ATL928

Hi everyone, let me try this post with a better title...

1982 manual...putting my interior back in and have a curious issue. I replaced all of the bulbs in my cluster while it was out, and polished the plexiglass. I was very careful not to touch the gauge faces while they were exposed, but maybe I wasn't careful enough.
I reinstalled the cluster and pod, reattached the wiring (thank you Dwayne), and decided to check out the cluster before putting the console back in.
My speedometer and tach needles are both at roughly the 6 o'clock position now. I did start the car and the tach needle moved up, but couldn't test the speedometer in the current state of disassembly.
Question--did I screw something up? And more importantly, can I fix it?
THANK YOU. BTW, the fuel efficiency needle was broken by PO.

Speedtoys

Take it apart, reset them to their '0' position.

You didnt notice this until after install?

ATL928

Sure I did, but I am an idiot. Can I just move them/spin them back to the right resting position?

Imo000

If you removed the needles then you’ll have to remove them again, then hook up the cluster to the car and turn the key on. THEN carefully reinstall the needles so that they read accurately. For the speedo you might have to take it for a spin and check it against the GPS. This will take some fiddling to get it right.

Richard S

Carefully spin counter clockwise. I believe there is a small, hardly noticable hash mark the needles should align with.
Rich

Edit: I just noticed that your gauge faces are not standard, so there might not be a hash mark.

Ducman82

if you did not remove the needles, you should not need to touch them. do you have the correct connections in the back?

ATL928

Thanks for the great responses. I did NOT remove the needles. As far as having the wiring reconnected correctly, I'm not 100 percent sure. I need to look at a picture that would confirm whether or not I have the gauge connectors oriented correctly. I know I have the 3 flat connections matched up (left, middle, and right) but I realized that each can be reconnected "backwards".
So--I think I need to disassemble, spin the speedo and tach counterclockwise to line them back up as close to original as I can, then check the orientation of each of the three connectors that power the cluster.

Crumpler

On the S3 cluster you can feel the base line zero on the needle sweep range. I had moved a few of my needles around by mistake during the process of replacing the printed circuit.
I pulled needles off (carefully, look at Dwayne's write) and then reseated them to baseline zero. Worked well enough that I can't tell if they are off

Note that the base has tiny teeth and needles must be seated correctly to not strip and stay on....

Speedtoys

When I did this, I didnt feel I had to start the car.

At rest, they are their '0' point..they dont move to a different place when you turn the key on. Do they?

I had no issues, and wondered what the fuss about aligning the needles was all about.

Imo000

Just because the speedometer needle sits at the 0 mark doesn't make it accurate. I would take it up to let's say 50MPH and see how far it is out from a GPS and then re adjust it be removing and re positioning the needle.

Randy V

What are those guages from? They sure don't look like the original stock ones.

ATL928

PO put the white gauge faces on.

Speedtoys

And thats cool...but...these old foils and plugs, dont want more hands than absolutely necessary on them.

To dial in a few MPH, may cost $400 pretty quickly.

ATL928

So, think I am good. Just keeping my fingers crossed that I will orient the connectors correctly and that the gauges work as before when I start the car! I appreciate all the advice and counsel. As always, you guys make owning a 928 WAY more enjoyable.

Ducman82

you should not have to "spin them" back. sounds like polarity is wrong on the wiring.