Removal of dashboard, how much work involved?

[davidm]

Hi All,
I have the chance to take the dash out of a van that is about to be scrapped, to replace mine which is a mess due to previous owner gluing a home made dash-tidy thing along the front. Question is how much work is involved in this? Haynes manual says steering column needs to come out. Is it at all possible to remove and replace dash without removing s.column?, which to me sounds too complicated to justify doing the job just to improve the appearance of the dashboard. Thanks!

[New Kentish Campers]

You can drop just the column I think, though its no more work really to drop the whole thing. There are two shear bolts [pan headed ones] and from memory, a couple of 13 mm ones too. I took mine out recently and it wasn't difficult. Take a look in the Wiki for more info

[1664]

The steering column is fixed to the dash but the column itself doesn't have to be removed. Radio, vents, glovebox etc have to be removed/disconnected etc. It is a pain none the less but hardly complicated.

[davidm]

Thanks

So if I "unfix" the column from the dash Will the dash come out , leaving the van still steerable! as the owner will prob. need to be able to steer it to get it out of his yard?
This is really why i was concerned about having to remove the column, what with the sheer bolts, and the work involved in getting it into my van.

[New Kentish Campers]

If memory serves, then its probably best to remove the wheel, undo the sheer bolts - you could use Mole grips if all else fails and drop it down and see if the dash would come out in the new space. Saying that, there's no too much room as it is and you dont want to damage the dashboard; but its not much more work to undo the lot, remove the dash and put it back together.

[jimpainter]

Mine is in my garage with no dash but still drives and steers fine.
All i had to do was fit the lower column bolts and attach the column at the top to the supports that hold the column and dash.

[davidm]

Many thanks for the replies. I will see if I have the time before it is scrapped. There are some other bits I also want, and its going tomorrow.