Is It Possible to Add HUD?

[97ParkAve]

I was wandering the local salvage yard the other weekend and found a Park Avenue with the identical color interior to mine but it had the HUD. Can I add that to my Park Ave, and if so what do I need to remove from that car?

[2003 SSEi]

You will need the HUD Dash, the HUD projector and the Wiring. The Overhead console with the HUD adjustment would be helpful also

[97ParkAve]

do I need the entire dash? or just the top portion?

[97ParkAve]

do I need the entire dash? or just the top portion?

[2003 SSEi]

does the park ave dash split in 2 like the Bonneville....I dont think it does??

[97ParkAve]

I believe so? its two different colors so its got to be seperate but I see no screws, I wonder if the two different color pieces are glued from the factory.

[2003 SSEi]

Not sure.... I do know this, to replace the HUD, you have to remove the Instrument Cluster, and then Slide the HUD thru the Instrument cluster opening

[Maymybonneliveforevr]

Just curious folks, when I had the windshield replaced in the SSEi, they asked if it had HUD, I said yes but asked why it mattered. They told me it was a different windshield in that it would be slightly blurry. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

[2003 SSEi]

Frank you are correct there are different windshields for the HUD and the NON HUD. There have been people (such as myself) that have installed HUD's in non HUD windshield cars and have no side effects.

In the Grand Prix world, there was no HUD specific windshield, just glass that was "clearer" that got installed for HUD

[Sirius]

HUD glass is definitely different. Windshields are made with a sheet of plastic glued between 2 panes of glass – this is what prevents the glass from exploding into your face if something hits it hard enough to break the windshield. This plastic has a different refractive index than the glass, so it “bends” the light slightly. Even if the plastic wasn’t there, you have two reflective surfaces…the interior surface of the windshield and the exterior surface, separated by the thickness of the glass. All these things add together to give varying degrees of a double image from your HUD. Mostly it makes your image appear “fuzzy”. Some people can live with that, I can’t.

The HUD glass has a different membrane or is coated to correct the refraction and double-surface reflection. When I had the windshield replaced on my 93 SSE, they installed a standard glass. The image was fuzzy, but not too bad during the day. But at night with the brightness turned up you could really see the double image. I told the installer I could probably live with it, but after he took a look at it he yanked the glass and put the correct one in. Big difference. (I get ALL my windshields done by this guy now).

The HUD will reflect off any glass, it’s just the quality of the image is better with a HUD-specific glass.

For the OP, I think there is some tech information here somewhere on installing a HUD in a non-HUD car. Probably not a step-by-step, but likely a list of things you need to salvage from the donor car. Do some searching and see what you can find.