I have an '88 T/A with much water damage after sitting for 4 years with rusted out/leaking t-tops. Well all the interior is out of the car, carpet removed, instrument cluster and all switches out, steering column is hanging, but not out of the car yet, and the main dash part is hanging off the firewall loose now. My question lies with the wiring harness. Anyone have a step by step or easy way to pull the wiring harness out of the mess of dash without removing all the vents for the a/c attached to the main piece, etc.? I took some pictures before and where it sits now to hopefully be able to put all the wiring back where it goes when it comes time to go back together and took some notes, but it seems pretty integrated in there with the dash. The passenger side is pretty much off ready to go, the drivers side has the fuse panel off the dash hanging, the wire connector blocks pushed back behind the dash for removal, but the main clump of wiring harness is buried in behind the instrument cluster area. What all needs to come off and what can stay basically. I need to gain access to the firewall to repair some issues...will the column need to come all the way out? Or can I leave it hanging in place...leave that wiring there? Thanks. Some pics: Before: During:

Couple more during pics:

There should be a connector on the passengers side of the car, behind the kicker panel where the wiring harness comes into the car. Im pretty sure you can just disconnect it from there to just pull the dash as well as the harness as one, but i could be wrong.

The passenger side is all clear...the ECM and some misc. little harnesses/wires were all that were on that side for this '88 T/A anyway. The wiring I'm having issue with is on the driver's side where it all connects to the main harness...into the fuse panel box, through the firewall for the engine stuff, steering column, etc. The pictures I took are not the best...wish I had better angles, but that's all I could get.

Hmm... well the only wires i can think of are the door wires, and then i believe there is a block connector on the firewall, if you are looking in the engine compartment its up near the top on the drivers side, i think its held on by two small nuts and just take those off and a big chunk of the harness will be free. And the steering column isnt too hard to disconnect, 3 bolts i think. Neither is it hard to take the harness off the column. But like i said, im not sure, im basing all this off my 87 Roc and my 92 RS.

I think I'm needing to do the block harness bolted to the firewall on the top driver's side there as you said. That's where some of the rust is though and I'm thinking it will just break off/free without removing the bolts! :-p Anyway, the '87 IROC should be pretty close if not the same. Next time I get a chance to work on it...probably Monday, I will try the firewall and then see what's involved in freeing up the column stuff. Thanks.

another pic:

Yeah, no problem, let me know how it goes and if you need anymore help. Good Luck

Will do...I appreciate the help. I posted a pic to help show why I am trying to remove this stuff...there are 3 spots like this on the firewall that need repair...or at the very least attention and rust stop until I can maybe remove the motor and do it right down the road.

Yeah, when i was restoring my 92 RS before my funds ran out i plucked the engine, addressed the firewall issues and POR15(black) the engine compartment and it looked good. And the POR15 takes a lot to scratch and make look bad, very heavy duty paint.