Digital Dash Conversion How To Guide!

[meepins]

Alright in the quest to upgrade my car to digital dash display with HUD. I spent quite a bit of time and in the end came to realize it is super easy and way less hard then it should have been! So I am posting this step by step process on how to do it yourself!

Step 1: Find a car that has the digital dash and HUD and cover cap for dash. Either a salvage yard or EBAY. Note: Only the 2 door coupes have them so don't bother with anything else!

Step 2:Remove it Allllll ! ! ! ! ! I mean the Hud cover. The Hud. The whole instrument cluster. And the wiring harness(digital has three plugs that go in not two like the analog. A fourth attaches to the HUD. This however all combines into two plugs that are the same as your car)

Step 4: Remove all of your instrument cluster stuff including harness. Realize there are two Plastic heavy ties holding it in that you have to clip to get it out.

Step 5: Remove the black cover on both instrument panels. Not the clear cover but the black one with the clear attached so you have direct access to your gauges.

Step 6: Remove the tachs from both instrument clusters (this is the only thing that doesn't work on the conversion so you HAVE TO DO THIS TO MAKE IT WORK) Removing them consists of unscrewing 3 clustered screws on the back of the instrument cluster that are directly behind the tach. Easy to spot as they are brass looking.

Step 7: Take the digital tach FACE and remove it and put it on your analogs face. (they are slightly diff sizes) **update** this is a very difficult step changing faces. The tach head needle is EXTREMELY difficult to pull off and you may break the needle. This step doesn't HAVETO be done it is your choice!

Step 8: Now take your old analog dash tach that should have the new digital face on it and drop it into the digital cluster and put those screws back in and re-snap the plastic covers back on.

Step 9: Plug in everything and put it back in place. Before you do this make sure you don't want to do Alternate Step 10

Step 10:If you want your HUD to work you have to creatively cut a whole in your dash and creatively attack the Hud so it points straight up at the windshield. The windshield itself will not reflect the speed very well so you have two choices. Get a small piece of reflective window tint and put it there where the speed it on the glass. Or go to this site:http://www.defi-shop.com/ and order a replacement film for their VSD II. This is what I am currently doing but its taking a bit to get it.

Now all of the above should make sense and if you do it right you shouldn't spend more than 15 minutes at the salvage yard and a half hour to an hour at the most at your house.

Couple of pointers:

1.when removing dash you ahve to remove knee board under steering wheel. Remove steering wheel neck cover things. Loosten the two bolts that hold up the steering wheel so that you can get the impossible to remove plastic piece out you will soon discover. I did it the hard way and got it but won't try it again

2.when ever I say digital realize that the ONLY thing digital on the digital cluster is the speedo. I am refering to the tach as digital merely to specify it from the other one. Hope this helps you guys out and feel free to ask questions!

[nismojason]

Sorry to bring up an old thread. I have taken out both types of clusters and the plugs are different, how would you go about changing them, do you have to splice many wires, or did you just follow the wires back until there was another harness. Thanks in advance and I hope your still on the boards or that someone else knows.

Jason

[JeromeS13]

Note: Only the 2 door coupes have them so don't bother with anything else!

You mean, I can't use one out of the 4 door hatchback 240sx?? DOH!!!