Dirk37
Mr. Resourceful
As soon as I saw the 91 cluster in the scrapyard I had to have it on my car. The stock one seemed like a joke with the tiny speedometer and tacky dotted background, so I made it happen 
And it feels like a new car!
My SD card crapped out on me so I lost all of the install pictures, but it's pretty straightforward if you've got the patience and a little creativity.
1. Drop the steering column, it makes the rest of the disassembly so much easier. To drop it, remove the cover panel below it, then remove the 4 nuts on studs that hold it up. You may want to have a friend help because it's a bit heavy.
2. Remove the lower dash panels. There's one on each side of the steering column and they just pull off.
3. Now we need to remove the upper dash panel. First remove the screws that run along the bottom and were hidden behind the lower dash panel. Then pull off the headlight switch ****. Behind the **** is a nut washer thing, unscrew it with pliers and remove it and the plastic panel it held in place. Now the dash is ready to come out. Much like everything else, it just pulls off. Once you unplug the clock you can take it out of the car.
4. Pop the hood and locate the speedometer cable, it should be gray and come out of the firewall. It connects to another section of the cable with a weird little plug thingy, pull it out of that and leave it sitting there.
5. Remove the 4 screws holding the instrument cluster in. Pull on the cluster until you feel it stop. By angling it, you should be able to reach behind and disconnect the two electrical connectors. To undo them, push the sides of the connector in. You'll want to push on them as close to the cluster as possible since they're little tabs and that makes it easier. Once those are disconnected you should be able to pull the cluster out enough to undo the speedo cable, which you just press on and it will pop free.
6. Yay! Now the old cluster is out, and you can begin the cluster wiring cluster
7. The first thing to do is take the connectors off the new cluster and depin them.
First pull out the red thing in the center with a small flathead or some pliers, this allows the pin latch to move and release the pins. Now take a tiny screwdriver and on the plastic latch under each pin, push the latch towards the center of the connector and the pin will pull right out.
8. Once all of the new connectors are depinned, we can get ready to replace the old ones with them. To make this all hook up right some soldering is required. Before you do anything though, take the left connector that in the car and pull each wire a little bit out of the harness until the connector can touch the top of the cluster area. If you look at the location of the connector on the new cluster, it is way higher up than the old one so this must be done to make it able to plug in.
9. Now we can begin the repin! All I have to say about this is do one pin at a time and DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING. I made the mistake of mixing up the coolant temp and coolant level sensor, so as the car warmed up the coolant level light got dimmer and now have a wire running from the temp sensor to the coolant level connector because I didn't feel like pulling the dash apart again. Moral of the story: Whatever ford engineer made both wires the same color and the same pin number (6) on two different connectors is a douche. Anyways here is how this all connects up:
Thankfully all the pins are labeled on the connector so this isn't too bad. Basically you just remove the pin from the old connector and put it in the new one. Any small connector pins that need to go to the big connector or vice versa will need to be extended to reach (I just soldered in a length of wire to make it work). On the connections involving splicing, you will need to use the section of wire that came with the new instrument cluster.
(New connector pin) - (Description) - (Old connector pin)
On the new small connector
1 - Check Oil Level Light - Small 5
2 - Door Ajar light - Big 3 (Soldering extension req.)
3 - Lamp out light - Small 3
4 - Ground - Small 9
5 - Low Coolant - This assembly is removed to make the cluster fit so nothing goes here
6 - Nothing
7 - Nothing
8 - Right Turn Signal Light - Big 17 (Soldering extension req.)
9 - Fasten Seat Belt - Big 2 (Soldering extension req.)
10 - Check Engine - Splice into the tan/red wire on back of check engine light
11 - Air bag - Nothing (I put pin big 6 here which is the low coolant signal)
12 - Key on power - Small 4
13 - Ground - Small 9 (Same as pin 4, I spliced and soldered this to it)
14 - Fuel Sender - Small 7
On the new big connector
1 -Instrument Illumination - Big 14
2 - Nothing
3 - Nothing
4 - Low washer fluid light - Small 1 (Soldering extension req.)
5 - Nothing
6 - Ground - Big 7
7 - Tach signal - Big 8
8 - Oil pressure light - Big 5
9 - Abs light - No ABS on 89, nothing
10 - Hot on ignition - This one needs to be spliced onto Big 10
11 - Ground - Splice to Big 7
12 - Coolant temp - Small 6 (Soldering extension req.)
13 - Brake Warning light - Big 4
14 - Charging system light - Big 9
15 - Main power supply hot on start or run (This is the huge red/green wire) - Big 10
16 - Instrument Illumination - Splice to Big 14
17 - Left turn signal - Big 1
18 - High Beam light - Big 18
9 1/2. DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING!!! I have posted the wiring diagrams at the bottom that have the wire colors so if you're not sure about something, CHECK IT! You don't want to be like me with wires running through your engine bay.
9 3/4. Now that you're sure its all good put the red things back in.
10. Now that the connectors have been repinned, you need to remove the low coolant light assembly in the new cluster. There are two screws in the bottom center that hold it in, remove those and it just pulls right out. Then you'll also need to remove the light that went into it, just unplug it from the back of the cluster. Now that that's been removed there's a gaping hole in the speedometer. I just put some black electrical tape over it and it looks good enough.
11. Time to test fit it! Don't connect the speedo cable just yet, we need to make sure the electrical connectors are all good. Put the cluster in place and try to connect the connectors, it may take a little fiddling. If they're too short you'll need to pull the wires a little further out of the harness. Also make sure you're not trying to put the connector in upside down because that doesn't work.
12. Hook up the speedo cable (you'll probably have to disconnect the connectors to get it out far enough) and everything else and push it into place and turn the key on! (You may need to lift the column up a bit). Now check to make sure all the lights come on, if they do, start the car up and ensure the tach works. I'd also recommend letting it get a bit warm to check the temp gauge is connected correctly.
13. If its all good, put it all back together and enjoy your new cluster! If not, grab a beer and scroll down for wiring the diagrams.
14. Cosmetics differences. The new cluster has a curve in the bottom to fit over the steering column in the 91, but it's not necessary in the 89 and leaves an ugly gap. I just put some electrical tape over it, and while it doesn't look great, it's better than nothing. The other issue is the top of the instrument cluster housing hangs down a bit and covers the top of the speedo. That type of stuff bugs the **** out of me so I fixed it by taking a piece of a computer power supply case, bending it in an arc, then gluing only the center of the concave side to the top of the instrument cluster housing. That bowed the plastic up off the speedo and looks pretty decent.
89 Diagrams
1991 Diagrams
Oh I almost forgot! I wanted to set the odometer in the new one to the same as the old one so I did!
Basically you need to pull the speedo out of the cluster, pull the needle off, take off the faceplate and get to this gear assembly.
These gears are what control how the numbers move, so to set the numbers, the gears need to be moved out of the way. The shaft they are on is pressed on and I found the best way to get it out was to pull the pressed part out with wire cutters and then bend the other mount to angle and remove it. Once it's out, set the numbers to the desired mileage and put it back in. Once again I used wire cutters except this time to press it in. Be careful when removing because the gears will slide off the shaft and disappear if you're not careful.
Reassembly is straighforward, but there is one little thing to know. The speedometer has a calibrated spring in it so the needle has to go back in a specific position. To set it, first remove the stopping peg and make sure the speedo shaft is free from influence so it just sits freely. Now take the needle and line it up the the little white mark just below the zero and press it onto the speedo shaft. Congrats! You've just set the proper pretension. Now move the needle and reinsert the stopping peg and you're all set. I tested mine with a gps afterwards and it is spot on.
And it feels like a new car!
My SD card crapped out on me so I lost all of the install pictures, but it's pretty straightforward if you've got the patience and a little creativity.
1. Drop the steering column, it makes the rest of the disassembly so much easier. To drop it, remove the cover panel below it, then remove the 4 nuts on studs that hold it up. You may want to have a friend help because it's a bit heavy.
2. Remove the lower dash panels. There's one on each side of the steering column and they just pull off.
3. Now we need to remove the upper dash panel. First remove the screws that run along the bottom and were hidden behind the lower dash panel. Then pull off the headlight switch ****. Behind the **** is a nut washer thing, unscrew it with pliers and remove it and the plastic panel it held in place. Now the dash is ready to come out. Much like everything else, it just pulls off. Once you unplug the clock you can take it out of the car.
4. Pop the hood and locate the speedometer cable, it should be gray and come out of the firewall. It connects to another section of the cable with a weird little plug thingy, pull it out of that and leave it sitting there.
5. Remove the 4 screws holding the instrument cluster in. Pull on the cluster until you feel it stop. By angling it, you should be able to reach behind and disconnect the two electrical connectors. To undo them, push the sides of the connector in. You'll want to push on them as close to the cluster as possible since they're little tabs and that makes it easier. Once those are disconnected you should be able to pull the cluster out enough to undo the speedo cable, which you just press on and it will pop free.
6. Yay! Now the old cluster is out, and you can begin the cluster wiring cluster
7. The first thing to do is take the connectors off the new cluster and depin them.
First pull out the red thing in the center with a small flathead or some pliers, this allows the pin latch to move and release the pins. Now take a tiny screwdriver and on the plastic latch under each pin, push the latch towards the center of the connector and the pin will pull right out.
8. Once all of the new connectors are depinned, we can get ready to replace the old ones with them. To make this all hook up right some soldering is required. Before you do anything though, take the left connector that in the car and pull each wire a little bit out of the harness until the connector can touch the top of the cluster area. If you look at the location of the connector on the new cluster, it is way higher up than the old one so this must be done to make it able to plug in.
9. Now we can begin the repin! All I have to say about this is do one pin at a time and DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING. I made the mistake of mixing up the coolant temp and coolant level sensor, so as the car warmed up the coolant level light got dimmer
and now have a wire running from the temp sensor to the coolant level connector because I didn't feel like pulling the dash apart again. Moral of the story: Whatever ford engineer made both wires the same color and the same pin number (6) on two different connectors is a douche. Anyways here is how this all connects up:Thankfully all the pins are labeled on the connector so this isn't too bad. Basically you just remove the pin from the old connector and put it in the new one. Any small connector pins that need to go to the big connector or vice versa will need to be extended to reach (I just soldered in a length of wire to make it work). On the connections involving splicing, you will need to use the section of wire that came with the new instrument cluster.
(New connector pin) - (Description) - (Old connector pin)
On the new small connector
1 - Check Oil Level Light - Small 5
2 - Door Ajar light - Big 3 (Soldering extension req.)
3 - Lamp out light - Small 3
4 - Ground - Small 9
5 - Low Coolant - This assembly is removed to make the cluster fit so nothing goes here
6 - Nothing
7 - Nothing
8 - Right Turn Signal Light - Big 17 (Soldering extension req.)
9 - Fasten Seat Belt - Big 2 (Soldering extension req.)
10 - Check Engine - Splice into the tan/red wire on back of check engine light
11 - Air bag - Nothing (I put pin big 6 here which is the low coolant signal)
12 - Key on power - Small 4
13 - Ground - Small 9 (Same as pin 4, I spliced and soldered this to it)
14 - Fuel Sender - Small 7
On the new big connector
1 -Instrument Illumination - Big 14
2 - Nothing
3 - Nothing
4 - Low washer fluid light - Small 1 (Soldering extension req.)
5 - Nothing
6 - Ground - Big 7
7 - Tach signal - Big 8
8 - Oil pressure light - Big 5
9 - Abs light - No ABS on 89, nothing
10 - Hot on ignition - This one needs to be spliced onto Big 10
11 - Ground - Splice to Big 7
12 - Coolant temp - Small 6 (Soldering extension req.)
13 - Brake Warning light - Big 4
14 - Charging system light - Big 9
15 - Main power supply hot on start or run (This is the huge red/green wire) - Big 10
16 - Instrument Illumination - Splice to Big 14
17 - Left turn signal - Big 1
18 - High Beam light - Big 18
9 1/2. DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING!!! I have posted the wiring diagrams at the bottom that have the wire colors so if you're not sure about something, CHECK IT! You don't want to be like me with wires running through your engine bay.
9 3/4. Now that you're sure its all good put the red things back in.
10. Now that the connectors have been repinned, you need to remove the low coolant light assembly in the new cluster. There are two screws in the bottom center that hold it in, remove those and it just pulls right out. Then you'll also need to remove the light that went into it, just unplug it from the back of the cluster. Now that that's been removed there's a gaping hole in the speedometer. I just put some black electrical tape over it and it looks good enough.
11. Time to test fit it! Don't connect the speedo cable just yet, we need to make sure the electrical connectors are all good. Put the cluster in place and try to connect the connectors, it may take a little fiddling. If they're too short you'll need to pull the wires a little further out of the harness. Also make sure you're not trying to put the connector in upside down because that doesn't work.
12. Hook up the speedo cable (you'll probably have to disconnect the connectors to get it out far enough) and everything else and push it into place and turn the key on! (You may need to lift the column up a bit). Now check to make sure all the lights come on, if they do, start the car up and ensure the tach works. I'd also recommend letting it get a bit warm to check the temp gauge is connected correctly.
13. If its all good, put it all back together and enjoy your new cluster! If not, grab a beer and scroll down for wiring the diagrams.
14. Cosmetics differences. The new cluster has a curve in the bottom to fit over the steering column in the 91, but it's not necessary in the 89 and leaves an ugly gap. I just put some electrical tape over it, and while it doesn't look great, it's better than nothing. The other issue is the top of the instrument cluster housing hangs down a bit and covers the top of the speedo. That type of stuff bugs the **** out of me so I fixed it by taking a piece of a computer power supply case, bending it in an arc, then gluing only the center of the concave side to the top of the instrument cluster housing. That bowed the plastic up off the speedo and looks pretty decent.
89 Diagrams
1991 Diagrams
Oh I almost forgot! I wanted to set the odometer in the new one to the same as the old one so I did!
Basically you need to pull the speedo out of the cluster, pull the needle off, take off the faceplate and get to this gear assembly.
These gears are what control how the numbers move, so to set the numbers, the gears need to be moved out of the way. The shaft they are on is pressed on and I found the best way to get it out was to pull the pressed part out with wire cutters and then bend the other mount to angle and remove it. Once it's out, set the numbers to the desired mileage and put it back in. Once again I used wire cutters except this time to press it in. Be careful when removing because the gears will slide off the shaft and disappear if you're not careful.
Reassembly is straighforward, but there is one little thing to know. The speedometer has a calibrated spring in it so the needle has to go back in a specific position. To set it, first remove the stopping peg and make sure the speedo shaft is free from influence so it just sits freely. Now take the needle and line it up the the little white mark just below the zero and press it onto the speedo shaft. Congrats! You've just set the proper pretension. Now move the needle and reinsert the stopping peg and you're all set. I tested mine with a gps afterwards and it is spot on.
