Street Reeper

According to the Haynes manual, there are two screws above the gauge cluster that face down. I should unsrew those and then pull from the bottom because the plastic cover is only clipped in. I unscrewed those but am a little nervous to pull any harder than I have been. The thing is not budging and I am afraid that I am going to break it, can anyone give me advice/help on installing gauge rings?

driver824

the bezel should pul out. its snug. the bottomof teh bezel has to be pulled out and snadwiched over the top of the steering hell cover. then the wires disconect form the back. then thre should be two screws on the bottom and one on top hoilding the guage cluster in. pull out and the cluster and remove wires from back. then plastic tabs remove the plastic cover on the guages. i belive theres 5 or 6. good luck.

delerium75

Yeah...what this person ^ said. Having the steering wheel in lowest position along with a towel covering the neck of the steering wheel would help so that you don't scratch the plastic all to heck. Once you get the gauge cluster out, you'll see that it's a sandwich of 3 pieces...the clear cover, the black trim that forms the circles around the gauges and the main cluster itself. If I remember, it's best to remove the top two layers--the clear section and the black trim--as a unit--and then you can take the clear cover off more easily that way and not run the risk of cracking it. Does that bit ring a bell to anyone else?

libradude97SE

Best advice I can give: Pull harder. Seriously, I did my gauges a couple weeks ago and I thought the same thing. The screws hold it in on the top and there are 4 clips along the bottom part - that's where you want to pull, because they just pressure fit in. Hope this helps!

Street Reeper

Ok I just finished, all in all it wasn't hard. All lights and gauges are working so I will call it a success, took about 30min.

Write up.

Unscrew top screws that face down above instrument cluster.

Pull the plastic cover off, it will be a biatch but just work it slowly from the bottom and it will eventually unclip. Now sandwich it over the steering column.

Disconnect the dimmer switch on the right hand side (I used a flat head to "unlock" each side of where the switch connects to the cover) and now you can just let the plastic cover hang to the side (I left the security light and cruise control in place and just let it hang to the left side, if you want to disconnect all of them that is fine.)

Now you should have clear access to the instrument gauge. There is one screw at the top, and two at the bottom. Disconnect these and pull the gauge cluster out.

Here I just rested it on the steering column and went to work on the clips that hold the plastic shield on. There are two at the top that are the hardest (I used a flat head on those, but be sure it is the plastic cover that you are seperating and not the gauge cluster face from the backing), the bottom ones are very easy.

Now that you have the clip off you can begin to apply the rings. Put a very thin layer of glue around half of each ring, position the ring so that the glue half is on top, now press the rings into your guage cluster and PRESS THEM UP. If you press them any other way you will cover up some of the small dashes shown on your speed and RPM read out. Make sure that the fitment is right and that no part of your RPM or Speed markings are covered up (you want to make this look like it came from the factory.) Use rubbing alcohol to remove any excess glue that might get on the inside or outside of your rings.

Let them sit for a while and put everything back together. Turn your car on to make sure you hooked everything back up and that your lights etc are still working. Enjoy.