I was kindly given an NZDM 260kph speedo by Clanfever in exchange for working on his car. So today I decided to swap out my JDM 180kph speedo.
To do so you need to remove the cluster from the dashboard and swap out the entire gauge. This is rather simple to do but if you have not had to remove the cluster for one reason or another here is how you get to it. One reason to take it out might be to replace the worn out capacitors in your tacho because it is not reading correctly.
Lift your ash tray out
Remove the 2 screws of the base of the stereo/climate control surround
Lift the shifter boot up
Push the 4 clips of the shifter boot surround up from underneath
Remove the 2 lower screws from either side of the steering column and pull the lower trim down on both sides.
Pull the base of the stereo surround backwards, there are clips in the top corners and also above the left hand screw in the previous step.
Mine doesn't have the AC vents attached making it easier to remove.
Remove the hazard light switch and cig lighter plugs from behind.
Remove the screw from the left side of the steering column cover trim to enable you remove the trim panel from around the ignition and right hand vent.
Remove the 2 screws from the top trim panel. Check out that awkward screw driver grip style
Pull the top trim down and backwards. There are 2 clips in the middle.
Remove the screw from beside the ignition
If your car is a 1989-91 it will have a speedo cable so pull the gauge cluster backwards a bit. Pull the left side out further to get your hand behind to push the retaining clip and release the cable from the gauge. This can be a bit painful if you have large hands. Be careful not to break the lower tabs on the bottom of the cluster. Best to tilt the steering column down as far as it will go.
Once that is removed tilt the base of the cluster towards the back and upwards to access the 3 plugs connecting it to the car. 1 on the right, 2 on the left. The release tabs are on the top of the plugs.
Once it is out you can separate the cover and the cluster housing. Push the black tabs to separate it. This is required to pull the gauge out the front after undoing it from the back. I also needed to leave it like this to adjust the needle to read correctly as with my larger tyres it was always 4kph out. Now it is 1kph out.
To remove the speedo gauge it is just 4-5 screws depending on the version you have.
This shows the LEDs I have installed. There are 5 per unit giving decent directional lights vs ones that only point forwards.
And the 260kph gauge installed into the housing.
180kph before.
260kph after.
I had to leave it like this until I have finished the testing and adjusting the needle.