ok i just put in the white gauge faces, and i pulled off the niddle...i just read somewhere that doing this is bad!
i did a search and found that alot of people had trouble with their tach and all this crap. am i doomed?!?!
plz help

 

it shoudl be ok, the hard part is gettin it to read right again cuz now you dont know where it should read

 

Did you pull out the needle that points to like 7K rpm? Or did you pull that and the pin that it attaches to? If you pulled both you are probably screwed. If you just pulled the needle off it is no big deal.

If you car is idling correctly it should idle at about 750 rpms. Just plug the gauge cluster in without installing the cluster hood, warm you car up till it is idling steady, then put the needle on so it reads ~750 rpms. If you pulled the speedo just have a friend go for a drive with you and drive 30 mph, you match his speed and put the needle on. Gas gauge: Fill the tank up, let car idle for about 10 minutes (it takes a while for the gauge to finally read full), then put the needle on to read that the tank is full. Temp: Warm car up, put needle on right in the middle. Oil pressure: Kinda screwed, I don't know how you would get that one on accurately.

 

sorry to say this but i think your screwed . pulling the pins from the needles is the death of a needle most of the time. if thats what happened i believe your only option is to buy a new guage cluster which is do able. good luck!

 

i cant test it out cuz my car is in pieces, i made sure that when i put it back on it was set to where it was orignally. all i took off was the niddle part or the arm thing that turns, i didnt touch the motor or anything like that, so i cant see how i would be screwed. but i could be wrong.

any other thoughts?

 

Well....the needle won't be calibrated...that's the problem. It won't read right. A dealership or good mechanic might be able to help you. I'd say, hook everything up and test it.

 

if you use a power FC go to the Rpm readout and just start up your car read what Rpms its at and carefully put your tach needle on to match the rpms that your Power FC is reading...but if you dont have power FC then just wait to your car is warmed up and just put it at about 800 rpms...my car idles at 850 so you should be fine if you put it a a decently close idle

 

well i plan on running haltech, but we will see what happens.thanks guys, i was more scared about it not working than getting the wrong reading, because i can just set it right, and be done.
thanks
geoff

 

where can you buy a new gauge cluster?

 

i bet from mazda...but they are gonna be alot. if mine are totally broken im gonna get after market.