I have spent a ton of time looking in my GM service manual and looking on the Forum search with no luck. How do you remove the **** from the headlight on/off switch?

 

If you pull the headlight **** out, you'll see a a notch on the outboard side of the ****. It's sort of a rectangular opening.

You just fit a thin screwdriver in that notch to release the clip that holds the **** to the stem. I forgot if you press "in" or pull "out"; try 'em both and one of them will allow you remove the **** from the stem,

Jake

 

I just pull mine off. It's tight but it comes off.

 

LOL!

Jake

 

Goes back on too.

 

Actually, it's designed so it can't/shouldn't be "just pulled off." So if have done yours that way, well you effectively over-ridden that feature.

In either case, the **** is just correctly aligned and then pushed back on. The little spring loaded clip should lock it in place.

Jake

 

Thank you both! I'm venturing in to the black hole of the dash board this weekend for the first time. Kind of scary. I'm also pulling off the pad and going to paint the blue speaker covers (that cover nothing) black and paint/dye the dash to match my tan interior.
I just love how the service manual and Chilton's say "remove this" and
"remove that" without going through the steps of how to get to it or giving you a tip on how remove other things that have to come out first.
That is why this Forum is so useful. Even with help books it is nice to see how others have overcome obstacles. If you ever get the time, read through the C4 tech tips and see how great some of the practical advice is.

 

I had my dash pad off a few weeks ago, and while off, I cut open the speaker areas and installed two 4"x6" Pioneer 100W speakers. I tied the wiring into the door speakers.

Now I'm a six speaker guy. LOL

There are just several screws that have to be removed and the dash slides rearward and out. Two screws at the center vent near the windshield and the rest are on the lower front side of the dash. On my 86, most of those were toward the driver's side of center.

I first removed the trim pieces around the SES information panel, the digital dash and the two plastic pieces on the sides of the dash(you'll have to open both doors to access those screws.) To remove the trim pieces, I lowered the steering wheel as far as I could, then removed the tilt steering lever by unscrewing it.

The headlight **** has to be removed too, in order to get the digital dash trim piece off. There's a little notch in the headlight **** on the outboard side; use a thin screwdriver blade to release the **** from the headlight **** shaft.

All in all, pretty simple to remove it.

Hope this helps.

Jake

 

Got her off with the thin screwdriver. There is a metal spring clip in sort of a V shape that fits inside the plastic ****. It puts pressure on the metal shaft so that it is not easily pulled off.
Jake - you the man! Any parts I can pick up for you at Bloomington Gold next month? Must be able to fit in my front seat as I will be driving back with my vert top down. Vette2Vette is installing a red hardtop on my Medium Brown Metallic 87 vert at the show. Got it and all the mounting brackets for a decent price and now I don't have to pay to have it shipped to Michigan. My painter has extra paint from last year's repaint so I won't have to drive around too much looking like a complete doofus!

 

yeah, push the spring clip behind it towards you, don't pull on the ****.

This same type of clip is used to hold the ***** on most interior controls I've seen on other cars.

 

I know this isn't related to the original post but....

Jake, how do the dash and doors sound together? are they run off an amp or just the deck? Can you still hear the doors?

I had my dash off a couple of weeks ago as well, didn't want to cut the plates so I didn't put my dash speakers in yet. I have a set of plates on their way to me right now that have already been modified so I can keep my stock ones as is.
I was going to hook them up with my doors as well so I'm curious about how they sound.

Thanks

 

He's not crazy! Many of them DO just fall off and get lost. Especially on the Corvette. I'm using a camaro **** in my car because mine was lost. Actually, I think it looks nicer.

 

I am a little crazy but I try to look after my car.

I had always thought that part was designed quite well. It was on there tight enough that it never comes off from just turning your lights on but with a little more force it slides right off.
Likely the ones that come off too easily are from people pulling them off like I do. The little metal clip can be bent to make it more tight by widening it. Squeeze it together and it will come off every time you turn your lights on.

 

I've got an aftermarket stereo/CD system, not the original BOSE setup.

Before, when riding at speed, I had to adjust crank up the fade on front door speakers to equalize the sound. They tended to get drowned out by road noise, etc. Now, with the dash speakers installed, I don't have to any longer.

The sound is even; I can't really tell the door speakers from the dash speakers unless I put my ear closer to one than to the other.

I just pulled the radio/CD, and since I didn't have the wiring schematic, did a trial and error test to isolate the front door speaker wires. I then just spliced the new speaker wires into them and buttoned everything back up.

I first had to remove the fabric speaker covering in order to cut out the plastic filler without cutting through the fabric. I spray painted the fabric black to better match the dash. The fabric is just glued in place, so it's pretty easy to remove.

The new speakers didn't come with grills, so I reused the stock fabric to cover them.

I used a 2" hole saw - you know, the kind you'd use to cut a door **** hole in a new house door - to cut out the plastic filler. Then used my high speed grinder to remove all the little edges and to smooth the opening. Since the filler is plastic, the grinder went through it like a hot knife through butter.

I then drilled four holes on each side, in the underside of the dash, to mount the speakers. The places to drill are already molded in. I used some phillips head screws I had laying around.

Pretty simple mod. I bought the dash speakers at WalMart; Pioneer, 100W, comes with plastic mounting plates; about $40

Jake

 

Thanks for this thread! The "tiny screwdriver in notch" trick saved me tonight; I would not have thought to search for a notch. I used a tiny, electronic purposed, phillips head (originally, I tried using a flathead, but I think that was small but not small enough). I was pulling the screwdriver toward me (aft), but I am not sure if it was wedged between the spring and the **** or forward of the spring (either would have put tension on the spring in some direction). From visual inspection of the spring, I suspect I started with the screwdriver forward of the spring, thus pushing the spring aft (so it would bend into the ****), but who knows. ... FYI, I was doing this while removing [still in progress] my instrument cluster per this thread:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-g...goes-dark.html

Thanks again.

 

My 87 has a set screw in the headlite ****. I don't know if it is original or not. i've never seen anyone else on the forum say they have the set screw.

 

My **** kept falling off so I glued it on the shaft with epoxy. You can see the notch and the spring clip in this picture: