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1. The gages bottom out as you rotate them counter clockwise. So you don't have to worry about losing your position. Once you attach the gage a bit, rotate it back and the set the final position and pop it fully down. This is actually trickier than you think to get it right one since there is a bit of play and its hard to know what the true bottom is. This is also another good reason to sand the upper tabs a bit...you may need to adjust things. One good thing is that my original spedo gage was a bit low from the factory (it always bugged me bit..and always wonder why). I think it was actually a factory error since I was able to get it right on on my second attempt.
2. Cleaning. This is challenge for the inside face of the upper half. Little bits of dust easily get in there. I tried cleaning that with a little dust remover sticker, but it can leave little smears of adhesive residue, which is worse since I then I have use my finger to rub those out and then clean the oil. What seemed to work best was to use an eyeglass cloth, but making sure its on the right side of the cloth. One will help pick up dust and the other will add it.
3. The connector that attaches the cluster to the car can be a challenge to get off (at least of me). I think the way it works is to rotate the black tab and that prys it off. But that didn't do it for me. Instead, I used a long needle nose with a 45 deg bend at the tip. I did mangle the connector a bit though (there are little bits of plastic that easily break off), but it doesn't make a difference in the end. But interesting, when I had to go back, I forget that I had to do that and couldn't figure out how to get it off with just my fingers (it was in pretty tight). So I wanted to point that out since it was a pain until I used those pliers.
Last note for now, but an important one. I can't say I am happy with the quality of my screen (center was replaced). Its brighter than the other two and doesn't have great contrast (perhaps exaggerated by the brightness). I got it from AliExpress (sort of cheaped out at $80) thinking it was probably the same as everyone elses, but now I am thinking that probably is not the case. Tanin electronics is $250, but who knows what you get...I seem to remember someone say they used them and was just "good enough", but not sure on that. On the video from MiniTools, they say to replace the diffuser (or whatever it was) in conjunction with the LCD screen to adjust for "monochromatic effects" or whatever it was so perhaps their kit makes more sense. I may end up redoing it at some point its pretty subar...but maybe I will wait to see the results of other guys to make an informed choice about quality. So let me know what you go with.
Last edited by AeroStress; 12-16-2023 at 09:09 PM.
@AeroStress I will be doing this job here shortly, this is an awesome thread thanks! I will be purchasing through amazon, hopefully the screen brightness is close to the oem.
I just replaced my gauge faces, and this thread was very helpful. Honestly it’s not very hard, mostly tedious due to the trim piece from hell. Just take your time, in a very clean environment, and be gentle with any and all plastic clips and retainers.
12-13-2023, 02:25 PM
