rockhouse66

I love the white gauge faces in my 996. I saw a 981 with the white faces at a recent club event, and wished my car had those. So, I now have a quote from FVD for the faces to match my car but I am a little reluctant to DIY this job. What level of scary is this on a 1-10 scale or does anyone have a recommendation of a place I could send my cluster to do this swap? BTW, it looks like just removing the cluster is sort of a challenge but I live in the boonies and taking the car somewhere is really not an option, so I am committed to DIY the cluster removal.

Jim981CS

I had an issue with my tach needle on my 981CS not illuminating and I removed my cluster and dissembled the entire cluster and installed two additional LED's to fix the problem and also gained the benefit of having an illuminated and visible tach needle in the daylight. I included a DIY detail of the cluster removal on Planet9 under my 981cayman*s signature on post#33. As i mentioned on the post you would not have to completely dissemble the cluster for a gauge face swap. Make sure you take pictures and reference the resting position of the needles to install them in the same positions.
Jim

https://www.planet-9.com/threads/gau...1/post-2144527

rockhouse66

Thanks for the link. I saw a YouTube video with info on this too. I think I am just nervous about damaging something when I should have left well enough alone. Or maybe undecided if this swap is really worth the $1000 to me for the new gauges faces (including the SC gauge face).

BTW, FVD did not have a setup for my specific car but they do now upon my request. Cayman S, PDK, SC.

AZ Boxster

OP, where did you get your gauge faces from?

rockhouse66

I have not purchased them yet but they are available from FVD Brombacher in Germany. Suncoast Parts has them on their website, but they were N/A in my combo of S, PDK, SC. So I contacted FVD and they now list this combo on their website.

Christopher28

I tried to remove my gauge cluster about a year ago and found it very awkward to reach the three clipped-in wiring bundles. It was even harder to re-attach them later. I removed the cluster partly in order to replace one of the LED display ribbons, which had begun pixilating, but wound up with about half the screen unreadable after soldering in the new one. This weekend I removed the cluster again and again had a tough time reconnecting the bundles. While I had it out, I noticed that my replacement ribbon had started pixilating, so I didn't even try re-soldering it. I'm pretty sure my lousy soldering work is why I lost half the screen image. I also tried - again - to remove the two adjustment ***** (for odometer and time) so that I could open it up and install the new faces, but I couldn't get them to budge. If anyone can tell me how those are supposed to be removed, I'd sure appreciate it. The YT video I watched - showing the cap easily coming off - was of a Boxster, I think. Not the same. PS I bought a white face gauge set on Ebay for $27, a year ago. 2001 996 .1

Jim981CS

On a 981 the **** has a opening on the bottom side that can be released by inserting a pick.
Jim

Bottom of ****

rockhouse66

Nice tip! Seems crazy that a detail like this would differ between Boxster and Cayman. I did buy the uber expensive FVD faces but won't tackle this job until this summer sometime.

Jim981CS

When you are ready you might check out the link to Planet9 on post. #2 above that I detailed the cluster removal and disassembly to repair the tach needle that would not illuminate on my 2014CS. Swapping the gauge faces will be a lot easier and not require the complete dissembling of the cluster that I had to do to install new LED’s. Good luck with your project and let us know how it turns out and make sure you check the calibration of the tach and speedometer needle with a test drive before you install all the trim pieces.
Jim

Christopher28

I'll look again, but I got as close as I could to it when I had it out, and I didn't see anything like that on either stem. Thanks,