SLAMDIT Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 Hey guys. I have done some searching and not found a whole lot. Basically, we are making plans for the interior overhaul on my Cutlass. Everything is decided upon except the dash. My father-in-law has a 95 cutty drop and we painted up his dash and it is PIMP! I really would like to put the newer dash in my car because it doesn't look as dated as mine and has lots more potential with the overall look I am goin for with the car. So my question is kinda simple...... Does anyone know how much of a bolt-in project this will be? I am also wondering what parts I will need also? For example, will I need all the ductwork for the heater and a/c vents? Will the wiring harness hook up? Will the newer style heater-a/c control plug in? If it is a total pain I will probably stick with my dash. I have some nice ideas for it. But if it is relatively straight forward, I really want this dash in my car. Oh ya, I know the door panels will need to be swapped too, but my interior guy can make a mold of my father-in-law's or we can use one from a coupe as a template. Any helpful info is much obliged!! thanx, Sean Quote
Crazy K Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 If you roomed and boarded me for a week I would do it with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That would be sweet as hell. I completely removed my 95 CS dash to the firewall, and replaced it with a different colored one. It is not actually all the bad... At least the mechanics of it isn't... The wiring may be a differnt question. Most of the bolts you need to detach are accessable under the narrow dashpad, I think two behind the cluster, and almost all the rest through the access holes on each side of the dash and right only the bottome edge. Keep in mind you will have to think about door panels as well! You need to get the brace that runs beneath the 95 dash for support, and all the wiring that comes with it for sure. DOES your 94 have Auto climate control? the 95 CS deluxe climate control hase dual zones, something the 94 did not have... What do you think, so far? got a donor? Quote
SLAMDIT Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Posted January 25, 2006 Hmmmmmmmmm, very intresting. I am glad to know the dash isn't horrid to pull, I am not scared of pulling my 94 dash either. That is cake compared to some of the stuff I am into now on another vehicle. The wiring is my concern. I am keeping an eye out for a junk or wrecked 95 of some kind to use as a donor. I do have the auto climate control, which you brought up a good point about. Thanx for the reply. That would be cool to put ya up here for a week and use ure help. Where are ya from??? LOL -Sean Quote
jeremy Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 someone on here is swapping a complete new interior into an earlier year GP...I know that it isn't a direct swap, but I am sure that once he sees this that he will chime in with more detailed info Quote
Crazy K Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 SLAMDIT, in fact you are only about 2 hours from me.... maybe for a weekend... west side of cleveland. basically grab everything. I mean Everything from the donor. do you have a donor found? I actaully think you need nothing from another 94. I know the firewall connection is identical between the 94 and 95 CS in my possesion.... soe everything else would be internal. Keep in mind, if you go for the deluxe 95 climate controls, you would need to change the box, but I've heard that not doing so will make it still work fine, but the passenger control knob is on the passsnager side armrest in the door. Read this. http://www.w-body.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37351 p.s. you going to the ohio meet? Quote
SLAMDIT Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Posted January 25, 2006 Hey man, I meant a wrecked 95, not a 94. Another 94 would be worthless to me. I fixed the error....anyways, What town do you live in? I will be at the Ohio meet. I am guessing you will be too? I will keep my eyes out for a donor and we can hopefully chat at the meet. Judging by that post I read, you know where a good donor is? Maybe I read it wrong, I am gettin tired! -Sean p.s. maybe we can work out something on doing this together. I could pay ya with money or with parts. I have all kinds of stuff from 16 inch 5 spokes to a nice clean white leather. Quote
Crazy K Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 I'd like the auto climate control, for sure........... LOL We will work something out. we will defentiely talk more at the meet. I'm going to take my lumina... and we all need to play find the MODs. LOL Quote
SLAMDIT Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Posted January 25, 2006 That's cool man. We will definately chat more at the meet. As bad as I would like to take my cutlass to the meet, we will probably take the wife's bonneville instead. My interior is totally out and I have some of the air ride unhooked to try some ideas out that I have for the car. Maybe on your way home from the meet you could stop by my place and I will show you some of my toys. If you are gonna take 71 down to Columbus, I am 2 minutes off the freeway at the Ashland exit. Anyways, thanx for all the info!!! Sean Quote
patgizz Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 ashland eh? beware of a guy named steve that drives a blue or red lumina euro down there. Quote
stockgp Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 taking out a 94 and down dash is easier than the 94+. just because there are so damn many bolts in hard to see places that you might miss a lot of them. i know it took me a good 2 hours to get the donor dash out of a 97 cutlass because i kept missing bolts. as for the electronic climate control, you could just use the 95-97 head unit and rewire the connectors. that is, if you odn't want the dual zone portion of it. unless you find a donor car with the engine already out, getting the dual zone box out of the car will be extremely difficult. wiring really won't be all that bad. just cut the connectors for the climate control and radio out of the donor car and splice them onto your harness. i'm not sure where the fuse panel is in 88-94 cuttys, but most likely you will have to exend the wires and figure out a way to mount your big ass fuse block in the space for the 95+ fuse block that's like 3/4 of it's size. i'll tell you a secret. i got a flip-down fuse panel thing from a taurus, fit my fuse panel onto it (90 gp) and plastic welded it to the underside of my dash. works awesome. also, you may have to cut the mounting studs out of the 95+ car for the instument panel carrier brace. they were not present in my gp, and i don't think they would be in your cutlass, either. without them, the brace serves no purpose. you WILL need the ductwork for the new dash. fortunately, it's attached to the ip carrier, so there's no extra work. you will need to drill and tap new holes for the new steering column bolts as well. i think they are something like 1.5" farther apart than 88-94 bolts. don't switch out the steering column firewall plate if you ever intend to put a manual trans in your car. 95+ (or 94+, not sure) plates don't have a place for the clutch pedal to go. um, i think that's about it. Quote
Crazy K Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 most ionfo is correct, however..... both 94 qnd 95 use the same apparent column, saginaws. There is a difference in column shifted columns, but they will swap. The difference has to do with the addition of the "press brake to shift from" feature, and the design of the shifter lever. As for the wiring harness, I think the entire thing could be changed right were it meets the fire wall, though that may require the entire body harness to be changed. I have the 94 factory manual, if it will be needed. 94 fuses are located beneath the glove box insert. 95 in an access panel in the dash's door jamb. Again i mention the apparent difference in the door panels. I like the 95 more. I found the 95 CS dash was a cake walk, as long as I kept unscrewing everything, actually UMMM, Who am I watching out for with a red or blue lumina? and Why? Unless you're thinking of my car which is part blue and red(burgundy actually) and silver, gray, turquiose, green, white...., light blue..... sure, a visit will be no problem. Quote
stockgp Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 it may bea easier to swap the entire dash harness. i did my swap in a 90 gp, so i hd to cahnge the wiring in the entire front half of the car. everything from the a pillars forward. i had a short in ym dash harness somewhere, so i used a 93 dash harness from a car i bought fro the engine and trans. that meant i had to change underhood electrical centers and headlight harnesses. and, for some reason my turn signals and brake lights quit working. so i'm going to have to go through and do it all again probably. as for the steering column, i'm really not familiar with cutlasses at all. so some of my info may be incorrect. as long as the pinouts are the same for where the dash harness goes through the firewall on the driver's side and at the c100 connector, i'd say swap the whole thing Quote
SLAMDIT Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Posted January 25, 2006 Wow, that is a ton of info. I definately have some thinkin to do. I do know that I don't caer about the dual climate control, and I am glad the ductwork comes out with the dash. I am a little intimidated with the whole cut and slice thing for the wires, but I am definately capable of doing this. Thanks for all the info though. I really appreciate it. -Sean Quote
GnatGoSplat Posted January 25, 2006 Report Posted January 25, 2006 I think the swap would be a lot simpler into a 94. 94's are kind of a strange year. They got the round saginaw column, so there would be no modification needed for that. 94 also has the newer carrier and brace... not sure if it differs from a 95, but it's definitely different than an 88-93. The entire 94 dash is actually a little bit different than an 88-93. I'm interested in doing the same thing, mainly because I HATE the combination of the vent placement with the airbag wheel on the 94. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.