White gauge faces - advice

[aaron]

Finished my indiglo white gauge faces and I thought I would pass along some things I learned for others attempting this project.

First read Seedster's page. It is excellent. On top of that, here are two things I recomend.

1) If you have the Climate control trick - while you have the instument cluster apart, put it back together without the clear plastic cover so you can adjust the needles (specifically the speedo and tach) to the correct speed. If you don't have the climate control trick - be sure to mark with tape - where the speedo and rpm gauge are sitting before removing the needles. In my case - they do not simply rest against the needle stops. When I made the needles rest on the needles stops, I was actually off by 15 km/h (did I make myself clear here??). What you want to do is manually turn the needles around clockwise until they reach their max (about 300 degrees) and mark it with tape.

2) After installing the new gauge faces over the old gauge faces - push the needles on just a little bit. Do not push them down all the way. After getting everything installed back in the dash, I found that 2 days later, my needles rubbed against the gauge face and I had to pull everything apart again.

After pulling the gauge cluster out 4 times - I can pull it out in less than 3 minutes now. This is a fun and easy project and I recomend it to anyone, but take your time it is really easy to screw up the intstrument cluster.

[Seedster]

congrats man....im glad you found the page helpful

[jmciver]

One thing I would like to add. I had to pull my cluster out to fix my gauges (the needles were sticking). I was all set to do the "turn the steering wheel trick" to get the cluster out (from Seedster's page) but I accidentally found another way to get it out without turning the wheel that proved to be faster and had minimal rubbing. Here it goes:

1) Once the two screws are removed that hold the cluster in place, pull the cluster as far forward as it will go. Sit it on top of where the steering wheel attaches to the dash.

2) Tilt the cluster so that the gauges are facing upward. You will not be able to go too far since that wire harnesses are still connected. I found that in this position I was able to get my hands behind the cluster to disconnect the harnesses

3) Once the connectors are disconnected, tilt the cluter back down so that the gauges are now facing you, in the driver's seat. Slide the cluster to the right, tilting it forward slightly, and it should come right out with minimal rubbing and no moving of the steering wheel.

Like I said before. This happened "by accident" when I was pulling out my cluster, but it jut seemed so much easier than the last time I took the cluster out. Hope this is helpful.

Oh and by the way, I'm not trying to knock Seedster's write-up. His page was very helpful when I replaced my gauge face and I recommend it to those who want to change their gauge face but are unsure of how to do it.