Heres the deal, I have a 98 Civic DX (canadian version) It only shows in KM. The dimmer on it hasnt worked since i got it, and the light in the cluster was always very dim at night. 2 Days ago, the light went out completely, so i cant see any thing while driving at night

I figured now would be a good time to upgrade the gauges since i planned on doing it anyway, to something a little nicer looking that actually has MPH on it as well!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_1424wt_905

I actually took out/apart the cluster today to see if something was loose/unplugged and realized it wasnt as scary as i thought it was going to be

My question is this, would it be difficult/nigh impossible for me to install the gauges listed above? Im sort of a beginner at this kinda of stuff, but im good at following directions and im a fast learner...

suggestions?

 

I just helped my friend put them in his 98 HX.

They're fairly easy to install, just a few screws take the cluster apart.

The only thing is, they hook up to their own switch and dimmer.

 

Just don't break the needles when sliding those faces on. IMO I would find a better looking set and I doubt they will read at the correct speed with your cluster being km and those being mph.

 

They read in KM/h (white) and MPH(red).

Definitely be careful with the needles, they gauge faces just slider over the stock ones.

 

gotcha, be careful with the needles....

Also, about the 'Power transformer' And the wires coming down from the gauges in the pic, do i need to be worried about intalling these?

when i took my cluster apart today, it didnt look like there were any wires coming out of the gauges, so im guessing im going to have to do something a little different... also, im praying that what ever is currently keeping the lights out on my cluster now, wont have the same effect when i install these new gauges. Opinions?

 

those gauges look nice

i might getthem for my em1

 

You just won't be able to close the outer plastic all the way since the wires come out from the gauges but there may be another way to install them.

 

biting the bullet tomorrow and gonna order them! wish me luck!!

 

if the dimmer doesn't work and it's only got kph it's more then likely a jdm not cdm ours have mph is smaller numbers just like the gauges u posted

 

^I was just going to say that...just find a cluster from a junk yard and install it...your dimmer will work, although your odometer will be off unless you take it to a speedo shop to get it corrected.

fm

 

hey man, i have got a gauge exactly like this one!
i can say to you that the installation is quite simple and the final look is awesome, when i did it i had taken some pictures:









just plug the wires from the gauge with the original light dimmer

might this help!

 

just got my stuff in the mail! buti h ave no idea what to do with these red and black wires for power!! what do?

 

also, since these gauges come with their own dimmer, cant i just use that?

 

would this actually work??

 

Why not just tap into the dash light wire that's already at the cluster?

 

Hell i will if i can find/do it!. LIke i said im a begginer at this kind of stuff so splicing, tapping, and testing wires and the like are all very new to me

 

If the instructions say it should be a 12V switched source then do that. Most of the time you do not want to run a light such as this with it's own transformer to a dimmer switch. The dimmer switch is a potentiameter, fancy name for an adjustable resistor. so if the dimmer switch is turned down the actual voltage that reaches your transformer may only be say 6V instead of 12V and cause it to fail or not function at all.

You want to make sure you ground it to an appropriate good ground, and more importantly have the power source coming from somewhere that has a good 12V supply. I ran a similar part years ago and went through probably 3 or 4 of them until I realized that I had to run the power supply very well and actually think about it because just tapping into a 12V source when the lights are on was not cutting it.

Installation other than the wiring is pretty straight forward. Like the other guys said just don't break your needles.

 

if its not one thing its another -_- the damn holes on the gauges dont match up with the OEM ones, what do?

 

FAAAAAAAAAACK i just looked at the glow gauge and the speedometer doesnt match!! WTF!?



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W-what do i do?

 

Nothing. You screwed up.

 

so basically, i cant use this gauge then right?

 

Nope. I don't know how you didn't see that they didn't even match up. Better see if you can sell 'em off and recoup.

 

i dunno, i just matched up the my model on ebay and ordered them, sucks but i should be able to return them :-/ ah well

 

Not really. You ordered the wrong ones. The picture matched the item you ordered and received. NONE of the 5 vehicles listed as being compatible (96-00 Ex/SI) matched yours. You were better off if you tried to fix/replace your dimmer switch.

 

^^^^ True ^^^^^