Well, I just got them in yesterday and haven't really taken a good look at them. There werent any instructions, but they seem pretty easy, anything I should know? Thanks

 

Set the height of the steering column to the lowest it can go.
Remove the plastic bottom cover to the steering column, it's the piece that's above your knee. There are two screws near the bottom, and then pull out.

Remove the Metal shield covering the bottom of the steering column. Two 10 mm bolts here.

Remove the bolts holding the steering column up, two 12mm bolts. Use the extension if you have trouble reaching up in there. Drop the steering column down.

Unscrew 2 screws holding in the top of the dash, it's the plastic cover underneath that overhang.

Pop down the top half way. Using some firm BUT consistent pressure, pull back on it, removing the cover from the dash. There are four little clip holes red arrows) that are holding it in, so be sure to find those clips. Remove the three screws holding in the dash cluster. (yellow arrows in picture)

Unhook the four clips in the back and then take out the whole cluster.
Now take the dash cluster to a place where is WELL LIT, and comfortable. You're about to do something delicate. Now, unclip the plastic cover and the black casing by pressing on the black tabs all around the gauge pod.

This is what you should be seeing now. **IF installing 95-97 Indiglo Gauges ** you have a GXE or GLE, and you have two screws on the stock gauge faces, remove them now, you will no longer need those when you place the new Indiglo gauges over them. ** IF installing 98/99 Indiglo Gauges ** you will need to use those screws to secure the new guage faces.

Now, starting with the Tachometer (aka RPM thingie), gently push the needle up with your finger, so that you'll have enough clearance to slide the gauge face over the needle, and UNDER the center part of the needle. See the picture. THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE THE GAUGE FACE SLIDE OVER THE NEEDLE IS IF YOU GENTLY BEND THE FACE DOWN AND UNDER THE NEEDLE CENTER. THEN POP THE OUTTER EDGE OVER THE NEEDLE CENTER AND IT SHOULD NOW BE ON. Look at where the yellow arrow is pointing to. Place a small piece of double sided tape on the back side of the gauge and press firmly, Make sure the new indiglo gauge face is through the needle rest and fits square and straight.

Now that you've got the hang of it. do the Speedo and the temp and fuel gauges. **NOTE** if the fuel and temp gauge face is hard to push over the top of the needle, its ok. don't worry. just gently but FIRMLY press down all around the needle until the face pops over the needle. this might be a bit scary, but trust me, it's ok. just dont try to thrust the gauge face over the needle. Secure with double sided tape if necessary.
You'll need to make sure the wires for the indiglo gauges clear the housing. Well, since you don't really need the light for the gauges, remove some of the bulbs in the back and run the white wires through those holes. You'll need the light bulb next to the speedo, to light up the mileage/odometer, so be sure you have that. The needles will probably no longer light up (or just not as bright) due to the removal of the bulbs, but that's ok. because the gauges lite up, you will always be able to see the needles on the gauge. For GXE/GLE owners, who have WHITE colored needles (compared to orange for the SE model) what i suggest is to color the top of the needle with a red or blue SHARPIE or whatever color you want, just so that you can see the needles in the daylight.

All right. Now you're ready to get everything hooked up. Connect the white wires from the indiglo gauges to the control box. Now we have to secure the control box behind the gauge pod so that it's not an eyesore. Hook up the sockets to the back of the pod and then zip tie the control box wires to the bunch-o-wires in back.
Okie. Now we have to hook up the power/ground to the control box. there should be a BLACK wire. that's ground. Using the wire stripper, strip about 1/2 inch of the insulation off and twist into a firm lead. Then, using the BACK of the gauge cluster, find something labeled "GND" that's ground. Unscrew that ground screw just enough to slide and wrap the ground wire around it, and then retighten.

For Power, that's gonna be tricky. We want the indiglos to come on ONLY when the lights are turned on. So. we're going to tap into the "DIMMER" switch. But not physically the dimmer switch, but the power that lights up the little Dimmer logo. get it? When you turn on the lights, the whole console and radio buttons turn on, right? so we're going to get power from that little logo that turns on when the lights are on. So for this car (97 SE) it was a blue wire. To make sure, use a voltmeter to see how much power is coming to that lead. CUT the blue wire, strip both ends and splice into it with the red wire from the control box. wrap it around a few times with electrical tape to make a secure and strong connection. Test the connection by turning on the lights. The gauges should go on. good.

You'll need to find a place where to put the switch. If you have analog, try to run the switch behind the gauge and under all those wires back there, and drop it behind the fuse box or where ever you want. If you have the digital controller, you'll want to run the touchpad close to where you can press the buttons, a suggestion would be next to the steering column, but that's your choice. Find a good spot.
Now with everything needs to be put back in place.

Screw the gauge pod back in. (three screws) Make sure its on straight.

Push the outter bezzel over it,, making sure all the wires and what not from the dimmer and cruise control switches are clear. Make sure you have those four clips in order to secure it! Then screw in those two screws up top.

Push up the steering column, realign with the holes and re-secure with the two nuts.

Put back the metal shield in the correct holes, and tighten the two bolts.

Replace back the plastic cover and secure with the two screws on the bottom.
Turn on the car. Rev it up. Does the RPM needle move? Does the Fuel register? Temp? Go for a little spin to see if the speedo needle is ok.
Good. You're done. Now REJOICE and enjoy hella cool indiglo gauges.

 

P.S. that was from maximadriver.com. and also, since I have an aftermarket head unit, I used the illumination wire from the radio wiring as the 12V power source. This usually turns on the radio lights with the head lights, but the aftermarket head units dont use this wire and it was a lot easier to use that since i am good with stereos.

 

thanks for the help kpr10is, but I've ran into a problem.. after sliding the new gauge over the old one, and hooking it all up and turning the car on, the gas gauge is off, and the rpm needle sticks.. like if i hit the gas, it goes up but wont come down... you don't have to take off the oem gauge face right, just leave it on and slide the new one over it? anyone who has installed these could you please tell me what i mighjt neeed to try? thanks guys..

 

I did take off the old gauges when I put the new ones on (my gauges are indiglo, not reverse, but mine has a switch to be blue or green), and I was pretty confident with my mechanical skills, so since i couldnt figure out a way to get the individual gauge face off without removing the needle, i cut them. The hole in the center of the new ones I got was big enough so I could barely fit it over the needle but it worked. I hate removing the needles, nothing good ever comes of it. That is probably why the rpm gauge is sticking. I dont really know how gas gauges work but mine seemed like if i moved it, it would become uncalibrated. For example, if it was at full, and I moved it to 3/4, it would move down from there and the next time I filled it, it would only go to 3/4. I didnt test this though, since I didnt want to screw it up. (plus i might be wrong on that fact, i really dont know). Id suggest taking the stock gauge faces off though, and leaving the gauge cluster open/hooked up while you start the car to test it, because it is a pain in the **** to take the steering column apart over and over. I hope this helps.
Kevin

 

man, don't be messing with those needles. best thing to do is either cut off the stock faces a la kpr10, or use more double sided tape to hold down the indiglo face.