I've done a few of them without removing the pad. IIRC, the glove box liner and ash tray have to come out, though. A few nuts on the firewall side and it drops out.
Yeah i only removed the dash pad because of the audio project im doing as well. Thats why it wasnt reinstalled in part two. It did make it a bit easier I think out of the way though and it was pretty easy to remove. I didnt remove my ashtray. Did the glove box liner. The next video with the speakers put in the front it should be reinstalled.
Another tip, you probably don't have to remove the AC to get the heater portion out. I realized this too late. The tricky part is that for Buick 1970 the heater and AC are just partly bolted to one another. You have to figure out which bolts on the AC that can be left. Worth studying the shop manual. Just came in from putting the AC back and it was such a PITA. Omg. Also, prefer solid gaskets if you can get them. Easy to get smears everywhere on these big parts.
the 71-76 its totally separate from each other you wont touch the ac portion at all when removing a heater core portion. I used just some foam to seal all that back. I had no seals really on the heater portion other than the rubber ones at the vents which I just used hvac foam. I actually didnt use any kind of manual. Did refer to a post on here some but alot I just figured it out. I do have to do the ac work but that wont be until I do the cam and head swap. Ill film that when I do. Thanks for checking out the video.
