I'm going to be removing my dash (Spedo and Tach area) this weekend. I do have the service manual and the AIM, but I thought I get some real world feedback before I start.

I think I need to drop the steering column, right? Any tips/tricks for this?
Any and all help is greatly apreciated.

 

You are right on dropping the steering column. Remove the vacuum switch bracket and the bolts under the center of the panel. You will most likely have to loosen the "rag joint" bolts to allow you to pull and drop the column for clearance.

From experience ...
Take out all the screws holding the dash panel in. You can then lift or slightly pry the top of the dash cover and pull the speedo and tach panel out toward you. Go slowly as you have all the light sockets for each pod, vacuum lines and speedo and tach cables holding it in. Try to get a roll of tape and label or make a drawing of where everything goes. Hint - the speedo and tach cables are held into the back of the housings by a clip that you push down with one hand and pull the cable loose with the other. No question it is a job.
:confused:

 

For tips on dropping the steering column go to http://www.corvettefaq.com and look under Suspension and Steering. There is a paper entitled Adjust Dimmer and/or Ignition Switch. There is a section in the paper on dropping the steering column since you need to do it to get at the dimmer and ignition switches.

 

I have my dash out right now, and I only LOWERED my steering column. I did not have to DROP it or mess with the rag joint. I just removed the 2 column support bolts and was able to get enough room to remove the dash. Additionally, if your intent is to restore / replace the top dash pad, you really only need remove it and not mess the the lower dash at all.

 

Cool, this is the kind of info I was looking for. I've to to zero in my HEI tach needle and change out my door hinges. I put in the tach without messing with the steering column, but I don't want to go through that pain again. Removing the tach bolts while laying on my back in the driver side footwell was not fun at all.

 

BTW, the steering column is supported at three locations. The connection at the steering gear (flexible coupling); the two bolts at the floor pan; and the two vertical bolts under the dash. It is not a good idea to just remove the two vertical bolts and let the column hang by the coupling and floor pan bolts. You put a very large bending moment into the steering column at the floor pan by letting it hang. What can happen is that the floor pan connection can be forced out of location by the large bending moment.

Your steering column was originally installed at the assembly plant so that it was pointing directly at the steering gear. Now if the floor pan connection is out of location, when you reinstall your vertical bolts the column will pivot about the relocated floor pan connection and now the flexible coupling will have a severe offset forced into it.

The flexible coupling has two stop pins that extend back toward the steering column and these pins must be central in the cutouts in the mating steering column flange. If the pins are not central, there will be an offset in the flexible coupling which will result in the pins becoming worn and the rubber coupling disc being damaged.

When the column is reinstalled you should look closely at the stop pins and determine that they are central in the column flange slots. Then rotate the steering wheel one quarter turn and reinspect the stop pins. As long as they are central under both conditions, then the column is located correctly.

If the stop pins are contacting the column flange cutouts, you will need to loosen the floor pan bolts and relocate the lower end of the column to centralize the stop pins in the column flange cutouts.