Watching gearhead shows on television where it only takes the crew a few minutes to rip an entire vehicle completely apart and then throw it all in pile for scrap without a doubt is a lot of fun to watch. It's too bad that in the real world it doesn't work that way where little elves come in at night and repair all of the damage done during the day to produce a compelling TV show. We're sorry if you didn't know about the little elves, but it's true those TV guys do a lot of damage that has to be repaired when no one is looking. In the same sense at the magazines we are sometimes just as guilty of the same crime. We don't spend enough time going into detail on how to completely disassemble something without causing any damage to it. Just as there's a trick, or two to taking your mom's toaster apart so that it will work again, there's a few tricks to these old trucks. In the instance of the '66 Chevy C10 I'm custom wiring at home I did run into a few minor snafus while I was tearing it down. Any one of which if not handled carefully could have resulted in permanent damage to irreplaceable parts. This means mechanical functioning or the cosmetic appearance would never be the same if I wasn't very careful. Being able to fix something is fun, being able to rip it apart, repair or upgrade, and then put it back together again better than new is what this hobby is all about. So even if you don't own a'64-66 Chevy C10, follow along and I'm sure you'll pick up a few tips on how to take something apart without wrecking it, and plan ahead for upgrades. In order to custom rewire the '66 with Keep it Clean Wiring's universal kit all of the OEM wiring installed in '66 needed to be removed. Because it is a universal kit I wasn't sure which wiring components, such as plugs and switches, would have to be reused. Point taken, I started by carefully removing the instrument cluster (which proved to be a real bear) to gain better access to remove the stock harness, and this will aid installing the new Keep It Clean Wiring harness.
 To tame a bear I prefer Royal...  To tame a bear I prefer Royal Purple Maxifilm, but using any good penetrating lubricant to pre-soak before disassembly will make the job much easier. Notice there are three different methods used to retain these three knobs. |  The headlight switch knob...  The headlight switch knob is pressed on its shaft and the shaft is released by reaching around to the back of the dashboard and pushing on this button while pulling the knob out of the dashboard. |  The wiper switch knob and...  The wiper switch knob and the heater knob are held on with a set screw at the base of the knob. A jeweler's screwdriver was used to loosen the set screw. Notice the knob was presoaked with Maxifilm first. |
 The retaining collar on all...  The retaining collar on all three switches threads on. A pair of snap-ring pliers was adjusted to fit into the grooves snugly and then the right-hand-threaded collars were removed. |  The ignition switch collar...  The ignition switch collar was removed by pressing the snap-ring pliers firmly (with the palm of the hand flat over the collar) into two of the collar's three grooves and then turning counter-clockwise. Allowing the pliers to slip will damage the grooves and render them unsightly. That's bad. |  While disassembling, nothing...  While disassembling, nothing escapes a liberal dose of Maxifilm, including the removal of electrical plugs like this ignition switch. |