Interior: 57 Hawk Dash Removal

[swaim]

It gets weirder and and weirder. I bought this 57 Silver Hawk that only needed paint. Or so he said. I thought it a little strange it had no battery, but I am a trusting fellow. I bought a new battery but it was dead every couple days. After I could not locate the power drain I got someone who knows their business. The generator was replaced with an alternator and an electronic ignition added. It turns out the wiring under the dash is all wrong. The expert said the ammeter draws 5 amps all the time. Half the underdash wiring has been replaced and some just hanging. Now I need to remove the dash and the guy will come back and straighten out this unholy mess.

Question. How do I remove the dash? I have the shop manual but see nothing for the 57 Silver Hawk. I hope to make this as clean as possible. If the running gear and interior was not so good I would just resale this one and look for one needing less work. My wife has already named the Hawk "the moneypit." I need to redeem myself before I have to sleep in the car.

thanks

[DEEPNHOCK]

In some sense, you are lucky you are working on a Studebaker.
With some patience, and some effort... You can remove the dash, with almost the entire nervous system (wiring harness) from a Hawk and leave it all wired to the dash.
The dash is bolted in. A couple of hard to find fasteners (like the steering column support tab)...

Now... This won't be easy.
The shop manual tells you how to service items and how to replace parts, but the entire harness is another animal.
My suggestion? Get some help.
Get a complete new wiring harness.
Get some help.
Label every wire that hooks up to something.
Get some help.
Wire up the loose dash and install it.
Pull, snake, massage every harness run into place.
Hook every connection back up.

Not as hard as it appears, but not something you should involve the wife in.

It gets weirder and and weirder. I bought this 57 Silver Hawk that only needed paint. Or so he said. I thought it a little strange it had no battery, but I am a trusting fellow. I bought a new battery but it was dead every couple days. After I could not locate the power drain I got someone who knows their business. The generator was replaced with an alternator and an electronic ignition added. It turns out the wiring under the dash is all wrong. The expert said the ammeter draws 5 amps all the time. Half the underdash wiring has been replaced and some just hanging. Now I need to remove the dash and the guy will come back and straighten out this unholy mess.

Question. How do I remove the dash? I have the shop manual but see nothing for the 57 Silver Hawk. I hope to make this as clean as possible. If the running gear and interior was not so good I would just resale this one and look for one needing less work. My wife has already named the Hawk "the moneypit." I need to redeem myself before I have to sleep in the car.

thanks

[valleyguy]

I pulled the dash on my 58 Hawk a couple of years back, and I'm a novice. I don't remember all the
connections but there are screws running along the top of the dash to remove (you remove the molding to
get to them, then go underneath to remove the bolts there.. look carefully and you will find them. As Jeff
said, there is also the a bolt at the steering column support. My harness was good so all I did was disconnect
each wire at the guages & switches, labeled them, and pulled the dash with everthing still attached.

Joe D.