DIY: Triple Gauge Cluster

ryan0

This seemed to have little info on EXACTLY how the hoods and bezels were held on... so... here.

Once you get em off, it's up to you how you get the one piece triple gauge backplane out. I will probably just cut it out since I'm throwing it away..


First off... 'how the hell are they on there'?...


the hood has a notch towards the front

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that notch clips over this post on the gauge face

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'can i pull the bezel off first'?

No.

the hood has a plastic rim

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that slides into a notch in the bezel

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finally... 'how the hell do i get it off'?


you need to basically get a hook or some type of puller under the hood and pry it over the tab.


the rear is a simple clip tab that pulls up easily.

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hold the rear up while you slide your puller under the hood and up towards the front.

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you will want to line it up with the tab you are trying to get over.

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make sure you get in-between the hood and the big flap that is attached to the bezel. then pull out and pry up with your hand.

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you do have to pull out pretty hard to get it over the tab


once the hood is off its easy to see that the bezel is clipped to the gauge with the tabs... the top 2 are easy to get at. you kind of have to push the bezel down and tilt the gauge back to release the tab at the bottom.



try not to scratch up your dash or window.

Trips

Good Job Ryan

Thanks for Sharing

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Boost_lee

Nice DIY! Now I want gauges

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My TT Z

ryan0

I might as well finish it off.

I just took a pair of needle nose pliers and busted out the backplane.


Ordered ProSport Premium 60mm gauges. They are pretty shallow.


Ground the tabs off of the silver part of the bezel.

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Then ground most of the bezel base away so the the whole gauge fit through.

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Removed the "leather" hood from the plastic hood base.




Epoxied the silver ring back to the bezel.

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I just siliconed the finished bezel to the gauge face in case I want to swap.

Wired up the plugs.

OEM black wire - ground
OEM purple wire - constant
OEM orange wire - switched



Ran the sensor wires through the huge grommet on the passenger side behind the battery.




Then I needed a way to hold the hood to the gauge... here's what i came up with using parts from the junk drawer.. your solution may be better.. i hope.

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yup.. just a hose clamp.



now to get it in the dash...

i just bent and cut the bracket that came with the gauge..

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and took a screw, lock washer and nut from the junk drawer, drilled a hole in the hood and used it to sandwich the dash.

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Then I just took some double-stick and put the hood covers back on.

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not sure about these 'black out' gauges that everyone sells... with the top down on the car you can't read them at all.

I wired up a mini-toggle switch so I can flip between the 'amber' and 'white' LED colors to see if that will help in sun light.

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oh... keep the hoods numbered or something... they are all slightly different.

memorylasts

+rep

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somewhat-journal-thingy

stratburst

If can replace that useless clock with an oil pressure gauge without removing the dash I'm totally in.

370ZilverZ

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370ZilverZ Journal

BMW Z4

Guard Dad

A nice analog clock, sort of like the 240Z, would be nice.

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2010 Brilliant Silver, Base w/Sport Package, AT7, Katzkin leather, upgraded audio and lots of Dynamat and a bunch of small stuff.

ryan0

you gotta do all 3 or nothing.

3zworld

Well, if you have a oil pressure sensor already outputting that data could you not configure an UltraGuage to read/display that info ?


'09 F.I. CBE/HFC-Stillen Gen3,Setrab +ModBod

ryan0

Who knows what voltage range the OEM sensor is putting out.

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... needs more NOS.

stratburst

As far as I have been able to tell the 370z has a switch not a sensor so a sensor would need to be added.

stratburst

Looks great. What gauges did you go with?

ryan0

Not sure I like them though. You can't see anything thru the dark glass during the day.

Not sure you can find anything that is as shallow.

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... needs more NOS.

stratburst

Why did you opt for the 60mm and not the 52mm? Based on the install you did do you think the 52mm gauges would install w/o having to modify the bezel?