Well, it's all back together...what a freaking job!
If I have have to do another on, God forbid, I'll know a couple of shortcuts.
Like for example, leave the screws that hold the black vent tubes that attach to the "dash cover" if that's what you call it. You have to unhook the smaller tubes that attach to them but that's one little time saver.
The manual isn't very clear on what the "heater core cover" actually is. It's the cover on the bottom. I assumed since the whole dash had to come out it must be the upper cover. After screwing around with it for about an hour I realized you can't get the heater core out that way anyway.
And of course now I know where the bolts are. Whereas before I had to find them as I went along. Again, the manual isn't very clear on where each and every bolt and screw is.
There's one screw on the very back right side of the heater core cover that's nearly impossible to get at. I had to hammer in the steel in order to gain access to the screw. WHAT A PAIN IN THE ARSE!!! When doing this, be very careful. The steel in these cars is already so thin it doesn't take much to rip right through, which I did. Thank God for duct tape! When reassembling, if you've put all the rest of the screws back in, skip that one screw. The cover isn't going to fall off or leak and it's not worth the pain and suffering to put it back in.
The dimmer wheel on the "dash cover"...the connector is really hard to get at from the back. You have to pull the cover way out and then reach in with a screw driver to get it from the back. BUT you can pop the switch out, pull the wire through and disconnect the plug before you pull the dash cover off. Not a huge time saver but when you have a massive pain in the ass job like this, every little trick counts.
Another little one that barely is worth a mention. I'm pretty sure, if I remember right, that the glove box door doesn't actually need to come off. You can get at all the necessary screws by just undoing the catch and allowing it to hang down. It's might be worth taking off given that it's only held on by four screws and it makes the dash cover that much lighter and a little easier to handle but again, not completely necessary to remove.
I sliced away some of the floor padding that is right around the back of the heater cover cover. I made one cut on each side and removed the piece that goes over the tunnel. Again, that one screw is pretty much impossible to get out unless you mash the steel in and completely impossible with the padding in the way. Just slice it, pull it out and duct tape it back in place before you put the carpet back down.
Reassembly probably would have been a little quicker had I taking pictures in stages as I disassembled it. Some of the screws are very simillar but are of different length. Some are phillips and some are hex and some are hex/torx. I found it didn't matter in the end because the shorter screws worked just fine where longer ones belonged and vice versa. But again, when a job is this big of a pain, it's nice to be able to pull up a pic and see exactly what screws went where. I'm sure I also used a few phillips screws where hex/torx head screws should have gone and vice versa. And again, in the end it didn't matter but it did cause a little bit of time loss in stopping to try to remember if a phillips when there or was it a hex...
I'm not 100% sure on the radio harness. I don't recall unplugging two connecters and the antenna. And I couldn't find a second wire/ plug to put back in so I can't say for sure if the radio is going to work when I get the motor and the battery back in it. Again, a snapshot would have helpped me there too.
Bottom line this is one of those jobs that you have to be patient. Which is really hard because the thought is always in the back of your mind, "this is bullshit! This shouldn't be this hard! Those fing engineers screwed me again! All this for a 25 dollar part?! You have to put that shit aside and know that it's a ridiculasly stupid situation and that's that. It is what it is and the job has to be done. Knowing how huge of a job is it going it might make it a little easier simply because you won't be surprised again and again like I was when yet another stupid part had to be removed that to me didn't seem necessary.
You have to go into it knowing it's not as easy as other heater core jobs. Some are more miserable than others. Some are unbelievably, ridiculasly, stupidly painful. The 99 Pontiac Sunfire is one of those deals.
I can't think of anything else off the top of my head to post that might be helpful but please feel free to ask me any questions you might have.
I can't seem to figure out how to get a notification when someone posts to this thread so I'll leave my email address if you need to contact me.
This was a nasty job and if I can help someone keep their hair from going gray/falling out/getting ripped out, then something good came out of this. I'm certainly not going to make any money on this one! LOL Some jobs are just like that unfortunately.
Cheers and have a good one,
Wayne
jaded13640@aol.com
