i jst asked ss this question...Just athought here..If that brace was not there behind the glove box could you then jsut reach in and chg the acuator ? if so what if one was to grind the rivits off holding the brace then chg the acuator then use ss bolts and lock washers to replace the rivits ? Whcha think ??

I think crack kills and we've spent way longer talking about it than it takes to do from underneath

You do not want to compromise the structure of the car in any way.

its not the bracket that is in the way....its the AIrbag...i dont have the Airbag on my Car and can access the airmix quite quickly and easily...

here is a Pic of my car with out the airbag


as you can see the Airmix is right there

but if you have the airbag, then you should go from underneath

anybody got any spare crack ?? Lol just figuring there has to be an eaiser way but I will probably try to tackle it when I find the part. Bill, do you for sure have to remove all the vaccum lines off the HVAC to pull it ? If so do they have to go back in the same holes ? And why is there one open nipple ? If you pull the lines do you too have to pull that long screw or does it all come off as 1 pc ?? thanks again I sure wish you lived closer I would give you some crack to do the job !

note you dont have an airbag you dont have the braket either

yes i am aware of this....i actually replaced the dash with a HUD one and removed the Airbag from the HUD dash...the airbag and the bracket is held on with about 8 bolts that attach it to the dash it self

I am getting primed to make the move and get under that dash !!! Bill keep your phone on,lol

Hmmmmm.....the actuator that came out of my '97 does not have the green "R", only a white "I". I am ssuming it was original since I had 68K miles on the car when I bought it.

Part # on my actuator says 1614822 which, when entered onto gmpartsdirect.com homepage under search, returns an "ACTUATOR" for their price of $35 and change.

Not sure if this is the same part # for a '98, though :?

I hear from SSE Motorhead that this swap is done.

Under 2 hours in all...first time under there and works like a charm now.

Great job!