Right now I have a 140 mph cluster from a 1992 T/A GTA and I want to swap my 120 out for it. As far as compatibility goes, is this just a plug and go or do I need to do anything special?

Also are the cluster lights on the inside of the panel or should the bulbs be going into the back of the cluster before it's installed? It appears that the bulbs will go in when I install it. Just want to be sure.

 

Anyone?

 

Bump again. Please don't be mad.

Is the 140 cluster from a 1992 Bird directly compatible with a 1992 bird that came with the 120 cluster? Also, I'm thinking about making my have LEDs, to change the color from the orangish to the color of my choice all I need to do is change the bulbs correct? I just don't want to replace the bulbs in the back for it to be the same.

Thanks!

 

I can't think of any reason you can't change out the speedo.
And yes, you just need to change the bulbs to change the color/change to LED

 

Ok. Thanks. I didn't think so. I also figured the bulb was the only thing but didn't know if there was any films that normally need to be removed.

 

Just pull the entire cluster out & put the 140 in & your done. It will work, I promise you. I accidentally did the opposite into my GTA when I wasn't paying attention.

And about the bulbs. The stock setup is clear bulbs with a colored boot over them. So you could swap the boots out to change the illumination color or swap to colored bulbs.

 

That's good news.

About the boots, what exactly are these? I haven't taken it out yet. I took a cluster out at the junkyard and the bulbs in the back were orange colored so I figured it was only the bulbs. I'm trying to put in white LEDs in the cluster.

One dumb question: How do I get the clear lens off of it? My donor cluster has a cracked lens and I have a good lens to put on but I'm stuck with the odometer button. Do it twist off or pull out or something? I just don't want to break it.

 

Its a orange bulb condom.
Take your cluster out and all your questions will be answered. The trip OD handle just pulls out. Test it out on the handle you don't want to use.

 

Rubber boots like..... http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-T10-194-.../370815255341?

The bulb then inserts into this which you simply insert into the corresponding hole in the back side of the socket & give a small twist to it to lock it into place.

One thing to remember.....Not ALL of the holes are used don't worry if there are empty light holes. For example, the Shift light for Manual transmissions. Put a bulb in there in an Automatic tranny car & the Shift light comes on but never goes off. So swap the clusters with only a few screws to secure it then test drive. That way if you need to take it out to add/remove bulbs or whatever, it is easier to do.

As for the lens.....Once you pull the cluster out you'll see the lens retaining screws & the Odometer **** twists/screws into place. The gauge has a threaded metal stud sticking up that the plastic **** screws down on to.

 

Got it off. Thanks.

As for the boots/condoms, I'm assuming those aren't a necessity if I buy colored LEDs. I've been getting them from superbrightleds.com so I don't have to all the resister work myself. lol.

I'm glad you brought up the shift light and extra lights. I shined a flashlight through the back of the donor cluster to see if there was a colored film behind the gauges just to be sure and saw the shift light.

From what I saw, I'll need 9 wide angle bulbs for the ***** and 5 narrow angles for the idiot lights. Don't need shift, I'm not real sure what the yellow one is with a diagonal line with a circle on the line, and I don't think my car using the seatbelt one. I can probably just pull my cluster real quick to see what holes have bulbs and then transfer the inserts.

Also, is there anyway to maybe "edit" the mileage on the donor cluster to match mine?

 

You won't need the boots for colored LEDs. Only need those change clear bulbs to color output.

I'd set the 2 clusters side by side, face down, and swap the bulbs over to the identical positions. Most likely you won't need any more bulbs, unless something shoulda been lit but wasn't with the old cluster.

As for odometer adjusting....I know it CAN be done, but requires pulling the rolling # out, dremeling/grinding off retaining pins that are pressed in, rolling the #s by hand then figuring out how to repin the number wheels in position. I just live with the knowledge that mine is off by about 35,000 miles, is mileage exempt anyways & I never lie to anyone about the odometer being incorrect.

 

Yeah that's not worth it. Mine will be about 100k off.

Thanks for all the info. I'll go ahead and get the bulbs shipped. If I have any problems I'll chime back in. You've all been a great help.

 

This isn't directly related with the above but when it comes to the cluster lens, what's my best option for getting those white spots off? I've tried a couple things and I'm only removing fingerprints and dirt. Those spots are hard to remove.

EDIT: Got it off with Meguiar's PlastX after reading some threads here.

 

The swap is complete. I tested it out and the speedometer works and seems to be accurate. I tested it with an app that measures speed. lol. Oil pressure, temp, volt, and fuel all seem to work.

My tach works, but doesn't seem to be correct. It's showing lower readings than I'm used to. For example, It shows my idle at 600 when I'm used to 800. When I cold start it, it doesn't jump to 1000+ and then settle as the temp rises. When I'm at 60mph, my rpm is usually 2200, right now it's about 1500 on the gauge. Do you think the tach is broken? Or would it have something to do with it coming from a v8 and going into a v6?

Also, my odometer and trip odometer don't count at all. When I press the trip button I can see it tries to rewind back to 0000 even though it's already there but neither count up when I'm driving.

Any suggestions for either?

EDIT: I swapped in the odometer from my v6 cluster into the v8 one now in my car. Works fine now. The plastic gear closest to the motor was chipped. Any idea on where to buy these? I'm thinking about rebuilding it and selling it.

Also, I read that the v8 tach is more resistant than the v6 tach. That might be why my readings are low. Will this correct itself when I put the v8 in my car?

 

Bump:
Would the fact that my old tach was for a v6 and new tach is for a v8 give me lower readings? If so, would this fix itself by just putting the v8 in or is there more to it than that?

I'm planning on putting in a carbed 385 soon. Would I run into this problem again later if I somehow swapped in my v6 tach into the v8 cluster?

 

Just back to post results.

I swapped the odometer completely, switched the tachs until I put the 6.3L in, replaced all bulbs with LEDs (blue on the gauge lights) except for the service engine soon light(kept an incandescent bulb in because the LED in that socket got enough of a current when off to keep it dimly lit), and I painted the needles white.

Here's a pic with it dark and lit. They're more blue in person. Someone even said it almost looked purple. But I think they're just real dark blue. The blue light you see on the dash and the bottom of the 2 right gauges is the map light in the rear view mirror. I replaced it to be blue and it goes on with the head lights. I'm thinking about removing it. Not sure yet.




Here's pic of the white needles when the lights are on...





White needles are hard to see in the pic but believe me, they look so much better and match a lot more when they're not lit. Although the orange ones lit blue at night I wanted to get rid of orange.

All of the bulbs were 194s, it took 9 lights for the gauges and for my cluster 4 for other lights, 2 for signals, and 1 for brights. Paid about $13 for 10 blue 5-smd LEDs and $10 for 10 white 5-smd LEDs. They came in a pack on eBay (((link here))). 5 different colors from this seller.

 

Looks good. What LED bulbs did you use? Got a link to them?

 

Link on bottom with red parenthesis. Sorry it was hidden. Here it is again: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271180559669...84.m1439.l2649
Got the needle paint here: http://www.whitegauges.net/categorie.../Needle-Paint/

Second pic of the blue that actually captures the color...



This was before the odometer swap and before the white needles. The needles shine a little better now with the white backing.

 

Looks pretty good, I ordered up some myself. What prep did you do with the needle or did you just panted over the orange?

 

I probably did it wrong but... I took a razor to the orange on the back and repainted with needle paint. I didn't want to sand it because I saw from other people that it fogged it up on the bottom. The orange needles WILL glow blue but gets a little weird colored at sunset on the speedometer needle. It was difficult to only get the paint, some of the plastic ended up coming off the needle itself but isn't noticeable.

Be careful if you paint yours, try as hard as possible to keep it even on the edges. Didn't notice it until it was in my car, but my tach needle is a little fuzzy on the edge and looks odd at an angle. Hard to notice but could have been avoided.

As a side note, don't use nail polish remover because it fogs up the needle permanently all over. Had to steal a needle from my old cluster. Not sure why it did that.