Hey All,
I installed one of these covers about 3 years ago, and it was a pain.
I'm going by memory here, but these are the problems I ran into.
1) I decided to do this on a 90+ degree day in the middle of the summer!
This is a variable you may be able to control. Don't let the Summer sun
hit you or your BLACK plastic cover. Lots of water was consumed that
day.
2) The cover is not a perfect fit so a little custom cutting was
required. The problem is that the gear shift lever (I'm sure there is a
proper term) is in the way every time you try to remove and insert this
cover. Removing the shift lever would make the job easier, but I had
never done it and wasn't about to try it now.
3) The location of the points were wholes should be punched is left up to
the installer. I'm talking about the wholes to attach the cover to the
floor and bulkhead. There are markings where the manufacturer of the
cover thinks the wholes should be, but they weren't correct for my car.
Forget about trying to get all the proper wholes created to secure it to
the bulkhead! to get at it properly you would have to remove the heater
unit and most other things under the dash! I managed to get 3 screws and
clamps into the bulkhead.
4) Oh, that foam stripping they give you to place between the cover and
body, good luck. It is not shaped to the contours of the cover, and
given how hard it is to get this puppy on in the first place you may lose
patience with it.
I think it took 3-4 hours of work to get this on, and my back was shot
from all the weird contortions I put myself through. Determining where
to put the whole for the reverse and OD wiring is the easy part of this
operation.
All that being said, let me point out that I'm glad I bought the cover.
The amount of heat rushing into the car in the middle of the summer was
reduced. If I had to do it over again I would remove the shift lever,
and might remove the heater unit. I would also NEVER do this on a 90+
degree day. Its amazing how stupid a delivery of long awaited new parts
can make you act.
Later,
JHD IV
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