xxanity1

I just did the cluster lights in my 1984 coupe. I just wanted to let those that are ready to do this job or are on the fence about it, that it is a bit of a pain, considering all of the bolts that get removed, but it is well worth it to see that beautiful dash come to life.

Picked up 4 882 bulbs from rockauto $22.20 total after shipping. If you go there to buy bulbs by any chance, do not input your car in as the vette for these bulbs, as they only give you a l882 option at $25 per bulb, just put "882" in the search for parts box irrespective of your vehicle.

The plastic panel in front of the dash needs to come off (3 screws along open door side, 2 screws on right corners at odometer)

There were 4 hex screws holding the cluster in place, they come out and supposedly that is enough to get the cluster out of the vehicle, but I couldn't fanangle the electrical plugs off of the unit, so I took the dash out too. Got my hands back there and pulled the plugs and the unit.

Once the cluster is out, there were 5 hex screws holding a metal backing plate to the unit.

Once that was off, there were 7 hex screws holding a circuit board in the rear. Once they were out the board will lift off exposing another board with the bulb sockets visible.

I've noticed some people recommend against pulling the entire cluster and suggest getting at the bulbs from the front by removing these little round metal plates to gain access to the bulbs only. I recommend against that for the fear of breaking what could very likely be a brittle bulb on the way out and also for the peace of mind that comes with replacing the bulb/socket combination as the sockets of my 3 burned out bulbs were heavily scarred with burns and also loose in the holes from time.

It's involved, but relatively simple. Show patience and enjoy the end result.

glava2876

I did mine in my 84 and as this site recommends, had gone to batee.com and I only had to do this part of your steps.
I then removed the (4) little individual metal caps on the front of the cluster. Then you use a small section of shrink tube or other plastic tubing to slip over the bulb and pull them out the front -install the new bulbs, snap on the caps and put the plastic panel back on. It took 15-20 min.

jon0108

when I changed my 882 bulbs I also changed the white sockets that they pop into. The sockets are what make contact with the circuit board. The original sockets werent white anymore. They looked like burnt toast and the copper contacts were corroded. Only thing is that the whole cluster has to come out, the way xxanity1 did it. If just changing the bulbs you could use the method glava2876 used. Much easier and faster.

oldalaskaman

did my 87 from the front by removing the metal covers, used needle nose pliars to pull them, no problems.

JrRifleCoach

I pulled the lights/sockets from a spare DIC and replaced the 882's with those.

Although the panel is not as bright, it is readable and much cooler.