ElectronicsNeed help wiring something up? Thinking of adding an electrical component to your car? Need help troubleshooting that wiring glitch?
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Procarparts Euro Gauges / Reverse Glow 1991 Firebird
At first I ordered some of the overlay stick on white face gauges. I wasn't impressed on how they looked at night. So I ordered the reverse glow gauges from Procarparts. There are some differences in why they say that it fits up to 1989. I noticed that the fuel/battery image on my 1991 firebird was clearly visible through the center of the new gauges. So I took a small piece of paper and used some plastic glue and stuck the piece of paper on the old white faced gauge that I previously installed. It stuck pretty good and I like it. Then I put my new gauges over them.
The install wasn't as bad as I thought. A thanks goes out to Gambit69 for his assistance. Hopefuly if someone does this, then maybe I can help in the future.
If you're not comfortable pulling the needles off your existing cluster, then don't read any further. Go by the instructions made with the kit you buy.
Basically, here's what I did.
First of all, if you EVER decide to take off the needles of your existing gauges to install these (which I thought it made it easier), I suggest getting pics so you know where to put your fuel/temp/battery/oil. First warm up your car and take a digital pic of all the gauges. If you don't have one, draw a diagram. Then take your dash apart. Pull your instrument cluster out. Take off your clear plastic cover and your black face cover. Find a table somewhere so you won't get disturbed to do the work.
This is the hard part. I've had to recalibrate my needles before, so I'd read this part very carefully. Once everything is ready, VERY GENTLY turn your speedometer needle all the way over to the right (clockwise) until it stops. DO NOT PUT TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON THE NEEDLE AFTER THE POINT IT STOPS. If you put too much pressure on it, the needle will move past the stopping point and you'll have to get someone to drive and recalibrate your speedometer later. Make some kind of mark on the old gauge face at a corner so that it won't be noticable. Do the same thing for your tachometer as well. Bring it over until it stops and make another mark.
Once that is done, use a fork and remove all your needles. Then remove the small phillips screws holding on your existing gauge faces. Install the new Euro/Reverse gauges over top of your old ones. Put the screws back in. Then I took a larger drill bit and drilled 4 holes at the bottom of the cluster (not the back). Just be sure not to drill into anything that will hending reinstalling your cluster. I guess it was round 1/2" bit. Pull the wires for the new reverse gauges through the bottom.
Then install the needles for your speedometer/tachometer. Install them so you can bring them over until the stopping point is where your marker is. This is something you may have to play with to get right. As long as the needle stops where your marker is, you'll speedometer/tachometer will read correctly. With the other needles off, I'd take it out to the car and temporarily hook it up. Wait until everything is warm on your car and put the fuel/temp/battery/oil needles where they are in your drawing or pic. Bring in the cluster and put everything back together.
I took apart my light switch area and pulled the harness from it out where I could trim wires if I need them. I found out that the brown wire (I think) coming off the light switch was the constant 12 volts used to power everything for your dash. I used my volt meter and temporarily hooked up my switch to make sure it was right. You'll have to do the same. I then trimmed the wire back and soldered the positive lead of the new gauges cluster to it. Then I found a ground and hooked up the ground to a screw into the frame of the car.
I put the new dash back in and hooked everything up. It worked great. Here are some pics of the old white stick on face gauges with the new reverse gauges.
Looks real good. I did mine about 3-4 years ago but I never had to take the needles off at all. The first two i was able to slip the new covers over the needles without any problems but the last 2 gauges I took a different route to get the faces on. Anyway, I like the looks of them and they look even better when it is dark out. Nice job.
Hey i think the 92 camaro I has these gauge style in it. What makes the things glow, only my needles glow? I have I tihnk three wires with weird connectors on them coming from inside the cluster (which I think is for the new gauge overlay things). How do I wire them?
These gauges are like oversized LED's. They are not powered by your back light. The only things that are lit up from back lights are your needles. You'll need to hook the gauges up to the dimmer switch that came with the gauges.
I know that, but I dont have any of the stuff that came with em. Could i cut the ends off those wires and just apply 12v to them tied to factory dimming?
Re: Procarparts Euro Gauges / Reverse Glow 1991 Firebird
i had a set on my stock cluster. they were alright. i wound up selling that cluster to someone on here after i put real gauges in. i think i got mine off fleabay.
