Thanks all. The DIY step by step looks like a good overview while the video a bit more in depth. Curious UnReg.. how much of your woes after doing the job is true about your windshield, doors closing, etc. is true? If this is what I am in for, screw it. I'll just pull the tranny & motor put 'em in the garage, rebuild them for possible replacement into my '01 in the spring. Maybe make some mods for more HP & beef up the tranny for muddin. That means I either buy a junker for the winter or run the '01, both of which, I would really like to avoid. I will not freeze in the ole RED '96 though.

 

He's referring to the potential for weakening the body by cutting a hole in the firewall. Which you won't do pulling the dash.

 

None of it. Those are the things that would happen if someone cut a gaping hole in the firewall. I've seen it done in other vehicle models, usually when doing interesting engine/transmission swaps -- it rarely goes well.

Getting into the heater core is a big job, but the only really miserable part is crawling around under the instrument panel trying to find and release electrical connectors you've never seen before. Just follow the destructions in the factory service manual and it'll go.

I was able to get it done without evacuating the A/C, just pulling the HVAC box away from the firewall until the first pipe unions hang up at the firewall. I cut the heater core pipes off and pushed them through into the engine bay, and was able to sneak the replacement in by holding my mouth right and cussing the magical incantation to get the new one into place. Since I was also replacing the dash so the passenger airbag had to come out, getting at the blend door cable was easier going through that hole than over the top of the rocked-rearward panel. If you're going to completely remove the panel, a piece of plywood big enough to cover the seat cushions might save your upholstery. It did mine.

You might consider buying four each of part number 06504485AB before tearing into it. Those are the white plastic nuts that are inserted into the cowl and which hold the top of the instrument panel in place. I've got to go buy the damned things and roll the instrument panel out to get them in... the second one I touched broke long before I got to the specified 28 inch-pounds of torque on the bolt, and the fourth one is right on the edge of completely borked up, and just spun in the hole unless I kept pressure on it.

 

Unreg, thanks for the tips and clarification. I am probablly going to be pulling my seats right out anyway. I want the electric 6way adjustable drivers seat out of the '96 for my '01 anyway and with my size and aches and pains, I figure it can only help. I'm not clear on the plastic nuts your refering to but will take your advice & get them before hand. Thanks all.

 

Take a peek at the front of the dash where it meets the windshield. Those fasteners along that edge, five of 'em, are all that holds the instrument panel in position -- there are two bolts in the cowls behind the kick panels upon which the instrument panel pivots fore and aft that carry the weight. The center fastener of those five up top goes into steel, but it's only through the plastic of the dash on the instrument panel side, while the two on either side pass through the plastic of the dash, then through steel instrument panel supports, then into those four plastic nuts.

They'll probably run you right around $25 for four, but I'd go so far as to say that even if the ones that are in place now look good it's best to just replace them. With any luck you won't be taking the instrument panel away from the cowl again for a decade, and it's unlikely those plastic dudes could all last that long. Three of the four in my truck were cracked when I got the instrument panel out.

 

I just got a PM from a helpful member suggesting I flush the lines. If I got anti-freeze mist on the inside of my windshield last time I drove it, thats a tell tale sign the heater core is bad, right? I think it was vaporizing on the inside of my windshield even when I had the heat & fan turned off. I had to drive it like that for a bit until it got warmer out w/a rag & windex tryin to make it down the road. Yes, been through some rough times. lol

 

I just got a PM from a helpful member suggesting I flush out my lines to the heater core. Last time I drove it in the cold (for about a week or two) it would mist antifreeze on the inside of my windshield. That's a tell tale sign the heater core is bad, right? I made it w/a couple of rags and a bottle of windex until I could buy the '01 I got. Reccesion times were tough. You know what I mean. No, I know, they ain't over yet. VOTE for Romney.

 

Yes, your heater core is shot.

 

Not another one.

 

Not that it matters much, but dammit the economy crashed two months before the last election; OF COURSE the last four years have sucked. They were going to suck no matter what. They sucked more than they had to because the lessons of the Great Depression were ignored... completely by Mittwit's Grand Old Plutocracy, and mostly by Oh-blah-blah's DINO party.

The only thing certain about this election is that a good president will not be elected by it.