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I pulled the center instrument section to replace the bulbs and circuit board behind the cluster. I have the correct center section with the "ears", it even has a paper tag on it saying 1977. One thing I have always noted is that the part containing the instruments is extremely tight pushing outwards on the lower left and right dash panels to the extent they move enough to leave a small gap at the outer ends of the panels. Does anyone else have this issue or do I possibly have the wrong passenger and driver lower panels. All of the screws fit and line up with the correct holes in the top full width panel. Do I need to trim the side panels?
I will post pictures of what I am seeing tonight. It is hard to explain, but if you were to place the three panels, drivers lower, center instrument, and passenger lower in a row, they total to about ⅜ inches longer than the dash pad and the metal ears the lower panels attach to.
yeah, fitment wasnt great from factory. There is also a ton of the wiring stuffed into that particular corner around the speedo and speaker.
that seems a bit more off than normal, maybe its not pressed all the way in?
From the outside of the car, looking into the glass edge where it meets the dash, is there a significant gap there? or is it pretty tight and even across the front?
There are clips on the edge of the dash top that slip onto a pinchweld on the lower edge of the glass.
if the dash isnt pressed tight against the pinchweld, the clips wont slip on, and the dash pad will sit to far out.
the pad can also sit crooked if a clip doesnt slip on the pinchweld and instead sits atop of it. it will sit high/crooked.
You pretty much gotta remove the pad and dash pieces to loosen the mounting bracket so you can reposition it if its off.
1977 C3 Center Instrument Section
