Vanning.com logo
Boxdin
Site Navigation


Advertisements
Recent Posts
Good day
by lukester - March 28th 2024 12:26 pm
Crazy mods
by MufflerMan Mike - March 28th 2024 9:38 am
Lew Greger
by MufflerMan Mike - March 27th 2024 5:15 pm
1987 G20 Gypsy
by SDMickey - March 25th 2024 9:39 pm
Featured Links


Thread Like Summary
frscke1, NateB
Total Likes: 2
Original Post (Thread Starter)
71-95 G Series Dash FAQ #771746 02/21/2021 10:23 PM
by kursed
kursed
Figured while I'm playing around with dashes, I'd start a thread going over a lot of the frequently asked questions, or things that I feel like might be useful in the future to some folks.

Just for a beginners reference, here is the backside view of a 1975 Beauville dash so you can see the common placement of parts for the early 70s models. I know they moved the ignition switch to the steering column at some point, but not exactly sure when, as my 82 has a column switch.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

The first one is a question I've been asked numerous times over the years on 67+ trucks and vans, and they're both the same. I'm sure the trucks changed sometime in the late 80's or early 90's, but I'm almost certain my 91 G10 was the same. How to remove the headlight switch knob. To remove that pesky knob, you have to reach around behind the dash and feel for a spring loaded button.

It's usually facing away from the instrument cluster toward the driver's door, but could be in other locations I guess in different years. Once you've found the magic button, you simply push the knob in a little, pull it out a little, and shake it all about as you're pushing on the spring loaded button at the same time until you feel that button depress all the way in, then you can slide the headlight knob and shaft out of position and remove the switch.

In this pic you would be looking at the rear of the dash from the engine compartment side.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

After you've removed the knob and shaft from the switch, you should have a 5/8 nut holding the switch to the dash. Simply remove the nut from the front, and pull the switch out the back.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

For anyone that might have rear A/C, that knob just pulls off and you should have a 5/8 nut holding the switch in place as well. You should be able to just pull the switch out the rear after taking the nut off, but since this donor dash was melted, I couldn't tell if there were once plastic tabs there or not.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

I'll see what other things I can discuss about the dash here in a couple days when the weather permits me to go out and get more pictures and ideas.
Liked Replies
Re: 71-95 G Series Dash FAQ #773161 Mar 19th a 07:16 PM
by kursed
kursed
I'll go ahead and touch on a few more things. I'd like to do some gauge cluster rebuilds whenever I can get my hands on some, and maybe even a steering column, but until then hopefully some of this mess will help some folks out there.

These are shots with the dash removed. It's a disaster of dirt, cobwebs, insulation, brackets, wiring, and junk under there; but you can see the two braces that run from the doghouse area to the kick panels. Things like the e-brake assembly and the brake pedal assembly are bolted to these structural braces to help strengthen everything up. I found that once you remove those two braces, it's much easier to get at the things like pedal assemblies, heater box, and all the other goodies you might need to get at under there.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]
[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

So the first thing I'll go into removing is the brake assembly. The brake pedal has a contact switch that works when you depress the pedal. The switch mounts so that when you press the pedal, the switch plunger releases and makes the brake lights turn on. Remove the switch and you can move on to the rest of the pedal assembly. You can see the white cylindrical switch mounted to the pedal assembly above, but I'll try to get a close up from my 82 when I get a chance.

The brake pedal itself is held into the mounting bracket with a pivot pin. There is a spring clip on the passenger side of that pivot pin. You can usually just get a flat blade screwdriver under the clip and gently pry it off. Then push the pin through to the driver side of the assembly being careful not to loose the two pin sleeves on each side of the assembly. You can see the clip in this pic.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

Once you've removed the pivot pin, the pedal itself should drop down, allowing you to remove another clip that holds it to the rod that actuates your power booster or master cylinder if you don't have a booster assembly.

Next you can remove four nuts that hold the brake assembly bracket to the master cylinder or booster if you have one. The bolts will go through the firewall. Then there are two more bolts at the top of the assembly that hold it to the firewall. Once all the bolts and nuts are removed you can remove the assembly. It takes some wiggling and twisting sometimes, but be careful if you decide to strike the studs with a hammer as you can mushroom the head of the studs and ruin the threads.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

The e-brake is essentially the same procedure, except it's not connected to a rod that goes through the firewall, but instead it is connected to a cable that operates your emergency brakes.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

The heater box is pretty straightforward to remove. You simply have to remove the two heater hoses from the heater core on the firewall side. Then there are a handful of small bolts (1/4" if I'm remembering correctly) around the box and ductwork. Remove the ducting first, it will save you a bunch of frustration when removing the box. Then you just gently lean the box into the cabin and pull upward being careful not to bend your heater core tubes or damage the fins (if you're reusing it).

One of the heater control cables goes to the blend door in the heater box. I didn't photograph this process, but can edit this thread when I do the one in my van eventually. That one is held onto the heater box with the end of the cable coiled into a spring like shape and slid down over the blend door shaft.

One area a LOT of folks neglect is the crotch coolers or kick panel vents. Over the years all of the debris that makes it past your wiper cowl and into the cowl vent area eventually works its way down to the kick panel as that is where the kick panel vents draw air from when you open them up. Here you can see the typical pile of nastiness that makes it into the wiper cowl area.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

And here is the driver side kick panel vent. The vent itself is just a plastic trim ring with 1/4" sheetmetal style screws holding it into the kick panel. Then the flap is held into that trim ring with a vertical shaft. The flap in this 75 Beauville was made of metal, but had some foam around the edge that was WAY overdue for being replaced. The down inside the hole you can see the pile of leaves, pine needles, etc that like to work their way down there and hold moisture. This is a common spot of metal rot on the 67-72 C & K series trucks, so I'm sure it would be a problem area in the vans that a lot of people overlook as well.

If you don't want to disassemble all of this stuff at least stick a vacuum hose down in the kick vents and vacuum them out on occasion.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]
[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

Bonus tip for today. This little floor mounted high/low beam switch for the headlights is exactly the same in the 67-72 trucks and has caused me more electrical gremlin headaches than any other part. Since it's mounted on the floor it tends to collect dirt, mud, moisture, and all sorts of mess. Then it will cause all sorts of random electrical problems with your lights and other components. I've spent hours trying to diagnose weird electrical issues, only to swap this thing out eventually and solve all my issues. I always try to keep these clean and replace them when they look worn or funky just as a cheap piece of mind.

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]
1 member likes this
Re: 71-95 G Series Dash FAQ #773222 Mar 20th a 01:00 PM
by Meanmachine
Meanmachine
Not sure how the Chevy vans are, but on my Dodge I can remove the sunvisor's inside the van above the driver and passenger compartment's and I take a coat hanger with a rag attached to it coated with chainsaw bar oil and run it into the windshield pillars and toward the center of the windshield area and also through the air vent doors I can run the oil coated hanger upward into the pillars. I seen the pillars on many vans rust out to the point where when the door was opened, the rotted pillar pulled away from the windshield.
1 member likes this
Donate


Upcoming Events
discovery
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 17 guests, and 6 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
TheDrunkenGunsmith, Jac, LOVclassics, ZenMuffin, Milkman530
12724 Registered Users
Top Posters (30 Days)
SDMickey 129
CatFish 25
frscke1 25
Wedgy 21
Forum Statistics
Forums68
Topics35,746
Posts537,916
Members12,725
Most Online177
May 8th, 2013

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4