originally posted by Joe
"I just removed my chrome vents in the past week, so it is fresh in my mind. I agree it is a pain to remove them. They were mounted using a method that makes them easy to put in place but difficult to remove without breaking something. First, each is held by two pins, and these pins pass through circular clips that snap into the holes in the dash metal. (If you are familiar with the "Chinese finger trap", it works like that.) In addition to the pins, a small part on the bottom overhangs, thus clipping the vent piece to the dash metal. Be careful prising off the chrome pieces, as that can break the posts and scratch and bend the dash metal.
What worked for me was to use a hammer and gently tap outwards on the backs of the pins. Of course, my dash is all disassembled for painting, so I had room to manouever the hammer. I put some small visegrips on the springy clips and tried to wiggle them off but that didn't work. What worked was the hammer, and I ended up not breaking any pins.
Once the chrome part is pretty loose, you can prise it the rest of the way off, from the front, with a screwdriver, being careful to only prise near the pins. If you are not going to paint your dash, you should protect the paint.
Now, I was unable to get the left chrome piece out because the dash padding overhung it. I had to remove this smallish dash piece. It is held in place with three screws. Two are exposed, and are very close to the windshield rubber. The third is hidden below and to the left under a piece of dash vinyl that is glued on. It may be that you can simply unscrew this screw and then bend the dash piece upwards enough to remove the chrome piece.
There is a box that carries air to each vent, and the box is affixed with two screws, exposed underneath and visible once you are uncomfortably on your back on the floor of the car. You must remove these boxes in order to reach the pins. Also, the black lever that opens or blocks air through the vents is connected to a flap in the box, and comes out with the box. I had to violently twist the left box in order to turn the lever 90 degrees so as to slip it through the slot in the chrome piece. Thankfully, nothing broke.
After you get the pins out of their clips, you need to slightly raise the vent piece to get the overhanging clip off the dash metal.
I think if you do a search on this site, you will find a picture somewhere of what I am talking about.
I think I will cut threads on the pins and remount them with nuts. I generally end up doing things twice (or thrice), and this will help the next time."
