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Was considering a 996 cluster upgrade for my 1999 Boxster base. There is some confusion as to whether the cluster needs to be reprogrammed to work in the boxster. I know mileage correction is necessary but there's talk about adding Vin # and enabling the volt and oil pressure gauges bla...bla. Some mention of Palo Alto Speedometer reprogramming but not sure what they need, I don't have original key codes... some say it is needed to reprogram the cluster. Any thoughts? thanks v
Was considering a 996 cluster upgrade for my 1999 Boxster base. There is some confusion as to whether the cluster needs to be reprogrammed to work in the boxster. I know mileage correction is necessary but there's talk about adding Vin # and enabling the volt and oil pressure gauges bla...bla. Some mention of Palo Alto Speedometer reprogramming but not sure what they need, I don't have original key codes... some say it is needed to reprogram the cluster. Any thoughts? thanks v
I did this a few years back. I have a '99 Boxster with a manual transmission There's no reprogramming of the cluster required. I'm not sure if that's the case for the auto transmission. You will need to swap the Boxster oil pressure sender with one for a 996 and you will also need to run a wire from the cluster to the new pressure sender. I don't remember all the details, but it's well documented on the web.
There is a nice right-up on Pelican on how to do this. There is also a nice pdf file on the net that instructs you on how to copy the vin and mileage. I just did this to my 02 Boxster track car. I copied the vin and mileage from my cluster's eeprom using CarProg and transferred it to the 996 cluster. I also did the OBC hack using a couple of switches installed in the center of the dash. It works great.
Yep, that's it. Followed the information for the newer style cluster and had no issues.
You are the first person that I've seen confirm that the instructions worked on the newer-style clusters. I have an older-style cluster and haven't had an opportunity to check the instructions on a newer car.
I hope you are enjoying your 5-gauge cluster. When I see a Boxster with a 3-gauge cluster, it looks like something was left off. The only problem I've had is that the 996 oil sending units seem to be fragile. I am currently on my third one.
Yes, the instructions were spot on. The VIN and model were on the first line and mileage on 0x300 and 0x500. The mileage is encrypted, but you can see where it's repeated at those to memory locations. I really like the look of the cluster in a modified 986 cluster housing. I thought about using the 996 housing, but it looks so big in comparison. It's also nice to have the OBC. At least I can now see the air temp when I'm zipping around the track!! If you try doing this conversion, one thing I learned is not to use the cluster pins specified on the Pelican writeup. They are too big. Use the pin 000979009E, which fit perfectly on my 2002. These are the pins for the oil pressure sender and OBC control. Also you are looking to do this, I have a CarProg for sale. This is what I used to read the eeprom.
Wow Kevin, that's quite the steering wheel you have there! Is that original to your car of did you swap that in from another car? You don't see 4 spoke with leather airbag too often, let alone the wood accents?
The entire dash looks great!
Thanks
I picked up the steering wheel, air bag, shift **** and e-brake through an ad on one of the forums. If I recall correctly the seller was selling parts to finance a race car. I think they add a bit of interest to the interior.
SWIMC:
What was the color of the plug you connected to at the back of your cluster. On my 2003 Boxster S 6 speed manual car, I have On the left a Grey plug, in the middle a blue plug, and an the right a green plugs. It seems the only slots available to add the extra pins ( per the 101 projects for your boxster book ) for my car is the Grey Plug. Could you please let me know if you recall ?
Cheers
SWIMC: What was the color of the plug you connected to at the back of your cluster. On my 2003 Boxster S 6 speed manual car, I have On the left a Grey plug, in the middle a blue plug, and an the right a green plugs. It seems the only slots available to add the extra pins ( per the 101 projects for your boxster book ) for my car is the Grey Plug. Could you please let me know if you recall ? Cheers
Yes, the instructions were spot on. The VIN and model were on the first line and mileage on 0x300 and 0x500. The mileage is encrypted, but you can see where it's repeated at those to memory locations. I really like the look of the cluster in a modified 986 cluster housing. I thought about using the 996 housing, but it looks so big in comparison. It's also nice to have the OBC. At least I can now see the air temp when I'm zipping around the track!! If you try doing this conversion, one thing I learned is not to use the cluster pins specified on the Pelican writeup. They are too big. Use the pin 000979009E, which fit perfectly on my 2002. These are the pins for the oil pressure sender and OBC control. Also you are looking to do this, I have a CarProg for sale. This is what I used to read the eeprom.
SWIMC: What was the color of the plug you connected to at the back of your cluster. On my 2003 Boxster S 6 speed manual car, I have On the left a Grey plug, in the middle a blue plug, and an the right a green plugs. It seems the only slots available to add the extra pins ( per the 101 projects for your boxster book ) for my car is the Grey Plug. Could you please let me know if you recall ? Cheers
05-22-2019, 09:16 PM
Cluster Upgrade
