nikolaus.conrad
08-19-2011, 02:27 AM
You have an older second generation Legacy and you're bored with looking at black gauges and white needles, you find the later model GT and Outback clusters (Gray with red needles) to be more attractive but the cluster won't plug into the harness. Fear not! As I have a solution that requires no modification to the harness and no need for stringing wires everywhere!
I went to the local junkyard and got a gray and red cluster that looked in good shape, got home and tore it apart. I thought at this time since the gauges were out I wanted to de-green the colour. I followed Wiscon_Mark's guide for that:
http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1123
Once sanded, I took a look at the speedometer. On the back of the speedo, there is a chip that pulls right off. It's being held on with 8 (or so) pins that just push right on to the speedo. The chip with the white connector is from my 1996 Outback (two plugs on the back of the cluster). The blue connector chips are from later model Legacys (only one plug on the back of the cluster).
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge-1.jpg
The white connector chip from my Outback did plug right into the gray and red gauge, I'm sure it will work like that, but with the different resistors and speed readings (140 on older speedos & 120 on later speedos), I wanted to be sure I would be getting an accurate speed reading. Just to be safe, I made a custom wire piece to fit the later model chip with the white connector harness. I wanted this to be plug and play, it's always fun when it's like that :smt023
I had two later model chips because the dremel slipped out of my hand and scuffed up the face of the first gray speedo I was working on :smt013 back to the junkyard to pick up a new one. This was actually a blessing because I discovered the two chips are slightly different. Some Legacys are wired so just one green wire is running to the speedometer, while the second style is a black wire and a white wire, for this modification you want to snag the black and white wires and blue connector to make the custom wiring piece.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge2-1.jpg
The chip on the left is for the harness with one green wire and the one on the right is for the black wire and white wire, I used the one on the right. You can see on the third and fifth prong how these two chips are different.
Another reason why I chose this chip, look how it matches up with the original on the left (Later model chip on the right) The black wire is going to connect to the prong in the center and the white wire is going to connect to the prong on the most right.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge3-1.jpg
Making the wire piece is pretty easy, I used the white connector piece from the old white chip for the plug to the harness. I uscrewed it from the board then soldered it off (I accidently broke mine). You'd have to break off the plastic pieces around the metal prongs because the wire connectors won't fit. You need two connectors, one on the center prong, the other under he number "3", you can faintly see it in the picture, I screwed up a bit on this step and put it under the 1, it will not work if it's hooked up to 1. It should (kind of) look like this when you are done with this step.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge5-1.jpg
Now all you have to do is connect the black wire to the center connector/ prong and the white to the other connector. Crimp and done! :smt026
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/gauge6-1.jpg
All you have to do now is put your gray and red gauges in your cluster frame with two plugs. All the wiring for the big three connectors is the same for both clusters so no need to worry there. The tachometer is also good, no need for any custom wiring pieces for it to function correctly. Reassemble and now it's all plug and play, I drove a few miles with this so far and the speedometer is accurate and the RPMs are also. All questions and/or requests are welcome =]
I went to the local junkyard and got a gray and red cluster that looked in good shape, got home and tore it apart. I thought at this time since the gauges were out I wanted to de-green the colour. I followed Wiscon_Mark's guide for that:
http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1123
Once sanded, I took a look at the speedometer. On the back of the speedo, there is a chip that pulls right off. It's being held on with 8 (or so) pins that just push right on to the speedo. The chip with the white connector is from my 1996 Outback (two plugs on the back of the cluster). The blue connector chips are from later model Legacys (only one plug on the back of the cluster).
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge-1.jpg
The white connector chip from my Outback did plug right into the gray and red gauge, I'm sure it will work like that, but with the different resistors and speed readings (140 on older speedos & 120 on later speedos), I wanted to be sure I would be getting an accurate speed reading. Just to be safe, I made a custom wire piece to fit the later model chip with the white connector harness. I wanted this to be plug and play, it's always fun when it's like that :smt023
I had two later model chips because the dremel slipped out of my hand and scuffed up the face of the first gray speedo I was working on :smt013 back to the junkyard to pick up a new one. This was actually a blessing because I discovered the two chips are slightly different. Some Legacys are wired so just one green wire is running to the speedometer, while the second style is a black wire and a white wire, for this modification you want to snag the black and white wires and blue connector to make the custom wiring piece.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge2-1.jpg
The chip on the left is for the harness with one green wire and the one on the right is for the black wire and white wire, I used the one on the right. You can see on the third and fifth prong how these two chips are different.
Another reason why I chose this chip, look how it matches up with the original on the left (Later model chip on the right) The black wire is going to connect to the prong in the center and the white wire is going to connect to the prong on the most right.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge3-1.jpg
Making the wire piece is pretty easy, I used the white connector piece from the old white chip for the plug to the harness. I uscrewed it from the board then soldered it off (I accidently broke mine). You'd have to break off the plastic pieces around the metal prongs because the wire connectors won't fit. You need two connectors, one on the center prong, the other under he number "3", you can faintly see it in the picture, I screwed up a bit on this step and put it under the 1, it will not work if it's hooked up to 1. It should (kind of) look like this when you are done with this step.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/Gauge5-1.jpg
Now all you have to do is connect the black wire to the center connector/ prong and the white to the other connector. Crimp and done! :smt026
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/08/gauge6-1.jpg
All you have to do now is put your gray and red gauges in your cluster frame with two plugs. All the wiring for the big three connectors is the same for both clusters so no need to worry there. The tachometer is also good, no need for any custom wiring pieces for it to function correctly. Reassemble and now it's all plug and play, I drove a few miles with this so far and the speedometer is accurate and the RPMs are also. All questions and/or requests are welcome =]