Hey, I did not do a writeup myself, but here are three quality writeups.
Dashboard Swap - E30325i on mwerks
Dashboard Swap - StrictlyETA.com
Dashboard Swap - Chris Deegan
If you have a cracked dash, do the swap (hello thumper3ld!) ...it makes a huge difference in the interior, and you will love your car more (your car, will love you more too).
Couple of suggestions:
When you find your new/used uncracked dash, prep and paint it while it's out of the car. In many cases, it will look *brand new* after you stuff it in.
I used
SEM vinyl prep spray and eastwood
landau black interior trim spraypaint. It worked really really well.
It is a fidgety job, but not hard. Naturally, there is
one terrifying moment where it's hard to believe you can put it back together, but it's no biggie.
It's also a great opportunity to fix whatever is wrong with your instrument cluster, put in a new headunit with new wiring, do the 13-button OBC swap, change any burned out center console bulbs, and fix any lazy dash hvac vents.
Any questions about the swap, pls let me know.