Putting
in an EX Gauge Cluster
For some reason Honda felt it unnecessary to include a tachometer on
their DX lines. Even if it's a 5 speed manual transmission,
still no RPM indicator at all. So I went out and bought off a guy
on e-Bay an EX gauge cluster to replace mine. It's a direct
replacement and takes less than 1/2 hour to complete. The hardest
part is exchanging speedometers so that the odometer is still
accurate. I kept my original speedometer, so that my odometer
would reflect the actual miles on the car, just in case I decided to
sell it one day. Having a tach is the greatest thing in the world.
I love knowing exactly how hard I'm pushing the engine and when to back
off. Redline is at 6800 RPMs which is accurate for my engine.
Recently I've received a number of
e-mails from avid Civic enthusiasts who also wish to install a
tach in their tachless automobiles. So to avoid me having to
write the same thing over and over again in separate e-mails to
everybody, I'm going to lay it out straight: the EX gauge
cluster with tach is plug and play. You do not need to
install any wires or make any extra connections. Pull out
your existing gauge cluster, remove the threeo connectors from the
back (one is yellow and two are light blue), then pop in your new
gauge cluster and connect back up those same connectors.
Your tach will now miraculously work. If you want to keep
your same speedometer (which I highly recommend you do right away
to avoid federal speedometer fraud) then you need to pull out your
speedometer from your stock gauge cluster and put it in your new
EX gauge cluster. Four screws once again on the back of the
cluster accomplish the task. Notice the screws make the
necessary electrical contacts for operation. This mod works
on all Civics 96-00 that I'm aware of. If it still seems
daunting to you, grab a phillips screwdriver and yank out your
gauge cluster right now. It will all make perfect sense once
you do. |
