Got the new cubby box in and looks fine. No removal of dash or steering necessary. Did have to temporarily remove one dash mounting screw at right edge of dash to slip box in. The previous box had no flanges and was attached with clips and screws thru the side of the box. Some clips had popped out and the box never fit properly. The dash mounting flange on the right projected into opening forcing the box to the left leaving a wide gap and edge of box exposed and originally there was nothing to hold the box in the correct shape to match the dash opening.
Flanges along the top of the box aren't really necessary except to form the box into shape. There are no flanges along the bottom of the box and is capable of supporting whatever you put in it. On the previous box I had bent a long narrow strip of sheet metal into an angle that conformed to the shape of top edge of the dash opening to force the box into shape but the box never fit because of the projection. I left it like that for years and it bothered me just about every time I saw it. The continuous angle by itself does work.
I recently bought a new box and it came with a ton of helter-skelter staples holding it together. I removed the staples and glued the box together as I've mentioned in previous threads. I had intended on making several short "Z" shaped clips from sheet metal to replace the continuous piece I had installed earlier but I happened to be installing some strip insulation on the house around an opening and realized that if I cut off 1 of the legs on the insulation bracket it would do the same job and take up less room than the "Z".
These new pieces hold the top of the box in the correct shape and now the box only requires 2 screws, 3 at most, to install. Of the 2 main screws, 1 is the screw that holds the right end of the dash in place and the 2nd screw is in approx. the same location but on left side of box from the rear thru the box flange provided. A 3rd screw could be installed at the top left corner of box but not really necessary. (Screw locations are as viewed from front of dash)
I ground off the metal dash mounting protrusion and on the cubby box cut a bit more than half the width of the top flange to fit under the new pieces I had made.
Flanges along the top of the box aren't really necessary except to form the box into shape. There are no flanges along the bottom of the box and is capable of supporting whatever you put in it. On the previous box I had bent a long narrow strip of sheet metal into an angle that conformed to the shape of top edge of the dash opening to force the box into shape but the box never fit because of the projection. I left it like that for years and it bothered me just about every time I saw it. The continuous angle by itself does work.
I recently bought a new box and it came with a ton of helter-skelter staples holding it together. I removed the staples and glued the box together as I've mentioned in previous threads. I had intended on making several short "Z" shaped clips from sheet metal to replace the continuous piece I had installed earlier but I happened to be installing some strip insulation on the house around an opening and realized that if I cut off 1 of the legs on the insulation bracket it would do the same job and take up less room than the "Z".
These new pieces hold the top of the box in the correct shape and now the box only requires 2 screws, 3 at most, to install. Of the 2 main screws, 1 is the screw that holds the right end of the dash in place and the 2nd screw is in approx. the same location but on left side of box from the rear thru the box flange provided. A 3rd screw could be installed at the top left corner of box but not really necessary. (Screw locations are as viewed from front of dash)
I ground off the metal dash mounting protrusion and on the cubby box cut a bit more than half the width of the top flange to fit under the new pieces I had made.
