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Sent my cluster out for refurb. Having a devil of a time reinstalling. Column is dropped. I am using long bolts to suspend cluster while working on it but still very tight. I have one or 2 bulbs left. Very difficult to plug back in. Any suggestions? What's the best way to reattach tach, trip cable, and speedo? From top or bottom?
It may be a little late for my suggestions but we use a slightly different method. We have a complete set of tools to make the job easier including a home made tool to insert the bulb fixtures into the back of the instrument cluster (I/C). In order to give us extra slack, we disconnect the oil line from the block, the speedometer cable from the side of the transmission, and the tach cable from the distributor and pull them slightly toward the inside of the car. We hook everything up to the back of the I/C and test it with a 12V source before we begin installing it, We slowly feed the harness into the now large opening left by the I/C and hook up the various cables as we get close enough. Dropping the column is one way to go but we want and need more room so we take it completely out. We use a special tool to insert the I/C light bulb fixtures into the back of the cluster and do it all beforehand. A nightmare afterwards as you are finding out. No room back there after the install has begun and the little bastards fight you tooth and nail.
Here are a couple of pictures. One of the specialty tools we use and a separate one of the tool specifically for installing the light bulb fixtures. It makes a PITA effort into a piece of cake. Good Luck with it. C.J.
A lot more room to work without the steering column Specialty tools for removal and installation of the Instrument Cluster
Specialty tool for installation of the light bulb fixtures
For some reason that BFH doesn't seem to fit the job C.J. Unless you have a temper of course.
Ron,
Yes and finesse is the name of the game. The BFH was leftover on the floor from repairing the seat mounts (removing the old seat belt nuts and brackets) and we just hadn't put it away yet. Gently and carefully is the best way to go on the I/C install.
Thanks for your reply and suggestions. I made a tool for the headlight nut. That was too easy. The metal socket bulbs are the hard ones. Thanks for the ideas. I had already loosened the tach cable which gave me a little more room. If I can get the speedo cable without loosening it I will be home free, if not I will unplug at the trans. Thanks again.
Something else that happened. Before I took the cluster out, the brake and headlight warning were working. Now they are not. Seems a strange coincidence that they would both have stopped working since they have nothing in common. I am waiting on new bulbs, thinking they may have died, but I was wondering if you had encountered a similar incident. The bright light indicator is working as are all the other items in the cluster. Any ideas?
Something else that happened. Before I took the cluster out, the brake and headlight warning were working. Now they are not. Seems a strange coincidence that they would both have stopped working since they have nothing in common. I am waiting on new bulbs, thinking they may have died, but I was wondering if you had encountered a similar incident. The bright light indicator is working as are all the other items in the cluster. Any ideas?
It is only a WAG on my part but perhaps the filaments in the bulbs were damaged during the installation process and are now non-functional. Hopefully you don't have to replace them. C.J.
Now is the time for a conversion to LEDs. I did mine 100% - including a special "flasher" LED I found for the Parking Brake and Headlight Motor warning lamp. Did them all in warm white to approximate the original look - but they are much brighter. Did the interior (#90 equivalent) courtesy lamps as well. "Night and Day" difference... ;-)
use 4" all thread in place of the screws that hold the I/C in place. this allows for a little more room behind the I/C for attaching plugs and lights.also easier than trying to balance the I/C while connecting plugs and lights. use nuts on the outer edge of the all thread to keep the I/C from slipping off.
This may sound like sacrilege. But next time my cluster comes out, it is getting a bis^$$ plug, on an extended pigtail.
But my car is an unoriginal driver. (More of a park-er, in pieces, but I call it a driver.)
This may sound like sacrilege. But next time my cluster comes out, it is getting a bis^$$ plug, on an extended pigtail.
But my car is an unoriginal driver. (More of a park-er, in pieces, but I call it a driver.)
I asked the guys from Letric Limited that question while checking out their booth at Corvettes at Carlisle, they told me they won't put a connector plug in their harnesses because no one would buy them because of originality. I told him he was nuts, who wouldn't want to be able to simply unplug, and pop the cluster out anytime a bulb blew, or a gauge was acting up. I think they would sell a ton of them, but hey that's just my opinion I suppose. I saw a thread here on the forum a long time ago where someone had written a "how too" using 2 big connector plugs he had sourced from somewhere. Seemed like it turned out pretty good from what I recall....I know I would buy one if they made it....
Unless you have a temper of course.
C2 cluster install
