Gauge face install

Where can I get the gauges in these pix??? I sell them here on this site! What's the deal with those funky gauges with non-stock zero positions? Miatas are quite blessed from the factory in that the tach and speedometer are round with the needle in the middle. The gauges have absolutely no idea where o'clock the needle is pointing. As long as you follow the Setting the Needles section correctly, the gauge will think that zero is zero.

It doesn't matter if zero is at the stock 7 o'clock position or anywhere else. It will rotate all the way around and stop before it loops back on itself around the stock ish mechanical hard stop. How do I know the tach is accurate after doing this? Really, a fine way to assure yourself of yourself of tachometer and speedometer accuracy is to take some readings before you crack anything open. For example, an NB with the 5 speed and 4. But take these readings for your car and don't take my word for it.

Different tire sizes will change even the list I just typed. After you're finished with the gauge face install, check your speed and gearing against your own notes. Will this make my odometer read wrong? The odometer is not affected by this job.

Removing and reinstalling will not change it. But your trip odometer will be reset. Some folks use that to track their mileage including me and this fact is nice to know before you put the cluster back in only to see 0 on the trip meter.

What happens if I don't hack out the extra plastic behind the tach? That area on the bottom will not light up at all. It will be a perfectly black area at night. This is fine for a stock-style gauge with zero at 7 o'clock, but for any other gauge it will look a bit silly.

Really, it's very easy to hack out that extra plastic. What about the little corner indicators CEL and high beam? This is a lot like the relocated check engine light, but with more work. Go to the corner indicator mod section to read about it. This looks scary. Can you do the install? Of course! I have an installation service available. Please click this link and read about what the installation covers.

Some other shop sent me to this page. Is it cool if I use the info here? Well, sure! The thing I enjoy most is helping out my fellow Miata enthusiast. However, I'd greatly appreciate it if you would drop me a note and tell me about these other manufacturers who are ripping off my hard work.

Gauge Cluster Removal To get access to the gauge cluster, you need to remove two plastic panels - the steering column cover and the gauge hood - and 3 screws.

Check out the diagram above and whip out your 2 Phillips screwdriver. Tackle the column cover first. After removing the 3 screws, just pop the top of the steering column cover off. The bottom half stays in place. No screws need to be removed to get the gauge hood to come off an NB. It's held in place by 5 little metal pressure fittings - 1 each on the lower front corner and 3 around the far back curve. This particular plastic piece is notoriously delicate on NA cars. On the NB, Mazda used a slightly more forgiving type of plastic.

It bends before it breaks. Still, you should be careful. But not too careful. Prying gently can make the plastic tabs gently tear free from the gauge hood. A forceful yank forward toward your face should get the hood off in one piece.

Well, 4 screws and 3 plastic clip connections on the back side. We'll get to those in a minute. For now, just remove these screws and set them aside. Then pull the cluster forward slightly less than 1 inch or 2 cm to give yourself a little room in the back. There are 3 electrical connections to remove on the back. There should be enough slack in the wiring harness so that you can pull the cluster forward and see what you're doing.

Pull each and either take your cluster inside to swap gauges or continue on to the CEL relocation step. Stock Gauge Face Removal Take the cluster out of the car and to a comfortable, dust-free work area. You might consider putting on your gloves now. No gauge face I've ever seen is able to have finger prints or skin oils wiped clean, not even the stock ones.

If you think you'll ever want to go back to stock faces, put those gloves on now. NB clusters have two steps to get the front cover off. You remove the "glass" and then you can remove the plastic gauge bezel. This is really a lot easier than the one-piece NA bezel to remove.

The tabs are bigger and more forgiving to your thumbs. Just take your thumb and press a tab inward. Then sorta hold the bezel up with the other hand and move your thumb to the next nearest tab. Once you get two popped free, you're good. The rest come out easily. And this trick is the same for the clear glass cover and the black plastic bezel.

Next, it's time to remove your needles. There are no better tools in the world for this than these small plastic pry tools.

I include them with every set of gauges. Using the face mounting screws as a fulcrum, put one pry tool under either side of a needle The most stubborn needle will pop free with very little effort and no damage will come to your gauge face.

If you rush, you might scratch the face slightly with the back of the pry tool, but any damage should be under the needle center itself. Finally, out come the small screws holding the gauge faces in place. Use both hands when holding the screwdriver to avoid it bouncing off and scratching a face. Be careful, since the metal is quite soft and the screws strip easily.

Set the screws aside for re-installation in a moment. They come with little cardboard tubes to protect the electrode. Those tubes are just about perfect for masking off the light for each of the three indicators on the tach. Secure the tubes with a few drops of super glue.

When you're done removing the lighting partition plastic, re-install the clear gauge carriers into your cluster. They must be in place for the gauges to work. They help pipe the lighting to the back of your gauge faces. You will working with your new gauge faces a lot now.

They are extremely resilient to cleaners and the elements, but it is still WAY easier to wear gloves and not have to clean anything than not wear gloves and spend a half hour carefully cleaning fingerprints off your new gauges. Hold your new revlimiter Gauge face by the edges. Hold the needle stopper with your free hand. Poke the stopper through the face. If it's hard to get the stopper through the tiny hole, twist the stopper while you insert it.

A drilling motion will let the stopper get through the face without much pressure. The needle stopper should stay in place by friction. If it doesn't, apply a small piece of clear Scotch tape to the back of the needle stopper. Remove the 10 tiny rubber washers from the bag and install them over each gauge screw.

These are VERY important. Screw your new gauge faces into place. Do not over tighten the screws!!! Too much force can destroy the finish on the gauge face. Just get the screws barely tight. The rubber washers not only allow the gauge face to expand, they also help you to know how much force to apply when screwing the face down.

In the above photo, the washer is still round. This is the correct tightness. If you see a washer poking out, unscrew the fastener until the washer is round again. I will say that again as this is very important. You will destroy the finish on your gauge face if you do this. Setting the Needles There is no good way to photograph each step of this. Sorry, but this involves a lot of reading. I'll try to make it as easy to understand as possible.

Do not use a lot of force to press the needles into place. If the black needle center contacts the gauge face, it will not be able to spin. A little shove is all that you need. Speedometer: This is the only gauge needle that you can set while the cluster is on your table inside. The speedometer is self-zeroing.

That means you can carefully and gently place the needle on the zero position and probably get it right. So stick it on there very lightly and then spin the needle up to 20 mph or so and let it fall by itself. Did it return to zero? If so, then give the needle a little extra press to make sure it's on there and then call it good. If it didn't return to zero, pull it off and try again. Take the cluster back out to the car and reinstall it with the glass covering removed.

Connect all three inputs on the back of the cluster. I like to also screw in 2 of the 4 cluster mounting screws to hold it in place and keep it from rattling around too much. Then turn the car on. Oil Pressure: This is usually the second needle I put into place.

With the car on and the engine cold, your oil pressure gauge will read pretty high, usually between the 60 and 90 mark. Point the needle to that spot and gently press it on.

Not too hard! If you get it wrong and it starts showing low oil pressure when the engine is hot, you'll want to remove this needle and try again. And, obviously, cars with dummy oil pressure gauges don't really matter. Just put it on pointing at the middle. Tachometer: When your engine has warmed up enough and you hear it idling normally, pop the tach needle in place with it pointing somewhere around rpm.

Next, rev up to your rev limit. Verify that the needle points to this value. I say "this value" since many cars have aftermarket ECUs with non-stock rev limits. For stock cars, it is If you have an aftermarket ECU, it is very easy to set the tach needle. Just plug in your laptop and monitor the engine speed. If you see the needle is grossly incorrect, pop it off and try again. But if you don't have this luxury, there is a trick: for cars with the 4. For cars with the 4. At any rate, once you're satisfied with the tach needle, you should press it firmly in place.

Water Temp: Once you've finished messing around with the tach needle, your engine should be warm enough to put the water needle in place. The stock position is approximately o'clock. Put the needle in place and then press it down firmly. Fuel: Last but not least, the gas gauge. I like to leave this needle off and drive to the gas station near my house.

Then I fill up. Then I drive back to my house and sit in the driveway and put the fuel needle a bit above the F mark. It takes a little over a mile for a full tank of gas to register, so keep that in mind.

Lastly, turn the car off. Keep the cluster glass off and verify that the needles fall to their correct zero zones. If you didn't press the needle on hard enough, you'll have a droopy gauge. I'm talking to you, Mr. Water Temp.

The tach and oil gauges both have stoppers. The fuel gauge doesn't fall. The speedometer self zeroes. But the water gauge can droop if the needle isn't pressed on hard enough.

Tachometer: ext, rev up to your rev limit. Verify that the needle points to this value. I say "this value" since many cars have aftermarket ECUs with non-stock rev limits. If you have an aftermarket ECU, it is very easy to set the tach needle. Just plug in your laptop and monitor the engine speed.

If you see the needle is grossly incorrect, pop it off and try again. Water Temp: Once you've finished messing around with the tach needle, your engine should be warm enough to put the water needle in place. The stock position is approximately o'clock.

Put the needle in place and then press it down firmly. Test drive time. On this test drive, you'll get your speedometer accurate. I suggest driving around in a pretty deserted area for this. You're going to be quite distracted. And you should try to plan it so that you end up at a gas station at the end. Speedometer: The best way to calibrate your speedometer is probably with a GPS dedicated device or phone app.

Get up to an even speed and have your co-driver read from your GPS. On the Miata, factory calibration is a couple MPH slower than your real speed. In other words, it will read 40 mph when you're moving around 38 mph. If the FD is the same I have no idea you'd want to calibrate your needle the same way. Otherwise, it's far too easy to drive faster than you're used to and get tickets. Been there, done that. Fuel: Last but not least, the gas gauge. Once your speed is decent, drive to a gas station.

Fill your tank. Then go home and set your gas needle as close to the F as you like. I like to give it a few minutes between filling the tank and setting the needle on the gauge. It takes most old cars like the FD a few minutes to register a full tank.

And that's it. All that's left to do is snap the cluster glass back on and reinstall the gauges into your car. Of course, there's the celebratory test drive much longer than the needle setting test drive followed by the celebratory beer, celebratory photos, and celebratory posting to your favorite internet forum. What's going on? If the black needle center comes into contact with the gauge face, it won't be able to spin.

You don't need Hulk-levels of force to install the needles. Just place it on the needle boss the metal pin gently and verify that the gauge is reading right. After that, give it a small extra nudge to seat it. Then look at the gauge at an angle to verify there's space between the face and the needle center.

My fuel gauge needle doesn't go back to zero after the gauge install? I'm not sure if the FD is the same, but most 80s and 90s cars functioned that way. If the FD is like this, then it's supposed to work like that. You just never noticed it before the gauge install. Why does the bottom part of my tach stay dark at night? You forgot to remove the partition for the Cruise Control light. Sharka's rear package tray now holds more than just a rollbar.

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