I won a set of indiglo gauges for $25 (I wanted white faces), but they came without instructions. B4 I call and yell at someone, I thought someone here might be able to post some instructions. Has anyone installed these? Thanx

Michelle

 

the instructions are on the back of the box. but i knwo theyre not very helpfull.take out the instrament panel. pull out the connectors in the back. flip it over and take outt he screws so you can slide off the plastic black part around each dial. now use some wire cutters or pliers or somethign to carefully (very carefully!!) pull the needles off the guages one by one. after you have the needles off one guage put the new face on with the sticky stuff they give you. then press the needles back on in the right place. remember were they were pointing when you took them off. do that with all of them. now take otu the light bulbs that were once lighting your faces. take the two power wires comming otu fo your little black box and solder or just pinch them behind the little prongs that the light bulb used to rest on. because its jsut a + and - in a convenient place. now jsut stick it all back in the dash (which is tricky, it might be best to take off the steering wheel) and stick your litle color changer buttons under the dash by your right knee if you have one. or werever you want to put it. if they are not light up guages forget all of this and just work with the needles and try not to bend the little posts they are on. or else youll get some sleepy needles like me. hope that helps. <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

 

[quote]Originally posted by Cass944:
<strong> and stick your litle color changer buttons under the dash by your right knee if you have one. </strong><hr></blockquote>

I have two knees, a right and a left!

Really, thanx for the response. I do have the light up gauges and hope to be able to put them in this weekend. Can't wait to get back on the road. Driving to work on Monday will have a whole new air about it!

Michelle

 

Iwas able to slide the ones I have over the needles with out having to remove them. It's tricky but it can be done.

 

Here is what I did. To pull the steering wheel off, rip off the horn pad, lower right then left then top.. It is a pushed on fit and is quite tight. Using either a 24mm socket or 1" with a 12" extension lock the wheel in with its normal locking position. Might want to mark the position so it goes back together the same. Remove the nut and washer. magnet helps. pull wheel towards you. set to the side. THere are 3 screws up top three screws to the right in the venting area and 2 each beside the steering column underneath. remove the piece. There are now 4 screws 2 on each side of the VDO, remove those. pull the unit forward on the drivers side you will find a connector. On the back of that you will find two prong type things. spread these open.. this will release the connector. tilt the unit farther towards the passenger side. You will find 2 more of the same type connectors. Release these in the same manner. Now you can remove the VDO unit. IT is a tight fit.. place on a bench gauge face down there are 7 or 8 screws that hold the gauges to the window part, they have a hex shape along with a phillips head. Your choice. carefully lift the gauge pod out. flip over and you have access to the faces now. Needle removal is delicate.. I used two screwdivers perpendicular to the needle itself. Otherwise you will damage the needle itself. Remove all the needle's and set aside in the order of removal.. The speedometer and the tach 2 center ones have screw's holding them down. use the clear washers provided on them. you place these over the existing dials. The 2 outside dials I went with some 3M contact cement. I did not use the tape. Your choice just thought that the cement would hold better and I coated the entire surface. I then put the needles back on. they are sort of indexed by the previous fit. If you look closely at the holes you will see teeth. I removed the 3 bulbs and holders that normaly light the unit. I solderd the wires to the top side of one of the connectors. inside would interfere with the connection. I connected this to the middle light hole. with out the bulb. I ran the four other wires through the other 2 holes 2 to each side. As they would not be put back in. Made sure that they would not get pinched when reattached to the front piece. pretty much just reassembly after that. I Tywraped the converter to a wire cluster underneath and used some contact cleaner under neath the dash on a rag so I could attach the push button pad.. I would recommend NOT attaching the pad untill you decide where to put it.. I was shocked to see it was lighted.. Mine is up under the dash lip. I can reach down and under If I need to... but I did not like that it was lighted also... HTH. sorry for the long of it..

 

You don't need to remove the steering wheel. I had mine just pointing straight and with a little twisting was able to get the cluster out. I've done it 4 or 5 times since and it gets easier each time.

 

I didnt take off my steering wheel to do mine, but if I had to do it again it might be better if I do.

 

Thanx for the info guys

I assume the wires attached to the faces will be hidden when you put them in? They look like they just stick up out of the top. I'll find out this weekend when I attempt to put this thing in!

 

Michelle.. probably be a good idea to disconnect the battery before you start dismantling the dash. Fireworks are great in the sky, less so in the gage cluster...

Jim, toddling off to bed...yawn!

 

The wires can be traced around the touching parts to the front piece. You will understand once you get it apart. I ran the two left wires out the left hole and the two right ones out the right hole left by the missing original lamps used to light the gauge cluster.. the center one is reinstalled after you solder the wires on.. all of the dials original and the added ones actually kiss off on the very outside diameter of the housing securing the outside of the dials. thus a flat appearance. just be carefull not to pinch the wires when reassembling the gauges to the front glass...

 

Hey Michelle,
We have a lot in common. I too have a left knee, a right knee and a JD. I almost think we might be related, but for the fact that I have two left feet! nudge nudge. <img src="graemlins/icon501.gif" border="0" alt="[icon501]" />

 

You have a JD!? You mean there's another lawyer on the board? Or does JD mean jelly doughnut? I love Krispy Kreme, but I prefer the chocolate glazed over jelly <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" /> My condolences to you if you really have a lot in common with me! Surely you have *some* redeeming quality?

 

They're in and looking good! Thanx for your help guys. I may have to quit my day job and start mechanicin' for a living Ok, maybe not
I'll try to get some pics up this week.

 

Conrgrats on the install- you're ahead of me w/all of this car stuff you've been doing lately. I can't wait to see some pics. What kind of 944 do you have?

 

I'm just about to finish up my install of the indiglo gauges. I think I've found pin 17 on the back of the vdo cluster to be the 12+, can anyone confirm this? I am soldering my "black box" to the middle instrument cluster light just like billybones did. I've looked at the factory manuals and found pin 17 to be routed to the anode of a diode which is way i think it's positive.