Hope someone can help me out there. Just purchased my first C5 this past July, a 1999 frc just what I wanted. My question is has anyone purchased a set of Auto Concept Reverse White Indiglo Gauges? I have been looking on ebay and each one says professional installation recommended. Is this true and if so about how much for install. Thanks for your help.

 

 

I've replaced my stock gauge faces with yellow ones (I have an MY 2002 Coupe). FWIW, the first time I removed the gauge cluster it took me most of a day, because I was very cautious and fearful of screwing up something. But by the third time I removed the gauge cluster (to install LED bulbs in place of stock ones) I got this down to about 1 1/4 hours to remove, and 1 hour to reassemble everything.

Below are the threads I used, starting with a source for the gauge faces:

1. My source for gauge faces - I purchased mine from C5Racer.com (a retailer who purchases these from SpeedHut). Why? Because C5Racer.com was the only source I could find that offered gauge faces in colors other than white. None of the Forum's vendors does. Except for color, I believe those sourced from the C5Racer website are are substantially identical to the ones you are looking at, and the wiring for their gauge faces is likewise virtually identical. Before finally purchasing these colored gauge faces, I strongly suggest calling the C5Racer customer service number and talking to the guy who runs this website to get the right products. Why? Because the website doesn't really provide enough educational detail about the gauge face options to allow the purchaser to make an informed choice.

http://www.c5racer.com/catalog/c5-c6...-face-kit.html

2. Vette Essentials tutorial on removing the instrument cluster:

http://www.vetteessentials.com/instr...zel_howto.html

This is probably the best set of instructions out there. [Burried in those instructions is the recommendation to lower and extend the steering wheel. See my "one trick" comment below for further discussion.]

3. Tapping into the instrument cluster's power source to provide power to the gauge faces (two links here; read both of them). This turned out to be fairly simple, and required me to use a set of 2-into-3 wire splices purchased from Radio Shack (I think Home Depot and Lowe's also sell these):

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...ce-guages.html (see specifically post #8)

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...up-beware.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...up-beware.html

You may have additional questions. If so, PM me and we can talk about it.

There is "one trick" to getting the instrument cluster out of your dash. Before you finally disconnect the power to the driver's side seat, you must extend the steering column outward and downward as far as possible. Not doing this risks leaving inadequate clearance between the dash and top of the steering wheel, thus making removal of the cluster a real beeeaaatch.

While you have the gauge cluster out, you might also consider adding the aluminum gauge bezels sold by several of our vendors (either brushed or bright finishes). Doing this while the gauge bezel is disconnected from the gauge cluster makes the process much easier and avoids the risk of smearing glue on the gauge faces or bezel (ask me how I know).

Hope all of this helps.

Regards,

The Lizzard