small screw driver. the clips are not tight, so you dont have to pry. just pop and work around with finger

ah yeah, you dont need to pull the vent. not even sure why he did in that post

 

Some people take out the side vent, stick their hand thru, and push the side panel off, and others use a screwdriver to pull the side panel off. Tomato, tomato.

 

thanks to all.. i used a little pry tool and it popped right off. headed over to the hamfest today to p/u an icom 2200h which i can now install later.

ill keep it in the center console and with the cooltech gatemount ill be able to swap my 2 meter firestik for my 4ft cb firestik anytime i want.

did learn one thing though. be careful trying to route any wires under the ac unit and the center console where the dash and console meet... there is a hot water pipe there for heat that will eventually melt any wire it hits.