once you've done this job once, you can get a whole dash out in very short time.
Also, the higher up models will have extra plugs for electric mirrors & central locking under each end of the dash.
Bascially just make sure you unplug everything.

red_rocket · Post by **red_rocket** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:30 am

has it been clarified whether the dash has to be removed to change the cluster? New cluster is coming soon.
cheers

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:03 pm

red_rocket wrote:has it been clarified whether the dash has to be removed to change the cluster? New cluster is coming soon.
cheers

No it doesn't have to be removed, just the black section around the instrument cluster as well as the vents below the same section.

There are 4 screws holding this in place: Two above the cluster into the "ceiling" of the black surround and two under the panel that the vents are in - one on the left and one on the right. This panel will be a little sticky to remove as it sort of cements itself in place over time.

You also have to remove the heater and cooling panel - remove the top and bottom buttons gently, there will be a screw in each that needs to be removed, the panel simply slides back into the cavity.
The other side is the same, top inner panel and lower outter panel, a screw each, but this panel slides out to you. Don't forget to disconnect the lights from the facia panel. The back cover panel is removed by gently pulling on it or by manipulating the retainer clips.

Once you have the Facia off, there are another four screws holding the instrument cluster in as well as one speedo cable, two round plugs and two rectangular plugs. Sort them out and the instrument cluster will come out easily.

If your instrument cluster has 3 guages and you're upgrading to the 4 (tacho) guage or the 6 (sports, oil/amps/tacho) guage you'll have to play around with the wiring. But if you've already got a 4 guage dash and are putting in a 6 guage dash, it should be plug and play from what I've been told. The only thing that will need to be changed is the oil sender - it needs to be a pressure sender unit like the RX's or vortex's had.

Cheers

Bennie

red_rocket · Post by **red_rocket** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:08 pm

thanks for that Bennie. Now have a reference to work of when the time comes. Got the 4 and putting in the 6 from a turbo. Might get some help from Dave when he wires my car up.
Thanks again

red_rocket · Post by **red_rocket** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:29 pm

thanks for the instrucitons Bennie.
tackled it today, took me 15 minutes at tops, not bad for first time doing it. i didnt realise how easy it was.
cheers again