Can anyone tell me how to remove the heater control panel on my 66 fastback? Specifically, the chrome controls on the lower dash. I know it sounds ridiculously simple, but I can;t figure out how it is secured to the dash, there is very little working area to see how it is built and I do not want to force it. Thanks to anyone who can help me out!

 

I just finished taking all that stuff out of my car a while ago, if memory serves me there are 2 or 3 nuts on the backside I think 1 on the top and 2 at the bottom they are a pain to reach and almost imposible to see and that was one of the last things I removed.

 

Crawl under the dash (from the passenger side), and you should see the three cables attached to controls. Remove them first and get them out of the way - then it should become clear how to get the panel out of the dash.

 

Actually, you don't have to undo the cables first. It just depends on what you want to do. If you just want to replace a pitted faceplate, then you don't have to undo the cables. There are two studs w/ either 1/4" or 3/8" nuts on the back of the plate that hold it onto the dash. They are caddy corner to each other and really are a pain in the rear to get to. They are just in an awkward spot to get to with a wrench. After getting them off though, the whole assembly will come out up until you reach the end of the slack in the cables. If you just want to replace the plate, you can unbolt it from the rest of the assembly after using an allen key (2mm?) to remove the separate ***** on the ends of the levers.

 

Ford used 8 year olds when they installed these (two per side). They had someone hold them by the ankles and insert their head and shoulders under the dash, and they would make the installation. I know what you are talking about, as 6'2" and 240lbs I don't fit too well under their any more. Even when woller in the position, I can hardly bend my arms and hands to work. I think their is a couple nuts on the back that holds the assembly. They are hard to get to and sometimes even harder to remove. good luck.

 

Thats funny-I have a 8 year old boy and I used his little hands to get my oil pressure send unit started in the threads so I could get a wrench on it...It really helped me out and it boosted his sself confidence ! What a good father I am!

 

Think I could borrow him to help me with this task...lol

Thanks to everyone for the info!