I have a 1987 base model Firebird. On my dash, I have plastic covers covering places where availible option buttions would have been mounted. I'm looking to cut into those plastic pieces to mount 2 switches (for an LED under-dash accent kit). I'm also looking to drill into the bezel to make room for 4 buttons (for a Knight Rider sound box). The switches are the same as were already mounted on two of the 4 plastic covers. They are rectangular lighted switches similar to what you would see on a surge protector strip.

How would I go about doing this? I thought of cutting out the rectangular pieces with a heavy duty exacto knife. 5 min into it, I made a small scratch along the peice and got worked up about it and making a mistake. Do you think I should take it to an installer? Would they do something like this for me? What if they make a mistake? Personally, I'd trust a professional more than I would myself. What do you all think? Oppinions?

I'll post a pic of my dash also.

 

Best thing to do it remove the dash...then you can remove the plastic blanks from the dash! Then drill a pilot hole. using an exacto knife will only serve to get you hurt. they are hard to control on thick plastic like this. I opted for a dremel. In mounting switches like you showed...you can get away with drilling 2 holes side by side and then going in a carefully trimming the sides with a knife. I prefer the dremel all the way though.

I have made it a habit of grabbing blanks when I go to junkyards. I then play with the spares. Get them right then swap them in! I had mounted switches in mine!

These are pics of the factory switches. You can see the screw holes. These mount to the back side of the dash. The blanks are made the same way!

Here are mine!

Before I repainted everything black!

 

Thank you very much. You've been most helpful. Nice dash by the way.

 

Your welcome...and thanks!


The dash you posted is just like what this one looked stock!

 

I took your advice and here's some pics of the new dash. Thanks a lot you rock

 

hmmm...please let me know how that picture shows up. I'm confident it didn't do what I wanted it to...

 

my computer did not recognize the file type and would not open the pic!

 

Here, try this:

 

Thanks CraZ-28. Here's another pic if it came out ok...keeps fingers crossed...

 

looks awesome, came out great!