Unfortunately, I have some bad news. I received a 1999 cluster with a mazdaspeed speedo and have been toying with it for the past few days. From my research here on the forums, the ECU is a different bit(8bit vs 16bit) and thus that is why the cluster does not work. Although, the fuel gauge and oil temp work just fine.

Now on to the good news, you can swap all these parts into a USDM board and it works just fine. I swapped the speedo and tach, that previously did not work, and they worked great. Swapping the parts takes only a few minutes, took more time taking the dash and supporting pieces off. The gauges read accurately and there are currently no problems with the 99spec and usdm board. If anyone has any solutions on how to fix the 99 board to accommodate the different bit ecu, lmk, as I am not a mechanical engineer. Like most of you, I read that all you need to do is connect the boost gauge map sensor and ground and voila, your done. This is not the case. Perhaps, it could be that I got a bad board, but does not make sense that everything works in my 93 board and not a 99 board.

This ultimately means, that when I import clusters you are thus expected to switch everything into the USDM board, which takes no more then 30 minutes. This includes 1999, 2002 and spirit r-clusters. This particular 99 tach is currently for sale ($325), they light up green. Looks pretty slick IMO, and modernizes the dash. I am currently writing a pictorial on how to install a nardi oem wheel, designing a sub box for the trunk for mass production and I am going to offer the service of changing the backlighting of a cluster in the next couple of months. Thanks for everyones continued support, big things are coming!
Pic off

Pic on idle

Video on start up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs04DFxTW4w


-Bryan & Rx7 Boutique Staff

 

I love the 6 o'clock zero rpm. I think I'll pick up one of these someday.

 

DOPE. If you have a non-stock ECU can you use it without swapping or did I not understand you correctly?

 

very nice but you have to put that into your cluster correct,,,,,

 

does this also apply to aftermarket gauges? ie i have some greddy ones that i really like but they illuminate green instead of red, and look somewhat out of place, could you change this for me?

Brad.

 

Could you get your hands on the 99 spec tach face by itself? just the black plastic piece. If so, that would be a cheaper alternative to buying the whole thing. Also, just switching out the face would be simple and you could just twist the tach needle to match towards the bottom. Since ours are already calibrated, we wouldn't have to change anything but that face.

 

Do want 6 'o' clock gauges, so sexy!

 

This thread is WRONG. The board I got was bad, the 99 and 2002 gauges work in the fd just fine.I have figured out what to look for to get a correctly working board. Again, the information in this thread is wrong.

 

Sorry, only to the stock cluster. I *believe* you can take the gauge apart and replace the bulb/led, I have done it before in other Greddy gauges but not sure if they are all the same.

Hmm, I don't think you can just "twist" the needle to a 6 o"clock position. I also can't just get the black face, I can only get the tach as a whole or the cluster as a whole.

Have three 99 gauges coming in this week, need to test them and then they go up for sale, pricing in sig! Along with a spirit-r steering wheel and some TRD stuff.

 

I'm actually quite positive that it twists. Its the needle itself, not the whole unit twisting. When I had to remove my tach face to change to manual when I did it for the at-mt swap i had to somehow remember the correct position for the needle or else it would be off by however much. Thanks for the info though. Could you PM me pricing on the tach itself? might want to do this little project while the car is still down. Thanks Brian!

 

Pricing for the tach is on my website, I believe it is $325 + s/h, better off getting a full cluster at that point then swapping in your old tach and recouping most of the cost.


Notice the red arrows, this is what you want to look for, this black piece is very important. It protects the connector to the speedo and tach, and if that connectors is damaged even the tiniest amount, the speedo and tach wont work. The cluster that started this thread was missing the black cover. Picture:

Looking NICE! Need to verify these on a FD before I sell them.

 

the greddy gauges i have, have a clear green backing, which i'd have to sand off and then either spray with red translucent paint, or put in a red bulb.

 

why? 99 spec light up green, your greddy gauges would match this cluster

2000+ spec white faced light up red.

 

i have a JDM S6, everything lights up red. also the s8+ all the console lights illuminate green, so i would think having all the buttons red/amber and the gauges green would look cheap unless you got the white faced ones which light up red, they look really nice.