97 and up Camaro Dash Conversion
For the conversion, you need the newer style dash and all trim pieces, the upper dash piece (goes from windshield to dash), the main HVAC ducting (large plastic piece), a small HVAC piece for the drivers side defroster outlet, the newer A pillar trim (convertible and T top are the same, coupe is different), 1997 guage cluster (this is the only year that will work with older wiring harnesses), 1997 and newer cluster connector (same one used on Firebirds from 1994 -2002), the trunk release button moves from the glove box (93-96) to under the steering column (97-02) it's the same connector and button so you just have to extend the wires, the fog light moves from the headlamp switch to the center radio/HVAC bezel and it also uses the same connector (different switch though) so these wires need extended also. The rear defroster moves to the HVAC controls and uses a new connector that requires only 4 wires instead of 5 (the gray wire is no longer used for lighting the switch as it has it's own internal circuit for this), you need to re-use your original connections on the rest of the HVAC controls (the rest of the electrical plugs in, the cable from the center dial bolts on and the right dial is the vacuum controller for operating all the "doors" in the system, simply screw the old controls onto the new HVAC plate and use the new dial (97 & up have lighted lines on the dials at night (the light is transferred through clear plastic from the illumination lights) and thats it for the HVAC controls), the new HVAC ducts screw in the same places as the old ones and hook right up to the existing duct that is mounted to the firewall (gotta love the engineering at GM),. I did this to a 1995 Camaro and my original passenger side air bag bolted right up with no problems, the glove box latch is the same for all years on Camaros so just remove it from the old and put it on the newer glove box and your key will still lock it. The entire dash screws to the firewall at the same 5 points for all years. I did learn from the factory manuals that you need to disable the air bags fuse and actually unplug the connectors for them before doing anything with the dash (for safety), also remove the connectors at the base of the steering column for the brakes, cruise control ignition, etc. because you have to lower the column to do this conversion and those wires won't travel that far (they are all different connectors so replacing them is just trial and error until they all fit where they go). Removing the front seats would have helped and when putting the new dash in, I would recommend putting the dash metal support (thin metal part that runs the length of the dash on the bottom for support), then bolt in the passenger air bag and looosely have the main HVAC duct where it goes and put it into the car as a unit, then before bolting it all together is when you have to route the old wiring harness. Then screw the dash in and start putting all the little pieces back together. The last thing I did was put the wires from the old guage cluster connector into the new connector and plug it in to the new cluster. I have many of the GM part numbers for this and Scott and all the guys at Speed Automotive were very helpful. I also have the schematics and the cross reference for what wires go where.
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Dec 3, 2014 12:30 PM



