I've searched as much as I could here and it seems most of the information is for Camaros. My problem is specifically the bulb replacement on my 1987 GTA with digital dash. Obviously I'm a bit concerned about damaging the instrument panel/electronics so I'd like some hints/advice.

It's been a long long time since I devoted some time to my GTA, with my recent 1978 W72 acquisition taking most of my attention. There's a bulb burned out behind the odometer on my GTA's digital dash.

I had a quick look yesterday and it seems like I need to remove portions of the instrument panel. There are many interlocking panels and even when I peeked behind the trim panel associated with the odometer, it looked pretty obvious I'd need to get at the rear through some other method. So I'm not sure what needs to be removed and in what order, nor what sort of pitfalls to look out for.

Any advice and tips greatly appreciated.

 

The digital dash can actually be removed fairly easily for bulb replacement. Remove the trim that holds the headlight switch, and the trim that surrounds the centre A/C vents. Remove the trim under the steering column and drop the column down to the end of one of the screw studs. If I remember there are 4 bolts holding in the dash, after you remove them, the digital dash just pulls straight out.

On reinstalling, just make sure you get the little pins on the connector lined up exactly right when you push it back in.

 

Any chance of being able to pull it out without dropping the column?

Also, as far as the A/C vents trim goes, it seems to interface with the edge trim over the passenger's bottom edge of the dash. Should that trim be removed as well, in order to free the A/C vent trim? Or is the A/C trim just slid in beneath that edge trim? I don't want to force anything for fear of breaking tabs/etc.

Lastly, it's the idea of lining up the connector pins that has me spooked.

I should probably disconnect the battery when doing this dash removal?

 

you can get it out without dropping the column, but it's a tight fit and could scratch or even break the plastic if it's brittle. Dropping the column is easy. You remove the lower panel, then remove the 2 bolts holding the column, and it'll drop enough to get the dash out. It takes less time than trying to squeeze the dash around the steering wheel.

 

Alright, thanks for the tips guys.

Just wondering if I need to undo that passenger's side trim panel (edge) to remove the A/C trim. This may be specific to the T/A's digital dash, I'm not sure. Anyway, when I loosened the A/C trim, I felt it was catching on this edge trim and I'm not sure how it's all put together.

About the column, well I'm just trying to minimize what I need to pull apart. But I am concerned about damaging that digital dash panel so I'll probably go ahead and drop the column (I seem to recall dropping it once back in the mid 90s, maybe to tighten up the tilt mechanism?).