Ive got a '97 Tiburon and Ive been painting the interior..ive already figured out how to take off the lower part of the dash..although I cant seem to unbolt the bolts for the hood lever..anyway..Im trying to get the upper half off so I can paint it w.out having to tape it off. I got the two screws in the center console area..but I cant figure out where the rest of the screws are...HELP

 

Sorry, Im not awnsering your question, but doesnt the stock interior look good enough?!

 

Are you sure you didn't get all the screws and the rest is just clipped on? 90% of the interior is held on by clips.

 

Don't unbolt it
The cable on the lever side is held on by like how your bicycle brake cable is held on (don't know what it's called) At the end there's like a fat "T" metal thingy (yeah I know,.. all these technical terms tongue.gif: )
Anyway, the trick to taking the cable off is to push / pull the cable towards you, (if you have the lower crash pad unbolted off and am holding onto it, trying to figure out how to unbolt the lever smile.gif ) and it's either move it to the left or to the right, in like an "L" motion... I haven't taken my dash off in a while so I don't remember,... but I think it's to the left, But yeah don't unbolt the lever, takes too long, just take the cable off.

 

Welcome to the site man...what color(s) are you gonna paint it?

 

To take off the hood lever thing, dont you have to pull the lever and unscrew the screw underneath the lever. NOt sure if you tried that yet. If you did, then forget i ever posted this.

Theres a hidden screw behind the interior dimmer switch
You can also check all data http://www.hmaservice.com/webtech/default.asp
under: shop, body interior/exterior, and crash pad removal

 

thats what i was going to say.

also, be sure you unhook the heater cable before you go pulling out on the upper part of the dash. it is down by the gas pedal.

 

Okay man, i got your back on this one. I've been taking apart my dash like crazy these past few weeks and I can seriously take apart the entire crash pad in like 7 minutes (I sound like I'm proud of myself..lol)

For the hood release:
I dunno what whoever was talking about with "L" motions and bicycles but that is NOT how to do it. Maybe it is different on other tiburons but I drive a 1997 like YOU and this is how:
Get under your steering wheel (you gotta lay down and it's uncomfortable because the door sill is jamming into your back, but take one for team...
Get a phillips screwdriver, there are two GOLD screws that hold the lever to the lower dash piece, unscrew them (you kinda gotta lift the lever to get the screwdriver in) and viola! Just let the lever hang by the cable while you paint...


For the upper dash piece:
There are FOUR screws. That's it! Actually I think five but when i took mine apart one hole was already empty.
You sound like you've already taken off everything else (center console, shift knob, shifter boot, radio suround, etc.) If not then:
center console = 6 screws evenly spaced 3 on each side
shift boot and radio surround are held on by clips = NO SCREWS, just use some gentle force and pop em' back in to re-install
Okay upper dash piece = 5 screws (mine = 4)
There's 2 visible when you take off the radio surround, unscrew them.
One is hiding behind the lower dash piece but once that is off look to the left of your radio face (this is the one of mine that was empty)
Now the other two are hard, I was pulling like crazy because I thought that was it but there's two more:
they are upside down so you need to look up where your dash piece arcs over the instrument cluster (your speedometer gauge, etc.) There may plastic pieces in there to hide the screws maybe not sure, but just look for two holes evenly spaced and find the screws and unscrew them. These ones are longer than the others, and are hard to line back up during re-install
Now DON'T START PULLING THE DASH OFF! Disconnect battery and you'll need a smaller more manauverable screwdiver (phillips) Pull the dash slightly away so you can get behind it with the screwdriver. Get behind where the heater controls are and unscrew that black tube thingy which routes the air to the vents. there's four screws holding it on, one on each corner. (you don't HAVE to do this but it makes things easier to see back there since this is your first time. Once that is off unscrew the heater control panel, it's white and I think also has four screws. Careful not to pull too hard on the heater control panel because like tibby01 said the knob to change it from hot to cold is connected by a cable which runs behind your dash and down to where your gas pedal is. once the heater control panel screws are off, you have to unplug everything (remember where they go!). Don't forget to also unplug the three sets of wires going to the three switches to the left of your instrument cluster. Once all is said and done you can slide off dash. All the buttons are unscrewable to make for better painting.
make sure you know what you're doing when you start to paint, it's a PITA to fix once you screw something up but I'm sure you know how to paint (any one who's every graffitied or even held a spray paint can probably knows....lol) have fun and good luck, sorry for this friggin huge post and any typos I made...

-Patrick

Oh yeah man, I forgot to add:
To get the lower dash piece off you'll also need to unscrew the 4 screws that hold on the OBDII sensor thing. It's pretty easy to find, just right of the hood latch switch, you probably found it on your own, hope it turns out good man.....

 

first of all....I cant stand plain black interiors...and since we all know that there is next to no fabric in the interior (except the seats and floor) its relatively easy to paint..second of all..thanks guys for the help..lol unfortunately I was on my way home from work last night and was feeling around and found the 2 upside down screws.I already got the 2 by the stereo.The biggest pain was fitting my hands behind to unlatch everything..that took the most time.I didnt have a small screwdriver at my disposal so I just used my hands.Now that the upper dash is off I already painted it and is sitting in my living room drying for a while before I put it back in.However I still need to take off the lower dash..which now I know how to get that crap off.Also...I never really thought about taking the center console and shift boot off..but now that I think about it it'd probably make things easier seeing I cant quite get in there well enough because of the seats and seatbelts.I just hope that putting it back wont be as hard as taking it off.Thanks...btw..Ive painted it before...first white and blue...then orange and blue...after that I went to red and blue and had the superman logo on my airbag...then he died so I changed it all to lime green and blue...unfortunately my car is white...and since my interior was "Grabber Green" and "Ford Blue" it looked like a damn cremesaver...so I decided to go back to white and blue...I've been using Engine Enamel....because I figured if you can paint your engine with it...it should be heat resistant enough to use on the interior...thanks guys...