1963 Cadillac ac/hearter control panel removal

[Raymond Peter Bombeck Sr.]

Ok so I started by following the instructions in the  shop manual and came to the part where it says remove 2 screws that attach the panel to the dash. I can't seem to find the 2 screws. has anyone ever done it without removing the cluster assembly?

[Jason Edge]

 I happened to have a complete dash laying on the garage floor. It is a 64 but same attaching location for the 63 dash control assembly.  I have pointed out the two 3/8" bolts with the pink wire ties. Looking at it from the back it is lower left and upper right. from the front it would be lower right and upper left.  See pic below... click to enlarge:

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

Yes, and it was a turd to do.

The assembly wont go down and it won't fit out through the hole, so I dismantled the whole thing in there and removed the parts bit by bit.

Getting those two nuts off saw me spend nearly two weeks in a mental asylum. (I'm good now) :-)

I reassembled everything back through the same hole. (I should been a proctologist) No matter how much swearing, there was plenty....no matter how many times I said, if you let me get this one top nut back on, I promise I won't sit outside the sex shop when they are changing the mannequin's outfits, but in the end, I ended up leaving it off for the time being.

I really didn't want to remove the dash top, but my headlight switch was a bit dicky, so I knew I would have to one day.

Then all of a sudden, the headlight switch came good, so I still run with only one nut. I'll pop some pics up to show it is doable, but not much fun....

As Tony would say... ENJOY.  

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

Now, I did have a second control unit at the time I'd got off Russ, si I was able to cheat know what to undo along the way.

On our 64, there was something bloody sharp up under there that I ripped my arm open on, so it was rag and gaffa tape so I didn't bleed all over the place.

When that happened, someone said the F word too.... it might been me.

You will see, on the disassembled one, it has OK 2/17 so I knew which one to put back in.

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

I might try to explain the above a bit better.

I had the one from Russ, so I cheated off that as a reference to pull the old one apart and out. When I got my old one out, I reassembled it back together before pulling apart the one from Russ and then used the old one to cheat off to reassemble the new/2nd hand one in through the hole.

Oh geez, it makes perfect sense to me... but hell, after looking at the pics, i'm having flashbacks.

Might be time again for one of those "special holidays" I think. Hey, don't laugh, last time I got 1st place in basket weaving while was in there.

[Raymond Peter Bombeck Sr.]

Oh boy thanks but I am going to remove the whole freckling cluster and hope I don't kill anyone in the process and thank you very much for the input.  

[Jason Edge]

I've got the luxury of removing them with the entire dash assembly out of the car, however, from memory, the control panels pull up and out over the top with dash pad removed. Dash pad comes off real easy - remove A pillar trim, 3 screws through inst cluster, screws in dash box, pop the dash lower legs out of spring clips loose, disconnect lights & guidematic, cruise, sentinel (if equipped) pull dash up and back and carefully set aside. You will get to some connections from the bottom but needs to come put from the top as I recall.  With dash off, it is a great time to take a close look at everything, replaced dash bulbs, etc.

[William R Conte]

Yep, I'm not messing around on mine. Dash pad comes off first thing. I have cruise on mine. Supposedly that doesn't present any problem for removal - just pull the bezel and knob. I also need to be very careful of my original unbroken temp sensor grille. Dash bottom piece is coming off too. I have to resecure the deicer switch, and remove the wiper switch while I'm in there. I will be doing am AM to AM FM radio swap too.

[William R Conte]

I can empathize with the 'asylum' bit. Try doing almost ANY mechanical work on a Chevy TrailBlazer 4.2L I-6. That'll send you there.

I will be performing this same task on my 64 soon. Maybe even later today. I have NO heat / AC. I have Cadillac Tim's troubleshooting book. Found the first issue already. (Time delay switch - unmodified 64 system). There are still a lot more problems. Once I find the basic problems, the whole system - ALL of it - will come out for overhaul. Looking forward to the fun!

[24ro8f5mbs2jc]

Hmm Kevin. "Mental asylum" and "only one nut". Mao and Napoleon had also only one nut each. And both could very well have been customers in mental asylums...

;-)

[24ro8f5mbs2jc]

Raymond, being a 6 feet plus and 200 pound plus person with big clumsy hands makes all jobs difficult on the dash. I have actually removed the front sofa one time to better get into a reasonable working position. It takes less than half an hour to remove my sofa and the saving on my back and neck is making it worth it.

[Raymond Peter Bombeck Sr.]

Thanks for the advise as I am 205 lbs and 5.9  @ titanium rods in my back a fusion in my neck and then after wrenching my back and neck out last night cause I have no patient's for input and figured the manual was missing info I dug in deep and realized the manual shows this all being done in basically 15 steps. starting with the 1st part of the section and working you way to section 15 of the chapter. Also found some Chilton book and motor repair books in my library that also says to lower steering column and remove shifter indicator or something like that. I did see where at after 3 hours I almost broke that along with other stuff as I just wanted to rip the cluster out.No idea if its all going back together but I am gonna try today starting with the removal of the speaker and then what ever else needs to be done so I can repair the cluster lights someone broke b4 by doing this job. 

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

At 6 feet tall and 220lbs, it is doable.

I had no choice but to do it myself last year, as my sparky was installing the new fuse box the following week and he highly suggested the controller be done first.

I tried to talk him into doing it..... he laughed... a lot.

You'll spent a solid half day begging for forgiveness, crying, on you knees, on your back, sticking your fingers in odd places, working by feel, ya glasses will fall off ya head when your upside down at the worst possible moment, you'll want to kill someone, anyone, the guys in the white coats driving the truck with "Mental Asylum" on the side will be doing laps around your suburb, your neighbours will all form a group out the front to se what all the noise is,  the police will be called several times, usually by your wife, the swat team will be on standby and the racket you can hear but can't see will be a news chopper circling overhead, its just like being married really....but..... the best it, is when its all hooked up and everything works like it should.

Place the car in a position, that if you have to, you can just lock everything up and walk away if you have to.

My 64 was half in, half out of the garage and I just had to go onto finish it.

I'd never done one before and when I think about it, I think I started about 7am and was done by midday, so not too bad really.

Now, having terrified the crap out of you... it can be done.

Or, lift the dash top off, the job would be 100 times easier and you'd be fine with it.

I just really didn't want to disturb anything more than I had to on our car, but that's because i'm a bit disturbed myself and I.... archhhh just get it done.