My dash has a couple cracks in it. Im goin to try to mix up some Hysol and fiberglass it back together. We will see how well it works....

 

Man, I have been working on this off and on for a couple of days, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to pull the airbag "straight back and out". It seems that the dashboard needs to come off to get it out.

Here is a picture of the front bolts - it appears I have removed all plastic pieces/screws that would be required.



I then took the glovebox out as you suggested and found these bolts.



The thing is, if you look at the picture above, there is no way the airbag can slide "straight back and out" because the metal flanges are sticking down preventing them from moving forward. The arrow above shows the metal dashboard frame piece that's impeding its movement. If I try and push up on those metal flanges, it goes up a little, but then the dashboard moves. There's something way up there holding the airbag in as well. I'm only seeing removing the dashboard to get this thing out. What am I doing wrong or what am I not seeing?

All that I want to do is get that plastic piece of the airbag in the front (where the AC vents are) far enough forward so that I can fit the dash cover behind it, then push the airbag cover back on top of it. That's it. Just doesn't seem like it should be this difficult.

And now that I'm on the subject, how in the hell would the airbag work anyway? When it deploys, where does all the plastic go that's in front of the airbag compartment? Into your face?

Matt

 

i think i had to push up on those metal flanges to get them through the hole. its been a while but i know mine came out problem free. that thing is a lot heavier than it looks so it may just be the weight thats throwing you off. are you sure that those 2 remaining screws aren't attached to the airbag? one on the button and the other is all the way to the left. when i tore mine apart i took almost every screw out of the dash.

when that thing goes off it'll break the plastic tabs on either side and the cover with the vents flips up so the airbag can come out.

when i say heavy i mean that it feels like its about 25 pounds or better. if you still don't have it by tomorrow then i'll go take mine out and take some pictures. i need to throw some epoxy on my glove box hinges anyway since they're cracked.

 

OK, I think I have it figured out enough for it to work. You're right - probably not putting enough a** behind it to get it out. But, I was playing around with it a little more and the plastic cover for the airbag is held on with those fantastic little clips that we all have learned to love and enjoy. You have to have the b*lls to pull on it hard enough to get them to pop out a little. I got the airbag cover far enough forward to fit the dash cover behind it. Now the dash cover is going to fit and look awesome. The instrument bezel is going to be a whole other story. Probably would be best to remove the entire airbag assembly as you suggested, but I just couldn't get it.

The dash cover as it fit before was actually blocking some of the airbag around the edges, so I feel that I had no choice but to move the airbag cover a little. Now, to all who reads this thread - behind that plastic cover is the airbag itself. I only popped the airbag plastic cover out like 1/8" - 1/4" - just enough to get the cover behind it. I do not know what will happen if one were to pull it out further. I also do not know if my airbag will deploy properly now, or work at all. Likely it's fine, but keep that in mind if you decide to screw around with your airbag or anything around it. Also, DON'T FORGET TO DISCONNECT THE BATTERY FIRST.

I will take pictures of the dashboard when I'm done. Sheriff - thanks for your suggestions. I'd still be interested in seeing the pics in how you did yours whenever you get around to it. I'm just curious how all that goes together in there now

Matt

 

glad to hear that you got it, now i can put off fixing my hinges for the glove box a little longer.

disconnect the battery and wait like a half hour just to be safe. the airbag is inside a metal housing so you didn't damage it. you could have yanked it all the way out as long as you pay attention to the wire on the back.

heres mine, like i said i don't have it stuck down, its just sitting there.

 

Well, I think I have it installed. I had it on there before, but all of the "lips" on the dash cover that were around the airbag were just sitting there and it looked like crap. I think it looks pretty good now.



Now I need to start working on the bezel. As mentioned in previous posts, I bought a bezel cover thinking I might be able to just cover up the one that I have. The cover looks OK, but it doesn't quite fit on the original bezel. I sent one back to the manufacturer and they said they remolded one and let it cool on the mold which was supposed to make it a tad bigger. It still doesn't fit all that well but I think I can force it. I'm still going to have a fitment issue around the instrument cluster - I can't get the bezel all the way on with the dash cap installed. I'll likely have to do a LOT of sanding around the bezel itself to get it to fit - it's like 1/4" off. In the end, I may end up buying a new bezel anyway.

Matt

 

i wish i had the dark dashboard. your cover looks pretty nice.

i need a bezel too but i don't want to spend 100$ for one on ebay. if i were to try to "force" anything onto mine it would crumble like a dry leaf. mine has a few cracks in it. when i tried to make my cover go behind it all the way the bezel popped all the way down and if i try to take it back off then mine will look like your dash in the picture above.

you say "a lot of sanding" like you don't have a belt sander. as long as you have the bezel off then you can go to town with a belt sander and it won't matter if it walks all over the place because you have a cover for it. then again you could always sand the bezel itself, with light pressure so you don't make it explode into a million pieces.

 

Yeah, it's still going to be a pain even with the belt sander - at least the one that I have. Just figuring out how to get some type of hold-down system in place will be interesting. I guess I could have my wife hold onto it while I sand it down, but she'll complain about it the whole time. The sander I have will send the thing flying across the room without someone holding onto it. I'll just have to go real easy with it. And, it's going to be a long process either way - sand a little, test fit, sand a little more, test fit, over and over again.

I think once I get the bezel cover on and it sets up, it should strengthen the bezel significantly. I've already broken half of the clips at the top, so getting it on there without rattling will be a challenge. The other problem I'm going to have is with the AC vents. They are already really tight in the OEM bezel alone. With the cover on, the vents hardly want to go into their respective positions, much less move at all. If I trim away material for the vents to move more easily, the original bezel shows and then the things looks kinda crappy. Oh well, I figure something out. More pictures to come when that's done!

Matt

 

you don't have to worry about her giving you any lip once you kick on the sander. just wait until she opens her mouth to whine then hit the trigger. or if you can't get a helping hand then you could always get a piece of osb and set the bezel on it then pop some nails in the osb right against the bezel on the outside edges and in a couple of the holes to keep it still. and maybe throw a ratchet strap across the top of it (not so tight that it cracks) to keep it from launching over the top of the nails.