HELP!
It is amazing that as long as c5's have been in the market, not one single video or good explanation exists for removing the Air box under the dash.
I have the box almost out, but I cannot figure out for the life of me how to get the main center support beam to move out of the way.
I have it unbolted the best I can tell, but it is lodged such that it will not move out of the way.

I have found one explanation in an emanual online with a brief comment about having to remove or move the support beam to get the box out.
The box almost fits without removing moving the beam, but I am afraid that I'll end up cracking the air box because it is very tight, if I do force it.

Does anyone know the procedure, or can provide any insight into what to do?

I vow to make a video on this after I am done with this nightmare and make it available to all...arghhhh......

 

Adding a link to a Video I did - www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0BStrq46tg

Well...I figured it out...a few busted knuckles later and allot of patience and I was able to carefully snake the box out. I am currently making a video describing what I did, but the short answer is, you don't need to completely remove the main support bar. Maybe in the service manual it says to, but you can do it without removing the bar. If you do decide to remove the bar it will require removing the complete steering housing, which is a nightmare on a Corvette mostly do to the tight space and also the overall design (which is one huge mounting bracket all welded together).

The beam I am talking about is the one running all the way across your car sitting right above the knee kick panel (driver side all the way to passenger side wall)., and it mounts with heavy duty bolts right in front of both doors, and underneath the bar right near the transmission tunnel.

A few things you need to know.
1st) remove all the bolts holding it (3 bolts driver side, 2 bolts passenger side, 2 bolts near tunnel)
2nd) remove the spacers near the tunnel for extra clearance (they are wedged between the bar and tunnel)
3rd) if the bar has never been removed, then you will find out the hard way that the bar is glued down at the factory near the tunnel)

Not knowing it was glued led me to believe I was missing a bolt somewhere, and I looked and looked and looked...arghhhhh....Finally I realized the Black Glue.
I broke the bar loose with a large prybar between the bar and tunnel.

You are almost there...BUT knowing how many bolts are holding the Air box to the firewall is critical, as I missed one and spent hours trying to figure out why the box was still stuck to the wall. There are exactly 3 bolts inside the car, and 2 sticking into the firewall.

• 2 bolts on top the box (easily visible inside the car right by the windshield)
• 1 nut underneath the blower motor, I believe you need to pull the access panel back where the fuse box is located on the passenger side to get to the nut.
• 2 nuts facing the firewall in the engine compartment, one is right next to the Refrigerant lines, the other is exactly the same height on the passenger side. The one on the passenger side will throw you for a loop because it is behind the heat core lines AND behind the bracket which holds the lines to the firewall (YES, you have to take the bracket off the wall, and then you will find a second nut behind the bracket (you will pull your hair out if you didn't know this)

Assuming you already took the dash all apart, disconnected the lines (refrigerant, heat core), and obviously you might of figured out already...YES you have to take the intake manifold off to get to the lines (screammmmmmm....but actually it was not nearly the worst part of the whole job).

you are now ready to snake the box out of the hole...this will be tricky but not impossible because I just did it. And I made the decision to do it, know matter what, because I was not removing the complete driver side steering assembly. How did I do it?

Take a large pry bar and work it between the passenger side bar where it mounts. pry the beam towards you just enough to get something flat to hold it in place. basically you are creating about 1-2 inches of extra space. once you have the space, the box will fit out. I worked the bottom portion out some to get it started, but then carefully popped the top out the box out while sort of pulling it slightly right at the same time, because moving right meant I had slightly more space due to the pry bar spacing.

Then...lean back in your seat, and breath a sigh of relief as you have accomplished the impossible...you will be so proud of yourself...bask in the glory for about 5 minutes...scream to the neighbors how great you are...and then come back to reality...you are not done.

Have Fun!

 

The big column mount bolts to that crossbar and also bolts to another bar just behind the windshield and at the firewall the booster bolts through into it. You should have been able to unbolt the column bracket from that bar and taken the bar out without having to remove the column or column bracket. You'd have to pop the harnesses etc off the bar too. Being glued to the tunnel is the hardest part of getting that bar out.

 

Glad you figured it out and looking forward to the video!

 

That's good info to know for the next guy. Hopefully, I won't have to do this anytime soon again...Maybe I can add a note to the video to make it easier.

 

Denis, just curious what part are you replacing that required removing the whole air box assembly?

 

I replaced the Evaporator Coil, Heater Core, and the Electric Actuators, and the complete AC system under the hood.

 

Well I added a video to YouTube. I am also creating a little word doc with all the fixes. Just things to know or remember, and links to resources like forums, videos, help PDF's, etc... Have Fun!

I'm just a guy with some tools fixing his car...Don't expect some professional terminology. Just hoping this helps someone out...