dash help - 70's caddy

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has anyone ever pulled the dash off a 70's caddy - specifically a 76 calais -- the body style is the same for a bagillion years.

i've been able to replace the two front dash speakers -- pulled the glove box out and the delco control module and was able to get to passenger one -- had to pull out the climate controls and tear the clamp off an air duct to get to the driver side one... keep in mind i've got the entire dash around the driver side off and the whole psgr side unbolted and hanging -- but theproblem i'm having is getting the "top" of the piece that goes all the way along from the steering column over to like the psgr side to come off -- this is the stupid woodgrain-ish piece that goes over the stock radio location ---

bascialy how the hell do i get at the stock radio other than taking up yoga and shrinking myself to sub-gnome size?

by the way - the factory speakers looked about as good as that martin lawrence movie "big mamma" -- take that for what its worth.


and if anyone's wonderin why i'm edgy --- i think i got a B on my probability exam after spending 2 solid days with nose to the grindstone -- friggin stupid **** mistakes. grrrrrrr.....

Jstas

There aren't any screws or anything holding it in? Have you removed all the trim pieces around teh panel? If not, they should only be held in with pressure clips. Some finagling with a flat head screw driver should pop them out. They may very well be concealing mounting tabs and screw heads.

Other than that, the panel itself may be held on with pressure clips. See if you can pry up a corner and look under it with a flashlight. See what is holding it on there. There may also be a flange at the top with screws mounted to the top of the dash.

I could figure it out if I was there. I have a knack for taking body panels and trim pieces off. But take some time to figger it all out. Look around, feel where teh resistance is when you pull on it. I know it sounds dumb but if you are gentle and patient, the panel will sort of "talk" to you and let you know where it's held on at. That's about the best way I can describe it.

C-Man

I had a '79 Coupe DeVille, and it was the easiest car I've ever swapped out. Two screws on either side of the dash popped off the top of the dash... speakers popped right out. I believe the stereo just had two screws on the top and the bottom of the front dash panel where the climate control and all that were. I can't remember exactly, it's been about 4 years since I've had it. I miss that beast.

C-Man

Wait, now that I think of it, I had to remove the vents above the stereo, which were just held in with clips. The two screws were under those. I know that because the vents ended up "broke" and sunk into the dash a little... not all that noticable but pissed me off nonetheless. Hope I'm helping you here man, I don't know what the Calais is like exactly but hopefully it's at least similar to my car. I know my car had that wood panel thing over the factory 8-track, which I had to cut to fit my new stereo, but that piece popped off when I removed the instrument panel.

Chris

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hmm... see i've got the "top" of that wooden piece loose... its the bottom of hte wooden piece and the top of the "bottom" of the dash that are "stuck" -- its like they're both welded to the goddamn frame of the dash -- its really startin to aggravate me as i am prolly gonna end up breaking something inadvertantly...

i'm gonna try taking off the vents as you suggest, hopefully there are some screws under there...

i've had the whole bottom off for 2 days now -- i put the alarm in today -- about a 5 hour job, minus an hour for dinner , hour talking to the girlfriend, so bout 3 -- which is probably too long but considering there was about 100 feet of useless wire in there that i guess my uncle must have put in it back in the day -- i swear to go dsome people do not understand the idea of neat wiring at all.