stevenlee700

i bought a jdm FD3S, but driver side dash board is painted blue.
so i am trying to get rid of color to restore original color.

but it seems too hard to take it off.

anyone did this before?
any good advice?

kingpinz420

im in same boat

KenSpeC

iTrader: (16)

first make sure the screws underneath the steering wheel cover is removed, when i did mine i took the center console off too, i cant remember if there were screws to hold the gauge cover in place.

but once the screws are off, i know this may be hard to do, but give the gauge cover a hard pull towards you. NOT up and away, but TOWARDS you. unfortunately you will end up breakinsg some tabs but will not have affect remounting it

goodluck
Kem

twinsinside

iTrader: (34)

When I did mine (its been a while) I removed pretty much everything. Steering wheel, side vent cover, console, AC/heater panel, turn signal switch cover, etc. There were a number of screws if I remember right that are hidden holding the gauge cluster in.

On the gauge hood itself there are 3 metal push tabs that plug into the main dash back near where the dash meets the windshield. These get rusty and stick pretty hard. If you pull really hard straight back you're gonna possibly break the gauge hood (ask me how I know, Hulk smash). I found that if you try to pull a little on the left, then a little on the right, and try to wiggle each side loose you won't destroy everything taking it out. Once you get it out grease those suckers up some for the next time.

You're also going to love trying to unplug the 4 connectors on the back of the gauges :P

gio64

iTrader: (1)

Download the factory service manual.
It will give you a clear picture of where screws and tabs are, so you can pull when it's time and pull in the right direction.

I pulled mine last year as I was installing a gauge type boost controller. I decided that since I had taken quite a few pieces off, I was going to change all the dash lights to new ones (17 year old car, all of them were working but...).

I managed to pull the entire gauge cluster + hood without breaking anything. Just be patient while pulling, take your time and don't force it.
I did not remove my steering wheel, there was no need to do that, but you need to remove the steering column trim pieces (2).

Please note: once the instrument cluster is unhooked, it still has a few plugs in the back. Each and every one of them has a locking mechanism. You need to press the tabs on both top and bottom side of each plug to be able to pull on it and take it off.

I did not remove the instrument cluster itself from the hood, but this can be done. If you need to remove paint, I would do that.