 
First I had to remove the seats, carpet, heater/vent boxes and ducts, everything attached to the dash, and all the wiring and original firewall pads. I could the unbold and cut out the dash. Lastly the brake and parking brake assemblies were removed to leave the firewall bare. Here's a shot of me striping down the replacement dash that I bought on eBay.
After cleaning the dash, I gave it two coats of a rust converter-primer. This type of primer turns rust into a black oxide in an oranic reaction. There was so little rust, almost nothing turned black... just shades of brown.
I then had to cut the AC vent holes on the dash sides and above the radio. I made patterns from the dash that I had cut out and went to work with the cutting wheel and grinding bits.
The dash was set in place and clamped lip-to-lip with the cowl. Vice grips and clamps pressed the metal together over night before it was welded.
The firewall, above as it was stripped, and below rubberized with the replacement dash clamped in place.
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