Need info on the tach swap

[Nickb1907]

I have a 93 Fesity L

I want a tach, i like the look of the white guage, and i want accurate milage displayed.

1) Need a writeup for the swap

2) Is there a way to turn the mileage back without breaking anything?

3) Will all the wire be there for it to work properly?

4) My current cluster is very dim at night, is there a way to fix that(and yes i turned the dimmer all the way up)

thanks yall

[GenevaDirt]

punched in speedo swap in the search .... found this in a minute

http://www.clubprotege.com/wil/howto/tachometer/index.htm

the tach cluster will be brighter....I have to keep mine turned all the way down and it still reflects off the windshield at night.

[Pu241]

Hey, GD that's Monsoons job!

[TominMO]

The tach cluster is brighter, but I still need a flashlight to read the odometer and tripmeter at night. Can we swap in brighter bulbs?

[m715]

I highly recommend the swap myself, and I will add a few things....
Pros: You will gain not only a tach, but a headlight buzzer to remind you your headlights are still on when you switch off the key.
As mentioned in the Club Protoge write up, you gain a trip odometer. I like to keep track of mileage since last fuel fill up.

Cons: White faced guage sets are not easy to set to the correct mileage as the orange are. It can be done, but requires melting the plastic support to get at the numerical barrel to change it. It has been done, but it is not the "remove the screw" easy.
The orange and white faced cluster wiring is slightly different to some idiot lights. Some here have used the type other than original on their cars, but keep in mind that the wiring is different one to another. You can swap around the terminals on the plugs to correct this.
Be sure to remember to move the speedo cable to the right as in the write up on Club Protoge. I forgot this one time just long enough to put a kink in one cable housing ruining it QUICK!
This is not a hard job to do at all, and the benefits outweigh the effort many times over.
One last thing you may want to consider... some of the standard clusters had four lights instead of two on top. It really brightens one up if you use them instead of the two light bar. The replacement #74 bulbs in the top bar have shorter socket ends than the original bulbs did, so you may wish to grind the socket down slightly so the bulbs make better contact. Otherwise, you can have bubs that blink on and off as you go down the road. Also, the rest of the clusters bulbs are #194. This is the time to replace buls as needed.

HTH
Michael

[sam.1956]

I wired in a 9 inch self-adhesive flexy strip of red LED's from the local autoparts store and they are brighter than the known world. The LED strip comes set up for 12v operation so all you have to do is connect to a DC power source. The DC power source that I used is the 2 screws on the back of the instrument cluster where the dim little bulbs already connect into, so I could utilize the dimmer. The LED's are so bright that I have to keep the dimmer at minimum most of the time at nite.

No problem at nite seeing the instruments any more. I chose red LED's, but white, green or blue flexy LED strips are also readily available.

[doylerl]

The orange and white faced cluster wiring is slightly different to some idiot lights. Some here have used the type other than original on their cars, but keep in mind that the wiring is different one to another. You can swap around the terminals on the plugs to correct this.

Everywhere else, it says they are plug and play... what lights are different? I have never heard or thought of this... When I plugged my tach cluster in, all the lights and gauges worked fine, I just had to add a tach wire.

[m715]

I am going on the wiring diagrams in the Factory manuals. They show that there are differences. On one connector, the FI car has a second BK/Y ignition wire connection for example. I also never got a good answer from anyone else about pin placement. Have you used one in yours of a different color than original? If so, which direction? Yellow to white, white to yellow?

[MONSOON]

Hey, GD that's Monsoons job!

I was asleep at the wheel and he jumped all over it. What can I say. Though I think my reply wouldve looked more like this.


I tried the Search fuction and it works! I put in "Speedo Swap" and found this in a minute.

http://www.clubprotege.com/wil/howto...eter/index.htm

WHY OH WHY Is it so hard to use the "Search" function here?

[doylerl]

I am going on the wiring diagrams in the Factory manuals. They show that there are differences. On one connector, the FI car has a second BK/Y ignition wire connection for example. I also never got a good answer from anyone else about pin placement. Have you used one in yours of a different color than original? If so, which direction? Yellow to white, white to yellow?

My festy is carb'd. I went from the factory orange face no tach cluster to the white tach cluster. I had no problems with lights or anything, but like I said, mine is not FI.

[m715]

THANK YOU! I have been asking on and off for a couple of years now, and everyone seems to drop it around the time I would get that answer. From the manual's diagrams, they make it look like the pins would have to be rotated in order around the connector to be in the proper position. Add that to a bad experience with what I can now determine was a bad cluster assembly, and it had me gun-shy to try a second one!
Oh, and I was doing the same as you... Carb orange face to white face

[doylerl]

THANK YOU! I have been asking on and off for a couple of years now, and everyone seems to drop it around the time I would get that answer. From the manual's diagrams, they make it look like the pins would have to be rotated in order around the connector to be in the proper position. Add that to a bad experience with what I can now determine was a bad cluster assembly, and it had me gun-shy to try a second one!
Oh, and I was doing the same as you... Carb orange face to white face

You're welcome. Like I said, I had no problems with mine, and love the fact that I got a headlight buzzer with it. As far as changing wiring, the wire for the tach was not there on mine, and I'm assuming (since your is also carb'd(older) like mine) yours probably doesn't either. Here is how I did mine:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showpost.php?p=260562&postcount=22

I had never heard of any other wiring issues, but good word of advice.... if it smells like it's burning, melts wires, sparks, and/or smokes, there is something wrong... haha... Just messing with you... It should be fine.

[Nickb1907]

okay well as long as tonycash is good to me ill have one on my way with 160K on the odometer, my festy has 162K so i can let that slide

The only thing im wondering is if i have the tach plug behind it.

[GenevaDirt]

The tach cluster is brighter, but I still need a flashlight to read the odometer and tripmeter at night. Can we swap in brighter bulbs?

no need on mine. Mine is 2 bulb and is way to bright now. I have to keep it at the lowest setting while driving. I do have to turn it up to completely read the odometer but that is not an issue. I did use the 4 light bar one one of my clusters and it was REALLY bright. I also took out the colored plastic piece that covers the bulbs and that also helps.

okay well as long as tonycash is good to me ill have one on my way with 160K on the odometer, my festy has 162K so i can let that slide

The only thing im wondering is if i have the tach plug behind it.

it will be plug and play....should have no issues what so ever. Just remember to move the cable over.

[m715]

If you have a rear defogger on the car, you should have all the wiring in place. If you have an * absolute* no option car, you will need to run the tach wire. I have one car that was an exeption to this, but as a general rule, that is how it worked harness wise.
I had a white face cluster I bought at one time that had, it would appear, "issues" in that the certain warning lights stayed on, the tach quit working, and the fuel guage was wacky. That was why I didnt try another right away. Afterwards, I decided I liked the Orange faced clusters anyway. Take a look at the pics from the manual, and you can see why I questioned if the pins would have to be rotated.... This post, out of the 1990 EVTM. Next post from the 1989EVTM. The 1989 is much clearer as to orientation by giving you a clear picture of how the connector is centered on the plug in than the 1990 which gives you no point of reference.

My night vision is not what it used to be, so I like the two extra bulbs myself.