Dashboard swap!

[mysterious_7]

I have an automatic 1992 Camry CSI limited.. 210,000km on the clock, so far it's running smooth. I maintain it by myself i.e. oil changes every 5000km, regular check ups... etc. This car has been in the family since my dad bought it for my mum brand new in October 1992, then my mum used it for 3-4 years, then two older brothers use to drive it till 2007 and then my brother bought himself a Skyline R34 GTR and let go of this Camry, I was 17yo when I first got it and didn't have much knowledge regarding modifying and fixing my car myself.. Now, I am 21yo, have a decent set of tools and have worked on and modified a lot stuff on this car..

My dashboard is cracked from leaving the car parked in the sun most of the time.. I want to change it. I went pick a part wrecker last week and found that there are heaps of my camry there.. So I want to grab a good condition dashboard, same colour and swap it over with the one I have at the moment.. as it's cracked badly.

I am going to swap the entire dashboard from the passenger to the driver sides.. the whole thing.

Does anyone have any diagrams? Or has anyone attempted doing this before?

Is there any pitfalls I should be looking for?

I know it's not going to be easy at all. There is crap load of wires under the dashboard, I'll have to remove centre console, instrument cluster, glove box... etc. it'll probably take me 4-5 hours of work..

The only guide I found is for an E30 BMW 3 series:

http://home.comcast.net/~cdeegan9/dashboard/dashboard_1.html

BMW is German, therefore I am assuming the camry will be a lot less complicated than how this guide is presenting the same process on a 3 series BMW!

[mysterious_7]

Alright.. update on the situation!

I went to the wreckers today and took off a very good condition dashboard off another Camry! It took me a bit longer than an hour to get it off.. I still haven't installed it on my car :)

Two problem I am facing at the moment.. I found out that under the dashboard there are heaps of wires that are placed and organized very very neatly in bundles! I need to be able to organize them as neatly and clean as the OEM condition when I install the new dash on my car, or else I am going to be getting rattles and noises coming from under dash... That's going to be a tough job to get done.. I'll buy a good quality insulating tape and spend a lot of time on it to get it done perfectly..

The other problem is, there is a sealing material, seems like silicon or something like that... it's lining all the air tunnels connections and junctions. The air tunnels are made of plastic and they're connecting from the cabin air filter outlet to the dash's air vents.. if I didn't seal this properly I will be having air leaking inside the dash.. hmmm.. I still haven't thought about a solution for that, any ideas? should I just buy a silicon tube from bunnings and get on it?

And while I am at it, I'll change the air cabin filter and clean the AC/Heater fan, I think it's on the passenger side, deep under the dash?

I paid $35 for the second hand dash, any suggestion how I can refurbish it and clean it to restore it back to the factory condition? Someone suggested I should use an oven cleaner as it's the only proven detergent that can take the black gunk out! But I am scared it's going to rip the dashboard off it's colour and shine though...

[inSight]

$35 for a second hand dash board. And you got to dismantle it yourself?. What kind of wreckers do you go to?

All the wreckers in my area do the work themselves and make you pay almost as much as retail. Pop recently bought two second hand headlights from wreckers at $110 each. I would figure a dash board to be more expensive.

Well be keeping an eye on this thread as my dashboard is cracked as well.