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Instrument Cluster Swap-out


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hmm keep the original cluster and just swap out the faceplates so u keep ure milage and what not...be very careful with the clear plastic it likes to break easily...also be careful when removing the needles b/c you can screw up the spring in the speedo...if u have the infamous melted speedo needle i would replace it with some of the newer orange 1's's...they dont melt...

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It can be done, if you cut off and kept the ends of the 3 wire connections on the back out of the doner. The connectors are a different size (old had 10 pin, newer have 12), and are in a different layout as to which wire is in which connector.

 

So, if you have the connectors, and feel like splicing a bunch of wires, have fun :aok:

 

The newer guage pod I bought is still laying here. Never got up the urge to start messing with spahgetti.

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Well I finally got the correct harnesses and set in yesterday to do the swap-out. :D There were a few compatability issues and I ended up having to temporarily abort and put my old cluster back in. :furious:

 

The main issues I came across were related to getting the tachometer and fuel guage to work. No matter what I tried I could not get the tach needle to move beyond a few jiggles up to 1000 rpm when the engine is started, quickly coming back to a rest at 0. I am hoping that the tach on my new cluster is not bad but I don't know what else to try. -study-

 

Has anyone run across this problem? -thnkboutit-

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it might be one is TBI and one is fuel injection. I dunno just throwing up some ideas lol.

Could be that, might need a tach adapter like is used when installing an MSD. Or some clusters have some sort of resistor or relay that can go bad. IIRC it's a little silver box on the back of the cluster. :shrug:

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I do see the little silver box on my old cluster. Do I need to transplant that to the new one for the tach to work? Could that also affect my fuel guage? I traced the three connections for oil, fuel and the tach. They all share two connections. I am assuming ground and power, then a control wire unique to each guage.

 

Any of this make sense?

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I do see the little silver box on my old cluster. Do I need to transplant that to the new one for the tach to work? Could that also affect my fuel guage? I traced the three connections for oil, fuel and the tach. They all share two connections. I am assuming ground and power, then a control wire unique to each guage.

 

Any of this make sense?

Yeah, are you sure you have the proper wire going to each as it's unique sender?

 

 

(BTW, no, leave the box with the old cluster, the new one doesn't need it if it doesn't have one already.)

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I could have sworn that the wires were correct. The strange thing is that on a trace, the common ground connection for the three guages (oil, gas, tach) actually terminates to two different harness positions.

 

At this point I am leaning towards the conclusion of my new tach being bad. I will have to give the installation another go before I can know for sure (last time I tried the swap without a multimeter :blink: )

 

Since I have to fix up both my doors first, my next go will likely not be for a while.

 

Thanks for everyones help!

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When I was questioning whether I made the correct connections, I removed the tach from my old cluster and alligator clipped it independantly, it worked fine. The only test I can imagine at this point is to do the same for the new tach and see if I can get an accurate reading. By that I mean, any reading at all.

 

Here's hoping!

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