OneGearhead

ok. my friend bought some el glo gauges for his GT and he has "cobra style" gauges that hes gonna sell me for CHEAP. how hard are they to put in ? how long does it usually take ? any advice/tips on taking the dash out/putting it back in. thanks for the help.

OneGearhead

btw, mines a '92 GT in case you need that to help. lol

roundman

taking the instrument cluster out is a little bit of a pain in the ***, but not that bad. you need a right angle Philips head screwdriver or better yet, a short Philips bit that will fit into a 1/4" socket on a 1/4" drive ratchet. I tape the bit to the socket so I don't drop it into the defroster vent. this will let you remove the two screws at the base of the windshield. the switches on either side of the dash remove by inserting a small flat bladed screwdriver into the side and gently prying them loose. Once loose, they won't come out too far until you unplug them and naturally the have the locking plugs which are a pain to get loose too! a couple of small flat bladed screwdrivers come in real handy here too. once you got this far, you need to remove the trim cover around the steering column to expose the bottom screws holding the instrument cluster in place. there are two or three pieces that come off down here and then you can see the lower screws. you may need a small torx screwdriver for some of the screws in addition to a small philip head screwdriver. Once all this is loose, now comes the fun part. there are two large rectangular plugs carrying wires to each side of the back of the cluster and the speedometer cable is attached to the back also. you have to squeeze the ends of the wiring plugs to loosen the clips on them and unplug them, then you can attack the speedo cable clip which is a pain too. Be carefully doing this as the back of the entire cluster is a printed circuit board so don't overdo the force you use to get them loose or you will break the circuits too. Once you fiddle fart around long enough, you will get them loose and the whole instrument cluster will then lift right out. It helps to let the steering wheel down as far as you can to get room to get it in/out too. Once you get it out, you will see some more torx head screws holding the clear plastic face on the thing and this is removed to get access to the gauge faces. you put it back by reversing these steps, just make sure you get the speedo cable plugged in correctly or it won't work and you'll have to do it all over again!!! It's a good idea to check/replace all the little bulbs back here too while you have it all out and can get to them easily. and it's a good idea to disconnect the negative battery cable before you start doing any of this so you don't accidently short out anything. Once you do this once or twice, you'll be an expert like me!!
have fun and try not to cuss too much! LOL

OneGearhead

thank Roundy. appreciate it. ill try not to cuss too much.......TRY

roundman

that's what they all say! LOL
I'll give you another little tip, if you use a philips bit in a ratchet to get the two screws out at the base of the windshield, it's easier to do if you stand outside the car and reach in across the dash and watch through the windshield, lots easier on the old back this way!
Sears also sells an assorted screwdriver bit set that includes all different kinds of tips like philips, torx, square head, etc. and all the tips will fit into a 1/4" 6 point socket which you can use with a 1/4" drive ratchet for better torque when tightening/loosening. Think I only paid less than $20 for the one I have and it's been a real lifesaver at times!