Alright, I'll do a little write up on how to install these gauge faces properly, since I've installed 3 sets already and taught myself the hard way. Read the whole process before you attempt this mod, it's not as easy as the included instructions make it seem. You're gauge cluster is pretty important, so you don't want to f*ck it up. Obviously.

First of all, it's really hard to install these sets while the needles are in. I reccomend removing them first by gently prying up on the base of the needle. Do not attemp to use a tool to do this, something WILL snap.

The needles are very sensitive, so you need to do everything with EXTREME caution. You will notice that the needles can swing from left to right, and will stop on their own due to the nature of the electric motor that controls them. To avoid recalibrating the gauges and save yourself a bunch of time and money, gently max out the needle with your finger. It will reach a pivot point at the top of the gauge, and then will fall by itself to the max point. Put a small mark on the gauge cluster housing where the needle is pointing. Then when you reinstall the gauges, just make it so they are pointing at your pre-defined mark.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there is a very sensitive point on the pin that engages with the motor. The needle can not be pushed in too far or too little. When reinstalling the needle, you will have to feel for this point. You will know when you find it, because the needles will move very freeley, and you will be able to feel the 'pivot point' at the top of the cluster. The fuel needle does not move like the others, to make sure you have this calibrated correctly, just be sure to fill up your tank before you start the project, then just set the needle to 'full' when reinstalling. The temperature gauge is the most sensitive of them all, it should always want to fall to 'cold' on it's own. It always takes me a couple attempts to get it re-inserted correctly.

Okay, so now that you know how to remove and re-install the needles, lets get started on these new gauge faces. First they must be prepped. This is time consuming. You'll need to purchase double sided tape, regardless of whatever adhesive is included with your new gauge faces. The stuff they give you is not enough, and will fall off in time.... trust me. Also, you'll need clear acrylic nail hardener. (The stuff chicks use to make their nails shiny or w/e.) I used whatever my g/f had at the time. You will also need a fresh razor blade.

First, you'll notice small placement holes around the perimiter of the new gauge face. Cut these off. Basically, you want to be able to put the face in a different spot than those holes will allow, and also the cluster won't close right if the faces are covering up holes or pins in the plastic that you attach them too.

Second, rim the inner edge of the needle hole and stop pin hole with the nail polish. A very thin coating, you really shouldn't even be able to see it. If you aren't carefull, the nail polish can eat away at the paint on the face, so be carefull!!!! 3 tiny coats are better than a drip down the front from one big coat. The reason for this coating is to protect the plastic on the front of the face from de-laminating from the face itself. For some reason, with seasonal temperature changes the front plastic de-laminates and makes your gauge cluster useless. The needles get caught up on the raised section and stop moving (more on this later). Plus it looks crappy. The nail polish acts as a sealant so air can't cause delamination. I had 2 sets fail when I didn't do this. This third set has not delaminated since I incorporated this step.

Now, on to the double sided tape. Cover the ENTIRE backing of the faces with ONE LAYER of double sided tape. You can leave a tiny gap around the needle hole and needle stop hole. You don't want to try and trim it and accidentally cut into the face, or ruin the nail polish seal you just took an hour to apply. If you noticed before removing the needles, the actual space between the needle and the OEM face is about a millimeter (maybe less). Adding this new face DRAMATICALLY reduces this gap. If you don't add this double sided tape, the face will eventually separate from the OEM face and your needles will rub and have difficulty moving, or won't move at all. I used the thinnest carpet tape I could find. Also, the tape should not have fibers in it, or it will be too thick. I promise. This is the same reason why you need to prevent delamination with the nail polish. As said before, a small delamination is enough to stop your needle movement. When reapplying the needles, try to increase this gap as much as possible.

Now you're basically ready to apply the faces. A quick note before you haphazardly try to just stick them on there prefectly centered. Don't do it. For some reason, ALL the gauge faces for our cars don't have the MPH lines perfectly set. Usually, they're all set a little too high, so that when you reapply the bezel, you will only be able to see a tiny part of the top lines. This looks stupid, so you'll need to move the face down almost as much as possible. This will be at the point where the needle-stop bottoms out on the small hole in the face you are applying.

I reccomend dry-fitting them before you put the tape on the back, so you know exactly how they need to be to look right when the bezel is on.


These are not forgiving things, and it's easy to mess up. Just go slow and carefull, and you'll have an awesome looking upgrade that everyone will notice. I'll post some pics or a night vid of my cluster so everyone can see. Good luck, let me know if anyone has any questions.

 

I am looking into replacing my gauge face but I want to replace it with the 145mph face, I noticed that the speed sensor for the GXE and SE are the same so how would I get the correct calibration, replace the entire cluster first with a 145mph cluster then change the face? by the way thanks for the tips that could save a lot of head ache.

 

you'll want to get a ve speedo head, or cluster, then swap the face. no calibration needed.

 

I have a GXE and I wanted to swap to the SE white face 125mph guage, and switch the bulbs from green to blue, Do I have to get a whole new cluster or can I just swap the faces? Trying to avoid getting a guage with alot more or alot less miles than I have.

 

I swapped the odometer out when I got my VE cluster.
never bothered with the faces, 'cause I got the desired look.

 

Do what I did, Just change the odometer from from cluster to the other, Takes about 10-15min. I should do a write up, a lot of people don't seem to know how but it's relatively easy to do.

 

I Have a GXE and I took the cluster apart and swapped to the SE gauges, but the speed gauge throws a false speed sometimes, sometimes it will just not read at all and it'll cause my check engine light to come on. Is it just a bad gauge

 

Thanks for that info! I didnt know you could just swap the odometer from one guage to the other, I will pick up one from the pull a part soon then.

 

thanks for the feed back

 

.........i didnt even think about just changing the bulb color i kinda like the black face since ill be changing most everything over to black.i think ill just take it all apart, spray the faces with some clear to give them some shine