Installation on Gauges?

[Surf Thrasher]

hey guys I was wondering if anyone on here has installed the aftermarket gauges onto their car? I want to buy a set of the Reverse Glow gauges but I heard it was difficult to install them and installation at stores is running around $95... please let me know if anyone on here has done it themselves and how difficult it is... thanks guy

- Chris

 

[Thomas91169]

guages are pretty simple.

the boost guage has a tube that runs to a vacuum hose that comes from the manifold, heres the link to that.

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/instructions/vdoboostgaugeinstructions.htm

basically you just splice into the vacuum hose and run it through the rubber grommet that surrounds the steering wheel shaft that goes through the firewall. 5 minute job.

you can get a air to fuel ratio guage. its basically pointless to tune with, its inaccurate as hell. it basically tells you when youre going WOT(full throttle) by going to the RICH side, then telling you when youre decelerating by going to the lean side. and it stays in the stoich when youre idling, and jumps back and forth sometimes.

but it looks cool. heres the install. and yes you will be fooling with the ecu harness, its easy to get to but you cant mess up or you could posibly short out the ecu and fry it, so be careful.

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/instructions/afmeterinstallinstructions.htm

happy modding.

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edit.

i just noticed youre non turbo, so forget about the boost guage. you can get voltmeter guages, those are prolly easy(just run wires to the alt and battery i think)
you can get water temp guages, oil temp guages, oil pressure guages, and a few other ones.

vfaq.com might have some writups on the guages.

 

[Surf Thrasher]

thanks for the info Thomas91169 i appreciate it

 

[Drifter00]

As far as installing glow gauges, its very easy. As long as you can make simple wire connections, you should be fine.

 

[me612]

Installation is cake. But I will never again run indiglo gauges. My 2g had em in it, but the insert that went by the engine temp didn't sit perfectly. I didn't notice at first, but i noticed afterwards. Afterwards meaning after I blew the headgasket because the overlay bowed out a little causing the temp gauge to not go above the normal area. I never knew the thing was overheating and I ended up blowing the headgasket. The bowing out blocked the damn needle from going higher. So beware if you get em. Sorry if this is a lil wierdly stated cuz im blasted right now.

 

[eclipse0508]

i have a 95gs and i installed them myself. They are easy to install if you take your time. Be care ful to not break any parts, like plastic or the needles. The hardest part is making sure the wiring is clean looking and you find the correct wire to tap into. If you need details just pm me and ill write it up for you.

later

 

[Surf Thrasher]

alrighty thanks guys i appreciate it


- Chris

 

[siceclipse]

remember its ok to bend the gauge face a little to slide it over/under the needle. this will help trust me.

 

[Thomas91169]

wait a minute. i thought you meant like the single guage pods and stuff, not guage overlays.

ok but no problem, those are easy to do also. youll take out your guage cluster. remove the black guage bezel by taking out the 2 screws on the top. then theres 4 screws that hold in the actual guage cluster. take them out. now the cluster will pull right out. take it to your workbench. pop off the plastic cover, and then take out the black guage bezel that goes around the guages.

now open your box of guage overlays. most of them will have spots that go around the actual needles. these spots are what can bend and cause your needles to stick. the tach and speedo guages are a sinch to do, its the little ones on the sides that are a pain. i trimmed mine to fid good and not hang up on any of the needles. if you are gonna trim them, make sure you dont cut into the el glow background. you can hold the guage up to a light source and see the darker areas, thats the actual glow piece. do not trim any of that, it will make it not work. trim what you have to to make it fit and no more. and i think theres little screws in some of the guages that hold the needles in. ONLY TAKE ONE OUT AT A TIME. if you take out both and somehow nudge the needle motors without those screws in them to hold it in place, it will never be the same. i know this cause my gas guage doesnt go under 1/4 now. the screws can be drilled through the overlays because they are non grounding screws so it wont hurt anything i believe.

now that all the guages are in, route the mess of wires up and around the guages and out the top left corner of the cluster. the wires can come out one of the clip spots for the clear cover. now reinstall the black bezel that goes around the guages and reinstall the clear cover.

now wire up the el glow transformer. youll need a source that comes on with your lights. i used the cigarette lighter light(i dont smoke so i dont need it anyways). i ran the + side of the transformer to the green/black wire of the light for the cigarette holder, and the - side to the other wire that goes to it. if youre getting a little confused, just take out the center console and youll see what i mean. just a simple cut and splice of the wires. now with the transformer hooked up, bring the guages over and connect them to the transformer, but not to the car yet. turn on the lights and see if it works.

if they work, turn the lights off and reinstall everything. run teh wires up the side of the drivers dash, youll find the spot. put the guages back into their spot, and connect the transformer. put all the screws back in.

if they dont work, check the wiring. maybe its backwards or something. also check to make sure the trasformer isnt on DIM, cause the transformer has a dimmer switch that you could use if you wanted to, amke sure its on bright. also make sure theres a little hum coming from it, if not the transformer could be shot.

now that everythings together, marvel at the beauty of your guages. should be a 1 hour job if you take your time and do it righ the first time.

 

[Surf Thrasher]

Thomas91169 I just want to let you know that you're a really big help! Thanks... I think sometime soon I'm going to order the gauges and try to install them... If I have any problems I know who I cna turn to if I have any questions... thanks