Alright, heres the situation. Basically I have a free 97 Camaro dash on my hands, along with a 94 Camaro dash as well. Theyve sat out in our parts trailer for who knows how long rotting away, so I may as well use one of them. I'm going with the 97 for now, unless I for some reason change my mind. At this moment I only have the 97 dash at my house, but I couldnt find the bezel that surrounds the gauges. I need to do some more digging, as we have plenty of 4th gen Camaro parts laying around. Anyway, I removed my Fiero dash, a-pillar plastic, all that good stuff, and I couldnt get the Camaro dash to fit like others with the Firebird dash had. I know some cutting needs to be done on both the dash and steering column support, but this thing doesnt fit near as good as the Firebird dash (with no cutting, anyway). I can't get it to stay in place by itself, unlike some of the Firebird dashes I've seen. I'm not sure if I should grab the 94 dash and try it without any cutting, just to see if it fits better. Anyway I have a few pics of the dash, but none of the dash in the car. Batteries died in the camera as usual.

All the pieces I have of the dash as of right now slopped together:




Behind the gauges

Im assuming some of this needs to be cut away? If I trim off enough of the steering column support, can it stay as is? It's already broke as you can see, so cutting isnt a big deal. Just dont want to hack anything if I dont have to.

Bottom of the dash

How does the bottom of the Firebird dash look? This section doesnt seem to fit over the gas tank tunnel as well as I would like. It's almost as if it needs to be shifted towards the drivers side just a little bit.

Last pic I could take of the interior before the camera died

Pretty nasty. I got the seats out of a 4th gen Firebird for 40 bucks. Looks a lot better than the old ripped up seats.


I would appreciate if any of you with F-Body dashes could chime in and just give me some advice. I haven't seen a 97 Camaro dash swapped in yet, and I like it better than the 94 dash and Firebird dash. I wouldnt mind installing a 94 dash if in fact it fits better. I know somebody on here has the 94 dash in their Fiero and it looks pretty good. Of course there are numerous Firebird dashes, but as I said I haven't seen a 97 Camaro dash yet. Any help with this would be appreciated. Try and get me to "commit" to this swap - by cutting off the steering column support!

You need to get hold of JScott and those guys to walk you through this--I hope to do some dash mods pretty soon , so I`ll be watching your thread/post....Good Luck

It won't fit very nicely at the start. I also doubt that there are any differences between the main shell of the dash between the years.

The Firebird dash will not stay in place by itself either. It does help after the metal is trimmed around the column, but you still need to mount it to the frame just under the windshield using screws (the mounts are very close to the original holes that the stock dash mounted to.

behind the gauges: you don't need to cut anything here except trim the tabs off the backside. You will need to cut the metal around the steering column to get the dash to sit all the way back. You can cut out sections behind the gauges to make it fit over the metal, JScott did this originally - but eventually cut the metal.

I never cut the bottom opening to fit over the console - I did remove the 2 plastic moldings from behind the carpet that are along the side of the console. I am not sure about the Camaro dash, but you can not move the Firebird dash any more to the left (driver's side) - if anything it should go to the right.

The air box also needs to be modified for it to fit properly.

Put the dash in, and take pictures of your problem areas in reference to the car, and we can tell you what to do.

[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 03-01-2007).]

quote Originally posted by Mickey_Moose: behind the gauges: you don't need to cut anything here except trim the tabs off the backside. You will need to cut the metal around the steering column to get the dash to sit all the way back. You can cut out sections behind the gauges to make it fit over the metal, JScott did this originally - but eventually cut the metal.

This is true...you can make the dash fit without cutting the Fiero steering column support, but the dash will be 2-3 inches further out from the windshield that way. For a better fit, it's worth it to cut the Fiero column support. But until you cut the column the dash is not going to want to fit unless you completely hog out that area behind the gauges.

You got real lucky on the gauges...the 97 are the only digital odometer gauges that work perfectly with the Fiero.

Good to know the 97 gauges will work. Are the wiring diagrams you posted for them the same as the Firebird gauges? It seems like the set you used looked just like mine, but I've looked through so many threads that I can't remember. I know I'm going to have to hack away the steering support column, just a little hesitant for some reason. I have access to a welder, so that shouldnt be a problem. If I can get this thing to fit, I'm thinking about installing an amp where the airbag would be, with a sub box mounted underneath it.This way you could open up the airbag compartment to access the amp, and nothing would be in the way. It's all just a dream now, just need to get the thing in there! I might build up the guts to do it tonight, but I'm not feeling too well. I think its pretty much pointless to take a pic of the dash in the car though, because it wants to fall down on the passenger side unless I hold it up. Thanks for all the help so far, I really hope to get this thing going. I think I have the ability to do it, I swapped in a 3.1 from a 94 Lumina in place of an iron duke, so I should be able to get most of this done, haha. Toaster_man also said he could help sometime over spring break, so keep the posts coming! Thanks again!

quote Originally posted by toadson: Good to know the 97 gauges will work. Are the wiring diagrams you posted for them the same as the Firebird gauges? It seems like the set you used looked just like mine, but I've looked through so many threads that I can't remember. I know I'm going to have to hack away the steering support column, just a little hesitant for some reason. I have access to a welder, so that shouldnt be a problem. If I can get this thing to fit, I'm thinking about installing an amp where the airbag would be, with a sub box mounted underneath it.This way you could open up the airbag compartment to access the amp, and nothing would be in the way. It's all just a dream now, just need to get the thing in there! I might build up the guts to do it tonight, but I'm not feeling too well. I think its pretty much pointless to take a pic of the dash in the car though, because it wants to fall down on the passenger side unless I hold it up. Thanks for all the help so far, I really hope to get this thing going. I think I have the ability to do it, I swapped in a 3.1 from a 94 Lumina in place of an iron duke, so I should be able to get most of this done, haha. Toaster_man also said he could help sometime over spring break, so keep the posts coming! Thanks again!

The gauge could be the same, I will dig up a wiring diagram for you.

I know how you feel about cutting the metal around the steering column, it took me about a week to finally say screw it and just cut it already. At that point I was comminted to finishing it...

Edit to add diagram:

[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 03-02-2007).]

Look in the archives as their is no differance in the install of the firebird or camero . I used the firebird dash install to install the 96 camero dash in my 88. I cut the instruments out , made a aluminium plate to fit into gage pod & installed individual Dekoda Digital gages .How you finish it out is up to you.I used the Fiero A/C panal, moved it to the bottom in the center & installed a late modle pontiac raido/CD changer above the stock fiero A/C control head.That leaves the center A/C vents as is..............seabee1678

seabee1678, do you have any pics? I would like to see how it looks finished up. And Moose, thanks for the wiring diagram! That will come in handy. Thanks for all the replies so far! I will probably get moving on this thing tonight, or else this weekend. I have next week off from school, so I really want to get movin on this thing. Thanks again!

With the gauges, make sure you hook up all the power and illumination connections, even though they look redundant they are all needed to light up the display.

Here's a small update. I found a few missing peices to the dash. Now all I need are the wiring pigtails for the gauges, headlight switch and trunk popper and the drivers side vent. I'm thinking about cutting off the snout tonight, as I got a spare steering column mount from the junkyard, which I can make a new mounting bracket with. I'm a bit confused on how some of you raised the steering column though. It seems to me like the rear mounting points on the steering column would stay the same, and the only thing that is really changing is the angle of the steering column. Is this the case or is the whole steering column actually raised up? I took a few pictures tonight of the dash in the car with absolutely no cutting on the dash or the car, just so anyone who is thinking about doing this swap can see what is needed to cut. A little warning though, crappy lighting + camera flash = makes the dash look filthier than it really is.

Here is a passengers side view


Drivers side view


I would say it needs to sit back if you want to shift, and yes, the bezel needs cleaned up.

Behind the gauges. Notice how bad the steering column snout interferes. Also, I need to cut off the 2 tabs sticking out from the dash.


This shot is just behind the dash, showing how far it is from the mounting points.


I hope to finally get something done tonight. I really like the look of this dash in the car, even though it is far from the mounting points. I've also ran into something that I havent seen in the Firebird dash installs. The lower mounting bracket for the dome light that sticks off of the kick panel hits the dash. I don't remember ever reading about this in the Firebird installs. I'm just going to notch the dash and make it a mounting point for the dash. Thanks again for all the help. This should be a bit of a challenge and it will look good when its finally done.

Guess you can say I'm committed now





Ive noticed the dash needs notched on the drivers side as well, to clear the support for the steering column. I'm going to double check the firebird dash threads, as I do not remember them having to notch the dash. I have a bad memory though, so who knows what I've forgotten already.

EDIT: I drilled out the spot welds for the passenger side floor light bracket, so it no longer interferes with the dash. I now need to notch out a section of the dash where the fuse cover normally goes on the drivers side. This shouldnt be a big deal, as I can notch to fuse cover and it should look just fine. I will take more pics as soon as I notch out the dash and get it fitting decent.

[This message has been edited by toadson (edited 03-09-2007).]

quote Originally posted by toadson: Guess you can say I'm committed now Ive noticed the dash needs notched on the drivers side as well, to clear the support for the steering column. I'm going to double check the firebird dash threads, as I do not remember them having to notch the dash. I have a bad memory though, so who knows what I've forgotten already. EDIT: I drilled out the spot welds for the passenger side floor light bracket, so it no longer interferes with the dash. I now need to notch out a section of the dash where the fuse cover normally goes on the drivers side. This shouldnt be a big deal, as I can notch to fuse cover and it should look just fine. I will take more pics as soon as I notch out the dash and get it fitting decent.

Which support are you talking about that you have to notch for the steering column support? I never had to notch for anything like that. You DO however have to notch a bit for around the switch assembly that is mounted to the column.

Fuse cover: don't worry about the notch on this side, you can't see it. I don't recall how deep I had to go, but best to cut a little at a time vs too much I just did a small slit enough for the dash to fit over the metal support.

I also welded up the 2 sections of sheet metal where you cut the snout off to provide a bit extra support. I just filled the cavity up with some scrap metal and filled it in.

snout picture (I cut a bit more off, you can see in the picture that I cut into the support a bit more):


snout filled in and painted:


gap between dash and mounting sill (I seem to recall that a couple of the original mounts touched the Fieros sill):

Thanks for the pics, it looks nice. My dash right now sits about like yours in the pic. I havent notched out the drivers side and don't think I will have to. As of right now the ignition switch hits the plastic on the dash behind the gauges and would be worse if the dash was any farther back. I suppose I'm going to have to notch that out. Did you raise your steering column up? I'm still not sure how they do that exactly.

Well, I have finally made some progress the last few days. I now have the dash mounted where I want it, after making up some brackets and trimming away plastic. I have to trim behind the gauges and at the bottom of the dash on the drivers side where the console meets up to it. Now it's time to figure out the duct work, and I also need to find some wiring for the gauges and light switch. Hopefully we have the dash wiring somewhere in our farm so I dont need to buy any. I can't think of much else that has happened on this swap lately, but I have some pics.
NOTE: The steering column is being held up by only two bolts right now and is not in its final location. I do have a few pics where I'm holding up the steering column in the spot where I would like it to be.
Heres two passenger side shots



Here is a drivers side shot


Gauge shot, I am holding up the steering column in this pic, and yes, I AM going 95 mph at 0 rpms


Another shot of the column being held up


Shot of how far the shifter is from the dash in 3rd gear


Windshield shot


Thats all for now. More updates to come.

[This message has been edited by toadson (edited 03-13-2007).]

quote Originally posted by toadson: Thanks for the pics, it looks nice. My dash right now sits about like yours in the pic. I havent notched out the drivers side and don't think I will have to. As of right now the ignition switch hits the plastic on the dash behind the gauges and would be worse if the dash was any farther back. I suppose I'm going to have to notch that out. Did you raise your steering column up? I'm still not sure how they do that exactly.

Your steering wheel looks like it is the correct location (not raised). I didn't (nor think anyone else did) raise my column. There was no way I could see to raise the column up without cutting and welding the whole support. You can raise the front of the column by lowering the rear, but that just puts the column at an odd angle up (the tilt will not compensate for it). Bascially I just installed some more foam between the top of the column and the gages.

I also found that I had to do a notch on the driver's side to get the dash to fit back a bit more - but if you like where yous sits, then don't worry about it.

The duct work, IMHO, is the hardest part of this whole swap. The dash will go in and out lot of times while you are test fitting (unless you take the easy way out and use the flexable vent stuff).

So far so good, just remember not to rush.

It's been a while, but I've been working on the Fiero all day and got some things done. I wired up the Camaro gauges and everything seems to work except the speedo and the oil pressure gauges, and I'm not sure about the fuel gauge yet. JScotts wiring diagram made it easy to do. I welded up my steering column support bracket and on the dash, just need to paint and install the bracket. Theres still a bunch of stuff to do, including the ductwork, door panel modification and A-Pillar trimming. I need to figure out whether to use the Camaro HVAC controls or the Fiero, and need to wire up the headlight switch as soon as I find a pigtail. I will add some pics soon and keep you all updated. It will be done eventually!