I don't have them in hand yet and YES I am looking in the archives to find old information and tips.

Anyone that also has the silver faced with Blue and Red reverse indiglo please contact me and let me know the best way to avoid the problems people sometimes have with the dimmer.

Thanks

 

What kind of problems come with the silver faced- red&blue gauges?? I am most likely buying them off a fellow acura-cl.com'er.

 

let me know what you think of the reverse gauges ... i was debating over them or the regular... can you see the needle clearly ... and post some pics when done
MaCe

if anyones sellin im buyin!

 

I'll let you know when they come. I'm going to leave a few bulbs in the top panel so that it shines a little light on them.

I only heard that some of the people that hooked theirs up directly to the dimmer had trouble with the power to them but i'm not sure. I just want to connect it at the right spot which I beleive is "before" the dimmer switch.

I'm thinking of connecting a Red or Blue LED at the top of the panel to get the blue light shining instead of the stock Green glow to light up the needle too. I'll see when I take the guages apart.

 

NOMAD- connect it before the dimmer... or if you have a problem with that, theres always the illumination wire behind the deck.
For a different color for the lights above the needles, you can go to staples and get colored overhead projector sheets (thin sheets of colored plastic) and cut that to fit over or in place of the stock color plate... I think they have a bunch of different colors. Or try this Link ,its color media available in tons of different colors and you get a huge sheet for $6.

 

Gage Install

FIRST, Take off all the molding around the steering column. there are screws underneath. easy.

NEXT, The cruise button and the dimmer need to come out. use the smallest flathead you have and pry it between the molding and the button housing. there are 2 prongs on the top and bottom of these housings that bend in and clip when it is installed so you need to work at getting these to bend in to pull the housing out. unplug them.

THEN, there are 4 screws for the black frame housing that covers the plexi, 2 on top and 2 you will find in those openings where you took out the switches. you will need a long philips head to get these out.

THEN,slide the housing over the wheel (put the wheel all the way down).

THEN,to get the gauge cluster out, remove all the screws holding it in, and also remove the steel frame on the top of it. you cant get it out without removing this stupid little frame. there are 3 or 4 plugs on top of the cluster that you need to unplug, and dont worry you dont to mark them they only fit their respective holes.

NEXT, remove the plexi from the cluster by removing the clips that hold it on. very easy.

THEN. once the cluster is out and the plexi is off, install the gauges by removing the screws on the old gauges. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE NEEDLES, THEY DONT COME OFF... YOU WILL BREAK YOUR NEEDLE ROD CLEAN OFF.

slide the gauge hole over the long part of the needle, then bend the gauge down and slide it over the back of the needle. BE CAREFUL!

VERY IMPORTANT STEP: remove the bulbs in the back of the cluster directly behind the gauges. You dont need these anymore and the lights will have a blue plastic around them that you can use for really neat interior lighting! (wow!) also, these lights might be bright enough to shine thru the new gauges, im not sure, but better safe than sorry! Leave the 2 behind the speedometer so you can see the odometer if!!!!!!

are 2 wires out of the transformer for the indiglos. a power and a ground. but first put everything back except the black housing piece that goes in front of the plexi. make sure your new gauge wires are off to the right and can be pulled through the hole where the dimmer switch goes.

there are 3 wires that run into the back of the dimmer harness. run the power into either red wire (both work) that goes into the back of the dimmer harness, and the black into the black wire on the harness.

put everything back

follow this no problems

 

Thanks both!

 

Kiljaedoen - how can you see your needles? did you leave the little bulbs in at the top of the cluster?

NOMAD - i have the AC reverse 5 color gauges. im having some problems with the brain. they dont change colors ever since i hooked them up to the dimmer, and sometimes they flcker (bad ground im preety sure)

 

1gencl- have any pics?? I wanna see the AC's on a cl.

 

i dont have a camera here at school.. but i'll try to get some pics up soon

 

what i did was leave in one bulb on each side of the oddometer (behind the guages)
and colored the bottom 1/2 of the 2 lights that shine on the guage faces with a perminate marker.

Not to bright, and i can still see the needles