The_Magicians_Eye Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 So you decided to ignore my warning and are trying to do the swap anyway huh?Be ready to be doing this for days on end. And make sure you grab ALL of the the metal brackets that hold the center of the dash and the sides with the new dash. They aren't the same even though they look like it. You might want to grab that bar that holds the steering column too. I forget if that's different but better safe than sorry.Remember all the cruse control stuff is on the newer steering column and there are a few controls in the center console that are normally on the old dash too.I really don't want to laugh at your pain but I guarantee that you will be hating life soon and wishing you never tried doing this. lolI was going to do a video write up of how to do this but it was a &^%*ing nightmare and it's still not at 100% in my truck. My warning was just a minor scratch in the surface of how bad of an idea this really is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Magicians_Eye Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 You might want to go look at this album on FB to get a better idea of what you're in for when it comes to wiring.https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.443056805769838.1073741825.380509472024572&type=3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 hahaha i had to but luckily i actually have both years. the 94 with a rotted frame and the 93 with a junk stabbed to death dash (previous owner obviously wasnt all there) and so far its been ALLOT easier than i had expected. i also replaced my blower mototr while i was under there too. i found another site (infamousnissan.com) and they have allot more on the dash swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 and believe me every time ive worked on it ive had your warnings in the back of my head the whole time. once you said dont do it.... the challenge was there haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelthePathos95 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Question for any and all on this topic. How easy or difficult is it to swap a dash if you are looking only to switch the damaged shell to an undamaged one from same model year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 not had if you can use the same cluster and center dash (heat radi etc..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelthePathos95 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Yep, would not be looking at changing anything except switching a dash cover piece that has some tears/cracks with one that has no flaws. Was assuming there would just be some mounts, etc., to be dealt with but thought I should see whether (as is often the case) it gets more complicated than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 na bud pretty straight forward haha. before you get all pissed ill give ya a hint... theres 4 bolts under the defroster covers. i believe they were all 12mm. while your in there might as well swap in a new radio head unit! my round dash swap has been SO FAR pretty easy. i just have no patience. for the dipsh!t owner before me. i had to rewire everydamn thing in the truck so far. and today.....my starter crapped the bed....i cant win for losing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelthePathos95 Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Yep, radio could be part of it. The rest would be just cosmetic upgrade, so wanted to make sure it isn't a pita first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 No idea on replacing the dash pad on the PF but I did it on my sentra and found I had to completely take the dash out as there are screws that hold the dash pad on that go into it from the bottom, no way at all to remove them with out pulling the whole dash, When I did the dash pad on my car it took a while but it wasn't hard, I have pics of it LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inyourface1650 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I need to at least do the pad swap on mine as mine has several large cracks.... Let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enkrypt3d Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Where does one find a new dash anyways? I have the round kind and its all cracked to hell.... is it a pita to replace it (not changing anything) ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inyourface1650 Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Junkyards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 its really not a pain if you remember where all your screws and bolts go. you have to take the whole dash out for the swap but since you not doin any electrical...u shud be all set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 DO you have a picture w/o the dash of the right side where the blower motor and ac ducts are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 DO you have a picture w/o the dash of the right side where the blower motor and ac ducts are? are you looking for the pre 94 right side or 94 and up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 are you looking for the pre 94 right side or 94 and up? Pre-94, square Dash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 im sorry if thouse arent what you were looking for but thats all i have for pictures! if you really need something specific i could probably take the dash back apart for you to snap a pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) I was looking into this as the truck I may be getting is a 93, no cruise to deal with so one less headache but from what I have been reading, one guy that did the swap said he was matching up the wires based on a guide someone else wrote than realized the wire colors were the same from the old harness to the round style harness, the one thing they say you have to do is to install the electronic speed sensor and run new wires from it to the back of the round gauge cluster. I have been looking into if it's possible to swap the whole instrument cluster harness from the SMJ ( Super Multiple Junction). I have noticed in the service manuals that the round dash trucks with the KA24E engine use one style plug at the SMJ while the V6 trucks use a totally different plug. I want to hit the junkyard when my knee gets better to investigate this further. I have read that some late built 93's had come with the round dash, if this is in fact true than I can not see Nissan making a whole new harness for the round cluster when they could have just made a new instrument cluster harness to work with the square dash SMJ to go to the newer style cluster. I found something similiar when I wanted to add the tach cluster into my sentra that did not have one, all the forums had lengthy write ups on how you get the new tach cluster and cut the plugs off so you can splice the plugs onto your existing harness, I happen to have discovered back than that Nissan had 2 harnesses for the two clusters, and seeing that, I pulled a tach cluster out of a car at the junkyard along with the harness, took 10 minutes, when I got home that morning, I removed my non tach cluster and harness, put the new harness in the car and plugged in the tach cluster, turned the key on, gauge cluster came on, started it, tach was working, the whole thing worked perfect, no cutting, no splicing, no figuring wires out. I'm hoping I can get lucky and swapping the harness from a KA24 truck with the round dash into a square dash truck will work. I haven't found any one who has tried this yet. Per the FSM, the KA24E gauge cluster harness plug from the round dash looks the same as the plug for the KA24E cluster in the square dash trucks. Edited May 10, 2014 by ahardb0dy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) This is what I'm basing my "theory" on: 1990 FSM truck, instrument harness has square plug for the KA, rectangle for the VG 1994 FSM truck, instrument harness diagram showing different plugs for KA (square) and plug for VG (rectangle): So if the round dash 94 with the KA engine uses the square plug same as the 90 KA plug maybe it's possible to just swap the harness ??? Edited May 10, 2014 by ahardb0dy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I'd take a look at the wires to be sure they're in the same places, but even if they're not, moving the pins around would be a lot easier than cutting wires. When I put a square-dash style hazard rocker in my 95, the plug was the same, and the color codes were the same, but the wires were in different places on the plug. I think that came down to the different construction of the two switches, though; hopefully Nissan didn't see a reason to change the SMJ pinout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I want to look into it when I my knee is better and I can go to the junkyard, for now, I can live with the square dash. I need to get a 93 service manual so I can compare the wiring, I have manuals from 89 & 90 than they skip to 94, should be the same but want to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Was just comparing the pin numbers on the SMJ from the 90 gauge harness and a 95 and the same number pin had the same color wire on each of the two years I looked at and on both SMJ's the pins were in the same location, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93_ditchfindah Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 After many months of reading I found 3 peole off o infamousnissan.com . THIS ONLY PERTAINS TO THE 93 SQUARE DASH. While asking question I had learnt that the swap was the easiest from a 93 to a round dash. Pre 93 you have to worry about pin locations AND wiring colors. With a 93 it is PLUG AND PLAY!!Strip all the wires from the new cluster(94+) and all the existing wires from your old square cluster. Match the colors up... and BANG. every gauge works EXCEPT the speedometer. Going from a 93 with a speedo cable, the 94 cluster is an electric driven speedometer. You need to buy a vehicle speed sensor out of a pathfinder. 94 or 95.(ex. You have a 93 5 speed, buy a speed sensor for a 95 5 speed) if you need any help with this swap feel free to post on here or private message me. IT DOES NOT TAKE A BRAIN SURGEON.If you jave time and patience you can do this mod and it makes your interior look 100% better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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