arigatocivic

ok I know I can do this..

I've searched and read many if not all of the threads, but I'm still confused.

what is the deal with the wiring?!

do I just need to swap harness's?
or do I need to do some custom fabrication?

ANY at all direction would be MUCH appreciated.

thanks everyone

ciiivic89

i have a super clean no crack dash i think the dash should go in no problems but the cluster you do have to re wire i would suggest keep the 89 cluster and cluster hood?

arigatocivic

aw hey man thanks for the response. my doner car is the 90 si so I'm looking forward to this.

I definitely want the si gauge cluster, it has the tack. I'm also going to swap the steering column to deal with the hazard light.

Could you clarify what you mean here "but the cluster you do have to re wire i would suggest keep the 89 cluster and cluster hood?"

I have to rewire under the hood and at the cluster?



I'm not scared of a little rewire, just need to know what to rewire. Now I am remembering some other threads that talk about the rewire...

DCRB

if your car is an 89 and has the boxy style cluster, you will have to re wire the 90 cluster plugs onto your 89 dash harness. search around, there's a few good diagrams on how to do it

Canadian_EF

by hood, he means the thing that goes around the gauge cluster. the plastic cover. it is the plugs that plug into the cluter that you have to rewire. pics...
http://crxcommunity.com/viewtopic.ph...d254a0824f423a
this should be what you need. the dimmer switch requires some real thinking, but the defog is trial and error. same with the hazards. you will have wires left over for the hazard lights, going from a 8 pin 90-91 hazard switch to a 5 pin hazard switch from an 88-89...
does this make sense?

arigatocivic

thanks guys and this is starting to make sense to me.

So even with the full dash swap, I have to do some wiring with the harnesses unless I use my old (1989) cluster on the new (1990) dash.

correct?

Man am I glad I posted first before ripping it all out. vehicle is my daily driver!

EDIT! ahhh just found this gem..
https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...hter+cigarette

hammergunner

i think just using the whole underdash cluster harness from a 90-91 civic will go on any 88 and plug right into the fuse block and would work just fine.

arigatocivic

Very Interesting...

do you think this would side step any re-wiring/re-pinning/etc?

I'd LOVE to just plug and play..

thanks hammergunner

psychoward

If go with the 90 gauge cluster you are gonna have to swap the dash harness. It wil also require you do some re-pinning because one the plugs on 90 harness is bigger and then there is an addititional plug on that harness also. But you can make it work.
i just did the same thing on my 89EF.

arigatocivic

thanks psychoward-if it is okay I may have some more questions for you when I dig in.
how did you get through it?

just trial and error or using the wire diagrams in the archives?

thanks again

James89DX

I put a CRX dash into my '89 DX

I had to swap over the under dash harnesses and re-wire the gauge cluster to hook up the tach and stuff.

user 93082343

I just bought a 89 crx dx and couldn't figure out why the gauges wouldn't work. It's because the gauges are from a 90/91 crx. A few things if your gonna rewire the harnesses. You should only need to cut 2 wires. to make them longer, everything else you can take a paper clip in and unclip the pins and slide them out. And the 89 CRX DX, from what I saw last night, have both doors and the truck wired to the door ajar light, it seems there is no individual truck open light.

hammergunner

well i say us the WHOLE underdash harness that is on the BACK OF THE DASHBOARD

just plug it into the fuse block as they are all the same and it will work

just one Blue plug into the front of the fuse block and one clear big one for the back lights and one small clear one for the blinkers

everything will plug and play no problems

but you MUST use the harness that is attached to the back of the dash

if needed i can post pictures of where everything will need to go and where!

arigatocivic

you know I was thinking about this last night and I'm glad you posted. It seems to me that if the 90 Si is the doner car, and I basically gut out the 89 STD, I should have everything I need from the Si to be all plug and play. Dash, steering column, all harnesses, etc. I'm not trying to mix and match, I'm just trying to swap the whole dang thing! haha

I was poking around under there this past weekend, I think I know what blue plug you are talking about, it is visible from under the dash near the fuse box?

feel free to post pics-I'm hoping this thread will help others down the line as well.
thanks hammergunner and everyone else.

hammergunner

i will get some pictures and info to you guys around noon friday

arigatocivic

You're the MAN!
thanks!

I bet your hondas don't rust out so bad as ours do here in new england...
thats actually why I have to do this friggin swap to begin with. ended up with rust around the windshield cowl so bad I couldn't even get a new windshield without major body work. rockers are totally rotted out. I'm amazed the car hasn't just broken in two pieces.

hammergunner

disconnect the battery then unplug your under dash harness from the place in red (PIC #1)

and replace the old harness with the new one, with or without the dash on (your choice)

plug in the 3 Main plugs (PIC #3) to the fuse block, blue,big clear,small clear, and then your cluster ,radio, hazard, dimmer, clock, cig lighter.

hook up the battery and turn the key and see if it works.