(A)Trim removal

1) Look under the steering wheel cover, you will see 4 screw, remove them, then pull the bottom part of the steering wheel cover down, you might not be able to remove it since it's attached to some wires, but the top piece can be take out (which is important since you want clearance in taking the black trim piece around the gauges out without scratcing it)
2) Remove the fuse box cover, unscrew the one screw that holds the bottom trim piece in, the bottom trim piece can be pulled forward, unplug the dimmer, then the whole bottom trim piece can be taken out. Then remove the TCS, Cruise control switches out too and unplug them.

3) remove the two screws
4) Dig your nails into this area, pull downward till it's free, then follow between the edge of the trims, freeing the black trim. This is the hardest part. Be very careful around the vent areas or you will break/crack it. Around the A/C area becareful, the 5 plugs need to be unhooked before you can take the trim out. So unplug them, they can be a pain if you have big hands. Then put the trim piece in some place safe.



(B)Testing the Gauges

5) Now crimp some female connectors onto the positive wire (red and should come with an inline fuse)and ring terminal connectors for the negative wire (black). (you can buy the crimper tool and connectors from walmart)
6) Now the ring terminal can be grounded by using the screws around the fuse area and the female connectors can be inserted into the accessories plugs behind the fuse box. It goes with #3 (this will allow the gauges to come on when you turn on the parking light). Now test the guages out.


(C)Now we remove the gauge cluster

7) If the gauges work, remove the 4 screws around the gauges area. Then unplug the gauge cluster and remove it.
8) remove the clear covers (use a flat headscrew driver to remove them) and you see the bare stock gauges.



(D)Installing the indiglo guages

9) We want to be really careful now. Do not move the needles too much, and most IMPORTANTLY DO NOT remove the needles. Put in the double sided tape and tape the inner part of the gauges really good or the needles will stick. Do not remove the cover for the other side of the tape yet.
10) Install the gauges, make sure everything line up and figure out where you would want the wiring to go. Once all 3 gauges faces are installed you can remove the backing of the tape and properly tape them. (use a tweezer to removing the backing of the tapes and press them down for atlesat 30 sec)

Now reverse the directions, don't put everything back till you test the guages to make sure the needles don't stick and that they are all working right.

Finish product.


I wrote this up really fast and I plan to (but don't hold your breath) add more pics later. Please feel free to comment and correct me. I wrote this up because atleast 3 people have asked for help. If you still don't understand feel free to PM me and also do a search on ATL.com.

 

Thanks HZM I needed this as requested. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

 

Also, it helps if you let the car run for a while with the heat on max. It softens everything and makes it easier to remove panels.

 

Never thought about that. Good tip

 

Sup guys,
So the gauges are in they look great. This is one mod I would not suggest if you don't have patience.
Question, my speed gauge is a little off when I accelerate the needle have about 2-3 second delay before it moves. Anyone know how and how hard is it to re-calibrate just this one gauge. I must tell you when I was installing the speed gauge it moved a little counter-clockwise a little pass the pin at zero. HELP!!!!!
The needles don't seem to be getting stuck any where which is a good. Paul what did you use to cut the back end of the needle (dremel tool)? Other than that I love them, big thanks to HZM,TATEWAKI, & SONGOKU (Paul) and others.....

 

if your needles are ever stuck, try this: use a fork to pry the needles up a bit. You can increase the clearance by a few mm, just enough to clear any bumps on the overlays.

 

do you mean a fork??? what's a folk???

 

right I meant "fork" post edited

 

I thought something was wrong with me when I first read the post...I was like "WTF is a folk?"

hahaha no problem steve...btw I found a guy in the states willing to ship his nearly brand new Blue AEM CAI for 150 USD...not too bad...I don't know if that includes the Bypass valve though...are you gonna put a bypass valve on yours too???

 

They are not stuck at all, but that's good to know. There is just the 2-3 second delay before the speedo needle moves. That why I was asking about needle calibration in my previous thread

 

The delay means it's getting stuck around the inner area. My RPM needle was doing the same thing after 4 RPM. It would get stuck till it pass 5k. Stuck doesn't mean the needle won't move, the bottom of the needle is rubbing to cause the delay. You only need to calibrate it if your MPH is off. Paul used a razor blade to trim the needles, I never needed to trim anything, just make sure you press the area down more on the gauge or use the fork method, Becareful tho, if you apply too much force, you'll pop the needles.

 

IF you didnt pull the needles off, you couldnt have knocked the calibration out of wack from merely moving the needles around while you were putting the indiglo guage overlays on. Look again very carefully at the needle. It doesnt take but a tiny bit of drag to cause the needle not to respond. If you have file down the underside, use several layers of painters masking tape over the guage fisrt, then use a thin flat file to trim it down. Sears sells a nice 6 piece mini file set for about 15 bucks that works perfect for this. The tape will keep you from damaging the guage face.

 

Wow, it must have taken him forever to cut through the needle with a razor blade (thick plastic) . So, me making the small mistake of having the needle go slightly counter clockwise (before the zero) has nothing to due with the delay? there fore it is sticking?

 

You are correct. I just put my indiglos in last week so i speak with fresh experience. (I got one of the 50 pairs from the groupbuy back in 2002. Found someone that never installed them.) The trick is to make sure you put double side tape as close to the centers of the gauges as possible. but even so, the added thickness will likely cause just the slightest rubbing. There is very little clearance. Two of my needles stuck. The fix takes less time to do (the filing) than it does to pull the gauges back out. One trick for you-- dont try to get the dash and gauges out by fighting with the steering wheel. as you know its really tight gettting them out that way. Instead, liik under the column and remove the two bolts that hold the steering column to the dash. This will allow the column to drop down further and makes removal/install a piece of cake. Dont worry, they airbag wont deploy by doing this, but just dont lean to hard on the column as I suppose having it flapping around loose it can cause excess pressure on the steering column knuckle. Nothing to worry about as long as you go gentle.

 

Thanks for the info I was scared about the whole recalibration thing. I will try either the file or razor blade method. I too got the custom gauges from the group buy last year, found someone who also didn't install theirs. They look hottt!!!

 

The Bypass-valve robs hp...

 

not unless it's installed properly... if you do it right...and place it in the right location, I heard most ppl can install it without losing any HP to the wheels...is this true...someone confirm?

 

Guys keep on topic, if you want to talk about the bypass start another thread or do a search, there has been numerous thread about this already.

 

thread was hijacked. Glad I got the answers to my questions early

 

What is your most used color at night with the indiglo gauge's from the group buy? Just curious.

 

I just installed them yesterday, I'm loving just the numbers in blue setup the most so far

 

me too, i just wish the numbers were'nt so blurry.

 

yeah I agree about them being blurry. I still love them

 

HZM, (or anyone else)
The numbers on my guages look differently than you original ones. anyone know why? I have a 2000 TL. HZM's have an italic look. Just curious.

 

I have the gauges that were from the group buy only 50 made, which have different types of illumination settings. I believe HZM's gauges are from ebay (which are still cool, correct me if I am wrong HZM)

 

when installing mine mine hung up also and in the process of trying to fix the hang up i poped the spedo needle off!!!!! now that was a pain to readjust correctly. the key is to take your time. it took me about an hour to get it adjusted properly.

slightly illuminated blue background blue #s

 

After the needle poped off how did you recalibrate it? after it poped off was the speed off (ex:actually driving 25 and the gauge reads as 55)

 

That's because I have a 1999 TL. They change the font for the gauges in 2000.