Today I tore into my dash for a number of reasons and because I know it will be months before I put it back together again, I documented the procedure to help my ailing memory. So, I thought I might as well share it with everyone since I'm going through the trouble anyway and possibly it might help some of you out. There are other guides out there, but I haven't seen any in a while and the picture links are most likely dead. Also, I'm sorry about the cell phone pictures.

Note: This particular Z happens to be a left-hand-drive NA model.

These are the steps I took to successfully remove the dashboard of my car with minimal breakage...

Ok, lets start with the center console.


If you pry the long center cover off, there are two screws underneath.


Also, there are two screws under plastic covers in the upper corners.



There are two metal clips in the bottom two corners that pop out with minimal force. Also, make sure to disconnect the clock wiring connector.



With the center console cover out of the way, remove the 4 screws that secure the head unit bracket.


There will be a jumble of wires keeping you from removing the head unit assembly.


Anyone with an aftermarket system will probably have a wiring adapter like this. Simply disconnect to free the head unit. Don't forget the ground wire in the back that is secured to the body.


Upon removal of the center console cover, the location of two screws holding the plastic trim that goes around the gear shift knob is revealed. Remove.


There is another half way down that is hiding...


There it is!


There is a metal clip that needs to be pried up just in front of the e-brake lever.


The shift knob needs to be unscrewed to let the leather shift boot off.


Now the whole section should slide out, but be careful of the two pawls in the back. Don't pull straight up, but forward.


Before you get very far, some wiring underneath will hold you down. Remove the wiring connectors to the cigarette lighter and side mirror controller.


That section is now gone.


Next, I moved to the passenger side foot well. The plastic trim under the glove compartment is held on by 4 plastic screw clips. Simply unscrew until each screw is loose, but not out. Then pull down on the whole piece of trim and the clips will pop out.



This will have revealed the 2 bolts that secure the glove box in place. Remove these.


There is also another screw in the back left corner that needs to be removed before the glove box will come out.


Glove box removed.


Now on to the drivers side. The panel under the steering wheel that you hit your knees on has 4 screws holding it in place. These are the first two.


The other two are further underneath.


Panel removed.


This reveals two new screws that are holding the trim around the center console. Remove these.


The passenger side trim also has two screws that were revealed upon removing the glove box.


Beware! One is hiding under a cap that needs to be pried off.


Both sides have an additional two screws securing them down.


Be careful. There is a small tab at the end.


Side trim removed.


The other side has one too.


The passenger side also has two alignment pins to watch out for.


This next section is optional: To remove the arm rest section that covers the e-brake lever, remove these two screws.


Then pull up the lining in the arm rest storage space. It is secured with double sided sticky tape. Underneath you will find some screw covers that need to be pried out.



There are 3 screws here that need removed.


Arm rest removed.


Now on to the framework surrounding where the glove box used to be. There are screws on both sides hiding under caps.



There is one in the middle.


Also, underneath there are two more screws.



With the side trim removed, two more screws are revealed. One up top...


and one underneath. That is a total of 7 screws securing this frame.


Be careful of this metal tab that sticks up. It will try to hold the frame in place and, as you see here, it caught some wires.


Disconnect the wires going to the floor and glove box lights. The frame is now free.


On the outside of the dash is a cover for the air vent that transfers air to the door. Pry around this area.


There was only one metal clip and two pawls holding it in place.


This reveals two screws that need to be taken out to remove this small piece of trim.


There are two more on the other side. Remove screws and trim.


The same thing is happening on the drivers side.


Next, we move on to the gauge cluster assembly, but before that we shall remove the pod controls. There are two screws underneath that hold the faceplate on.


Unplug the wiring connectors.


With the faceplate out of the way, we can see two bolts and two screws holding the housing in place. Remove these.


The right control pod is similar to the left. Two screws underneath.


Remove the wire connectors.


Be careful of the sneaky little brown connector on the other side.


Remove the exposed bolts in the bottom and also the two screws at the top.


Pull the hazard lights button straight up and off.


Now you can get to those two screws in the back.


Both side pods removed.


Next, I removed the steering column cover in case it was to get in the way of removing other things, but I don't think this was necessary.


There are three sections. The plastic trim around the key slot just sits between the other two.


Next, remove the two screws that are on the underside of the top of the cluster panel.



The top cover should be freed now. Remove.


There are 3 plastic tabs sticking up that hold the front panel of the combination meter on. These can be removed, but due to the frailty of all this plastic I suggest just removing the bolts at the back and removing the front panel along with the metal frame work at the same time.


There are also a metal clips on the bottom of each side.



Before you get too far, you will notice wires connected to the front panel. The wire disconnect is above the combination meter.


Now for the actual gauge cluster, there are two screws on the bottom. One on each side.



You can now lift it up to get to the wire connectors on its back.


Gauge cluster removed.


You do not need to remove these small, side vent covers to remove the dash, but I did so, because I plan on painting them. There is a clip on each side, but no way to reach in there to squeeze them for release, so just pull up carefully. I only broke 50% of the tabs!
**[EDIT] You can actually get to them once the dash is out, so if you want to remove these, wait until a few steps further.**


The defroster vents need to be pried up. They should be removed at the same time or you could break the pawls that keep them secured together.


The passenger side has a hang up though.


I'm not sure what this is. Maybe a light sensor?


The connector was covered with foam tape that had to be scraped away to reveal the release.


OK, we have finally arrived at the dash! There were 10 bolts securing it. Also, there are some clips in the back near the firewall. Just pull hard and straight out to release these. Starting from the drivers side and going clockwise, bolt #1...


#2-4 are under the defrost vents we just removed.




#5 passenger side.


#6 is right under number 5.


#7 is under the center console.


#8 & 9 are on either side of the steering wheel.



#10 is right behind where the gauge cluster was.


This device will hamper the mobility of your dash. Either remove the two bolts and let it dangle or just unplug the wire connector and let the brace go with the dash.


When pulling the dash out the air ducts will come apart right here on both sides of the center console.


This duct hung up on something, so I removed it.


Dash gone!




A helpful tip: keep loose bolts labeled and organized. Zip lock baggies are awesome!



Tomorrow I will be continuing on with further removal of the under dash contents...

Dude OMG I'm speachless KICK a** write up! Keep up the good work! PM me your address and I'll send you a NICO lanyard and some stickers.

Also I'm going to post a link to this in the Z32 general section. That way everyone can see how detailed this write up is. Very good job, can't wait to see the rest of it.

awesome detailed write-up. great job mate!

+1, well done sir.

Well done write-up! These are the kind of write-ups that people will be referencing for years to come. It's hard to find articles this well put together, but when you do it makes the job SO much easier.

Awesome work! I always forget to keep taking pictures while I'm in the middle of working...

WOW!!! What detail, great job!!!

Awesome writeup and pics even showing all of the bolt and screw covers. Well done!

Bookmarked, and thanks. This will be very useful to me soon.

I would have never been able to do that without breaking at least 25-30 plastic items.

I only broke two pieces of plastic and one was what a screw, that I didn't know existed, was securing. I did however find half a dozen breaks that were pre-existing. Old brittle plastic can break from the compression exerted on them from retaining bolts and the like. I, also, found some screw heads stripped from factory.

Ok, guys. On to part 2. Today I removed most everything that was under the dash, and again, here is the step-by-step guide. Again, this is for a 1990 lefty NA model with a manual transmission. So, you might run into airbags and other perplexities that this particular car does not furnish.
Oh, and thanks for the warm replies.

To start off, I removed the structural support tubing. From the drivers side, we start off with 3 bolts here. The one in the back is hard to see and hard to get to.


There are two more bolts where the combination meter used to be.


There are 2 securing points that support the steering column.


The left side actually has two nuts that should both be removed.


Directly behind this is a tie that is securing some wires. I took snips to these, but it's up to you whether or not you want to fool around with trying to pry this out for reuse.


Further behind this, there is one sneaky screw.


Moving towards the middle of the car, we find some support braces. It works best to remove the nuts from the bottom and let the brace go with the tubing.


Same thing on the adjacent brace.


Above this there is a screw securing the ducting. You don't have to take this out. The ducting will be removed in a few steps down anyway. You can just let it ride with the tube.


Ok, finally on the passenger side door area, we have the last two bolts.


You can now pull the bar out, but you'll need something to support the steering column now that it's gone.


On to...wait I don't know what this is or why it really needs to be here, but here is the screw to take it off and at least get away from that dust flapping in your face.


Below this is the passenger side floor ducting. Remove this one screw and pull off.


Oh hey! It's that piece of vent duct that I mentioned earlier. If you haven't taken it off yet, just pull it out to the right. You might notice that there are two openings from the heater unit on the right side. The long piece of duct came out with the dash already, so you shouldn't have to worry about it.


The driver's side is a little more secure with this one screw.


There are also some wire connectors that must be undone. The ducts on this side have air flow meters? Or perhaps temperature sensors?


That was the last of the side vent ducting. Now, on to the defrost ducting.


The main defroster duct has 3 screws to remove.


The side defroster ducting has a screw in each corner of the windshield. Left...


Right.


The passenger side also has one more screw right in the middle.


There is a wire connector hiding underneath this.


The assembly can be removed as one unit now.


Now for the heater, cooler, and blower units... Start off with removing the wires. In general, it is a good idea to label them with tape as you remove each plug. The heater control unit has 4 connectors. There is another white connector that needs to be unplugged. Finally, remove the wire connector above that goes to the heater door motor.



Remove the connectors to the cooling unit and blower motor.


Also, take out the blower door motor plug. That is the last of the wiring.


Now to remove the securing points, starting on the left side, we have a nut for the heater unit behind the gas pedal.


On top there is another nut right in the middle. You might notice that these are difficult to undo, because the threads are covered with paint.


In the passenger foot well the cooling unit and the blower have 3 nuts holding them in on the bottom.


They both have one more nut securing them up top. Cooler...


Blower.


There is one more thing holding the cooler unit in. In the engine bay are the two lines that move the coolant. Notice the rusty nut. Blaster is your best friend. Don't be shy.


Once the nut is off remove the plate covering. I took off the heat shield to allow a little more wiggle room for the high pressure lines. There were two nuts holding this on.


The rubber grommet has 3 slits that all go to the right side. It, therefore, has to be pulled out and to the left.



Now the cooler unit will be ready to fall out. Once it is out of the way, the blower will follow suit.


The bottom brackets might get stuck on the wooden plate that covers the electronics below. I took mine out by removing the four bolts.


Note: There is a coolant drain hose that goes from the bottom of the cooler unit out through a lower hole in the firewall. Mine was broken off. I had noticed it earlier, but wasn't sure what it was for. It just pulls through the firewall into the cabin with the cooler unit.



Now that the cooler unit is out of the way, you'll discover that the heating unit had one more nut that needed to be removed.


Finally, you'll need to go back into the engine bay and take off the two hoses that run to the back of the engine block. This is easier said than done. I took a razor to mine, because I will not be reusing them.


The heater unit will now slide out with some tugging. Be careful of coolant spilling all over your interior. I suggest sucking the coolant out with a shop-vac before you pull the unit out. Congratulations! You now have a spacey interior!


The next step for me was to remove this wiring connector right here and now my wiring harness was free! The ECU was taken out long before.


Take off these two nuts to remove this cover.


To help get the rubber grommet out, slide a screw driver under an edge.


Then from the engine bay, pull fairly hard and the grommet will pop out and you can remove your engine wiring harness.


Job complete! ...for now.

Note: You may have noticed that my engine bay is not of the same likeness as yours. This made some of my steps much easier than they would normally have been. Your Z32 may look more like this:

To even get to some of the things you need access to, many things will have to be removed first, but you already knew this. Nissan engineering has created more bloody knuckles than fist fights. I mean this entire project for me was to get to the wiring. Anyway, you will probably have to remove the plastic cover that will allow you to remove the battery, so you can remove the AC coolant lines, which I have forgotten the sizing of, but you can figure that out for yourself since you are a skilled mechanic. Run on sentence anyone? Yes, please! This is an internet forum after all. And good luck getting to those heater hoses. Use some ingenuity.

Next time I'll post my guide for wiring a VH45DE into a Z32, but that is still in progress, so I don't know when you'll get to see it.

GOOD NIGHT NICO!

P.S. Grinding and sanding and sanding and sanding to get a polished intake manifold, as seen in that last photo...is not worth it. Just FYI.

I find a wire wheel on a drill, dremel, or high speed air tool works pretty well and requires about a 10th of the effort. No it's not as sexy, but it's WAY easier.

If I ever need that much interior work, I'll probably just put a flaming rag into the fuel tank...you're out of control.

A + write up, awesome.

nice write up brother! So, are there some cool plans when it starts going back in?

Well-done, sir.

I read something like this and it makes me want to go "dig in" on a project I've been putting off.

Excellent work!

Six years later and still haven't put this back together!

Thanks for this post, subscribed for future dash removal work.

Thanks for the post it sucks that photobucket has blurred the pictures this was helping me so much in my build

ashiemotto wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:38 pm

Thanks for the post it sucks that photobucket has blurred the pictures this was helping me so much in my build

I did a gauge ring how-to and have done all but a full dash removal (but I've done heater core repair, glove box removal, heater vent fix/update, cloth/tweed inserts and a little more as well) so go ahead and toss out any questions you have, and maybe I can help...and be sure to look at the Factory Service manual (fsm) at the top of the main page in the "Everything you need...Z32" sticky for more help.

DCaff300ZX wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:01 pm

ashiemotto wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:38 pm

Thanks for the post it sucks that photobucket has blurred the pictures this was helping me so much in my build

I did a gauge ring how-to and have done all but a full dash removal (but I've done heater core repair, glove box removal, heater vent fix/update, cloth/tweed inserts and a little more as well) so go ahead and toss out any questions you have, and maybe I can help...and be sure to look at the Factory Service manual (fsm) at the top of the main page in the "Everything you need...Z32" sticky for more help.

How much room is behind the firewall by the battery? I know the blower is right there is there any space to run a wire grommet for say a 0 gauge battery cable? I know there are other options to run wires just trying to gauge if there's clearance behind the firewall battery side

You may be able to get away with running such a large wire near the EFI harness penetration by drilling your own hole.