I'm in the process of swapping out the factory temp gauge and clock. I have new temp and oil press gauges ready to be mounted into the cluster but was wondering about the circuit board. Since there are no gauges on that side of the cluster needing the circuit board to operate (including tach) will it cause any problems to the other gauges if the circuit board is kinda "moved" out of the way where the old gauges were? Wishing I could just cut that part of the circuit board outta there. Not going to do that but it just dangles and is in the way. I'm sure many others have done the same thing as me but wonder about that circuit board. Any help is always appreciated. Thanks.

 

Over 150 views and noone has changed a gauge out of their cluster? lol. Guess I'll have to go the guinea pig route. Just looking to find out of the circuit board needs to be pressed down around the entire cluster even with the factory gauges removed?

 

I would worry about the extra wires and copper traces My plan is to replace all my gauges so I was not even thinking about doing one at a time... I know that power and ground run everyplace on the thing so be careful..

 

I really didn't want to have to swap gauges but I'm only replacing the ones that didn't work. I put a new temp gauge and oil pressure where the clock was and added some white face covers to the factory ones. There really aren't any wires that I'm worried about, it's the board being disturbed in that area. Guess there's only one way to find out. Just trying to not have to pull the cluster out back and forth as there's already 3 broken mounts on the cluster from whoever had it before and those plastic ears are really brittle.

 

To answer your question, no it won't hurt to move the circuit board out of the way. But I would gently tape it back down to the cluster so that it won't flop around and eventually crack and break a connection.

 

69, thanks for that. I've got the guages both mounted and I put plastic/rubber bolt thread tips on the mounting bolts as to hopefully not cause any interference or problems with coming into contact with the circuit board. The new LED bulbs should be here today so I'm hoping I can get this thing put back together before the weekend is through. Appreciate the help.

 

Just a little tip on the leds,before you finish reinstalling the gauge panel into the dash,connect the plug on the back,and check to make sure all the lights work.The factory type bulbs are non polarized so they work either way in the socket,most of the led bulbs are polarized so they will only work 1 way in there,i found that out the hard way after completely reinstalling everything then found out 6 of the bulbs were in backwards and would not work until i flipped them around.

 

Appreciate it B.M. I've had to do the same thing with my Truck and Cadi turn signal and tail light bulbs before as well. Luckily the bulbs I learned on weren't as difficult to flip around as doing dash lights but that's the kind of stuff exactly that I'm trying to avoid with this cluster. It's in very good shape but the plastic is very brittle I've noticed. Don't want to have to "handle" it too much and end up having to find a new way to mount it back in the dash. Thanks again.

 

Actually, another quick question. Does the needle for the speedo come off just by pulling it off? I usually use a kitchen fork to pry the needles off of other gauges and have had no problems. I tried gently by hand and it seems like it's on there pretty good. Ended up breaking the speedo needle off doing the gauge face covers and it'll be a lot easier to re-glue if the center part is off the gauge.