HOW TO… Remove dashboard instruments and modifications

[djmarcopolo]

THIS IS A GUIDE TO REMOVING THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER AND MODIFICATIONS WITHIN THE CLUSTER
by GARFY + DJ Marcopolo

FOR THIS YOU WILL NEED
phillips screwdriver
flat head screwdriver
very small phillips screwdriver - usually in glasses repair kits
superglue
non streak glass cleaner
black permanent marker pen

FIRSTLY remove the instrument cluster from the dashboard
where the dials are is 3 screws at the top to remove the surround that covers the front of the instruments
remove that and that leaves 4 screws in front of you to remove the instrument cluster itself
pull the cluster forward and tilt to reveal the back and on the rear is 3 plugs to undo and the instruments will come out

On the rear you can see all the bulb holders, the large green ones are for the dashboard glow at night and large black holders are for warning lights such as low fuel, indicators and main beam
The small ones are the warning lights either side

To get into the instrument cluster you have to remove the plastic screen, some have a very small screw to remove on the end of the time set button, remove this and then arpound the outside using the flat screwdriver press out each clip that goes into the black section starting at one end and work gently across to the other side - 8 clips in total

Then repeat this process with the black bezel section that surrounds each dial so its now in 3 pieces

if you are just fitting dial rings or a bezel of some sort this is as far as you need to go

clean the old black bezel section with the non streak window cleaner
now stick on the bezel to the front making sure its all lined up with indicator markers along the top and then firmly press on all around

If you are fitting the bezel and rings or just rings simply slide the rings into the holes one at a time and on the rear, these particular rings needed the edges bending over to fit and give a clean edge, not all rings do this but to fit the ones that do, simply use the back of a teaspoon and push the soft edge over. then once held in just dab a few spots of superglue around to make sure they do not rattle

with bezel and rings fitted this part is now complete

INSTRUMENT PANEL

Also on the rear of the main cluster you can see the screws that hold each instrument in to remove each item just simply remove the screws and each one will come out as a seperate unit, they use the screw themselves to transfer electricity into the unit to make this possible and the units easy to change
WARNING - IF YOU FAIL TO REPLACE ALL SCREWS IN EACH INSTRUMENT THAT INSTRUMENT WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY WITHOUT THEM !!

Remove all the screws you can see in each section to remove that particular instrument

That dial will now drop out as a seperate unit

as you can see each instrument is a seperate unit including the clock

REVERSE GLOW / INDIGLO WHITE DIAL FRONTS
Now the instrument unit is free, remove the small black screws on the front of the face
NONE OF THE NEEDLES CAN BE REMOVED - DO NOT ATTEMPT A REMOVAL !!
All indiglo and reverse glow white dials simply slide over the needles and then to fit there is a small gap under the needle you have to position the dial into to slide the face over it properly, takes a little bit of fiddling but it suddenly slides another 2mm and then can be dropped into place

For the fuel and temp you have to manouvre it into position on one dial and then slide the needle of the secend into the other hole and with some gentle movement they will both drop into place

Speedo and rev counter is exactly the same but beware not to damage the plastic rest for the needle at zero and when refitting make sure the needle moves around the dial ok and is not trapped behind the zero marker

Now refit the little screws from the face to hold the new dials in place

Use the black permanent marker to colour in the tops of the screws and this will hide any shiny metal that now shows from using a screwdriver

Remove all the large green bulb holders from the rear of the cluster and refit the instruments making sure ALL SCREWS ARE REFITTED and the cables for the reverse glow dials now fit within the cluster and can come out of the holes left by the green blub holders. These are now redundant if you are using reverse glow / indiglo dials

Put all the instrument cluster back together as it came apart
MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN ANY DUST OR FINGERPRINTS AS THESE WILL SHOW UP WHEN DRIVING IN THE SUMMER

To connect the indiglo wiring, simply remove the dimmer switch from the dashboard and then disconnect the switch from the wiring, now use a volt meter with lights turned on to find which wire has 12v running, once discovered, turn lights on and off to confirm they are for the dashboard
Now connect the black wire to a ground source which is usually bare metal supports within the dashboard or straight to a cable that is connected direct to the cars metal bodywork

NOTE - REMOVE DIMMER SWITCH TO FIND POWER SOURCE, IF YOU LEAVE IT CONNECTED YOU MAY GET THE POWER FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SWITCH, IF THIS HAPPENS YOU COULD MOVE THE DIMMER SENDING A LOWER VOLTAGE TO THE INDIGLO UNIT CAUSING DAMAGE OR LOSS OF POWER

I APOLOGISE FOR SOME OF THE OVERSIZE PHOTOS BUT CANNOT BE BOTHERED TO RE-UPLOAD ALL THESE AGAIN SORRY IF YOU ARE TRYING TO USE A SMALL SCREEN

[Garfy1981]

This is the connection into the dimmer dial.
The negative was just lugged and screwed to a metal point behind dash