I just found a indiglo dash for my 98 F-150! I have to tell you... That was one hard part to find. It took me 5 months but I finally found it! Now... Has anyone installed these on there 97-98 truck? I bet someone here has done it before because they are the hot item now adays. What all is intaled in order to put this gauge in. I dont have a tach so it should be even easier. I dont have to mess with the RPM guage. What screws do I "have" to take out? I noticed the three screws on the bottom side of the dash right above my guages.. What else has to come off? Does it take long? I have never done one before and I just want to make sure that I complete it right the first time and I know you guys here are well experienced with these type of items.

Thanks in advance for the help. You guys have got me through some tough times once before.

4x4PWR

 

You are going to have a very tough time figuring out what speed you are going after installing these guages if you don't have a tach.

The thing is that you need to remove the needles to install the guage overlay and simply puting the needle back on, at zero is not going to be accurate. You need the tach to determine you RPM's at a particular speed in a certain gear.

If you want to get to the guages:
-Remove the radio surround (just pull back on it).
-Remove the steering column cover.
-Remove the instrument panel bezel surround (put the headlight switch in the ON position and pull it off, then turn it 180 degrees and put it back on the switch housing and turn it to release the clips, then pull back to remove the switch housing).
-Remove the top dash panel, above the instrument cluster.

 

How much will my speed by off by do you think? I am already a little off because I have bigger tires and this throws my speedo off. If I powered things up and kept the needles in that spot when i turned on my truck shouldnt this work?

So... Mark where they are at when my truck is turned on. Such as the fuel gauge, Hot Cold Temperature, etc etc... And then put the gauge to 0 and it should work in theory... How else do those guys do it? Because if you cant physically see the RPM guage then what matter about the RPM's.

 

The Engine Temp, Fuel, Battery and Oil guages are easy because the don't change with engine speed. Just write down where they were at normal operating temp before they are removed. If you'd had a tach, you would write down where it was at idle at normal operating temp.

What you may need to do is pace a friend on the highway as you put the needles back on. Just have them put the cruise control on at 60 MPH while you put the needle back on.

 

i put some in on my 99 and its got the digital odometer..... so all i had to do was hold in the reset button while starting it and it shows all that in digital readout... but i also installed one on my buddys 98 ... and what i did b4 i took the speedo needle off was pulled the little black resting pin that the needle sits on and marked where the needle was at below the 0 mark ... it worked pretty good too.... cuz when i stuck it on after i was all done he was only 1mph off .... he didnt wanna bother tryiin to get it closer... we checked it by pacing my truck.... whered u find yours at? ... i got em from http://www.autotoyaz.com/ the five color ones r sweet.... i got a pic of it during the day ....... i should take some night ones with the digi cam tonight and post em in my gallery..

 

also what i did just in case ur interested was take the old gauges off instead of placing it right over the old one...... cuz the oil light, low fuel... and so on.. well the lights didnt really line up with the old ones.... the indiglo guage has all the lights clear cuz the light from the old one would shine thru... but if ur gonna take off the old one... u might want some color to ur blinkers... etc... i just went to the hobby store and got some of them color gel papers that they use in theatre on stages to make the lights dif color... i just taped em over the back of the guage accordin to what color i wanted to shine thru.... turned out sweet.....

 

Yeah, I am going to take my old one off. I didnt know if you didnt put something over the lights... turn signals, battery, oil, etc they wouldnt light up right... When you take your gauge off is it just plain white lights? I guess I thought the colors would have stayed the same, thought they were just colored leds or something. Weird...

My brother in law did his on his chevy and he is going to give me a hand this weekend. I will take some pictures with my digital camera during the day and during the night... Since I live in Alaska I better hurry up with the day pictures since its already starting to turn into 12 hours of darkness.

Kendall
www.sledtalk.com
Owner and Webmaster

 

yeah theyre just plain white lights......... i thought they were colored led too...... simple fix though..... damn 12 hours of darkness.... your gonna be seein alot of your indiglos then huh....

 

Hehe, its already starting to get really dark.... Here in AK when you wake up its dark, when you go home its dark and when you go to lunch its dark.. So might as well get all the cool light mods that you can.

So... You would suggest going down to a hobby shop and grabbing some of that translucent paper and cutting little peaces for my guages... Did you use tape to keep it on? If so, can you see the tape through your indiglo?

Since my truck is red I am thinking of using red translucent tape for most of them. I may also use blue. Do you think it would look tacky?

Thanks,

Kendall
Webmaster & Owner
http://www.sledtalk.com

 

yeah go to the hobby and grab that stuff ..... not the real thin stuff.....cellophaine or however u spell it... not that ... they got thicker colored papers they use on stage lights... thats what u want..... i also used double sided 3m tape .. the thin stuff... that helps keep the gauge stuck to the surface... that way it wont work its off or wrinkle. u want it sittin as flat as u can..... i just used the 3m to tape the colors on too..... u cant see the tape thru the front.... itll look sweet ..... and then u just splice it into your parkin light wire.... if i remember correctly it was the brown one.... but check it with a volt meter to be sure... when u gettin urs??? i still gotta take some night pics..... maybe tonight

 

How-to install the gauges:
1. Start by unsnapping the plastic piece around the stearing column
2. Once that is removed you will see some bolts there (I believe they are a 10mm), take out those bolts.
3. Pop the light switch panel out and take the bolts behind there out, and unhook the plug from the switch so you can take the switch completly out.
4. Then you will need to pull the radio bezel off (snaps in place) and there is two bolts on the left side you need to take out
5. Now if you look above the gauges you will see three more bolts you need to take out.
6. Once you have all these bolts out, you can remove the plastic around your gauges.
7. Now you can see little torque screws all the way around the gauges assembly, you have two options at this point: a: take the whole assembly out (makes it easier but also more work), or b: you can leave the gauges in place and just unscrew the torque bolts
8. Now you have those out, pull the plexiglass front off and expose your gauges.
9. The easiest way to remove your needles is by using a kitchen fork to pry them out (make sure they come straight out)
10. Now you need to remove your stock face plate, to do this be careful. I used a butter knife to slowly slide behinf the stock ones and release the glue to be able to pull them out with up ripping them.
Now you need to put your new ones in:
11. You will need to spray the back of the gauges with a spray adhesive (make sure you cover the digital window with a piece of tape so you don't get adhesive on it), after you spray the back with adhesive, take the tape off the digital window and stick the gauges in place, they should fit in by using the guides on the top of them.
12. Now to put your needles back on: You need to start your truck while pressing the reset button until you see it say test across the screen. Now you will need to let you truck idle for a minute or two, then put all of the small needles in place (fill your tank then put that one on full). The RPMs and speedo are pretty easy when using the digital display, you push your reset button until you see it say ENG0000 then when you drive it should increase and that is your speed digittally so you can place the needle accordingly. To get to the RPMs you push the button until you see TAC and then some numbers that should be changing a little, that is your RPMs, no place your needle there.
13. Once you get all the needles on you put the plexiglass cover back on and if you had the gauges out put them back in as well
14. Now you just put all the bolts back in place and snap the pieces in where they go.
15. Hope you enjoy your gauges, if you have any other questions

 

I dont have the digital gauge so I dont think that will be any concern to me. However, I am really concerned about the lights.. You say that they do need some type of covering in order to show the correct lightning.. IE: green for turn signals, red for battery, orange for parking light etc... These are not LEDS? I do not see anywhere on my regular gauges where they used silophane or whatever. I dont get my gauges until sometime next week. However I want to make sure I have everything understood before I rip apart me baby.
Thanks,

Kendall
Owner and Webmaster
www.sledtalk.com

 

the original stock gauge has color already on it... the lights behind it r just regular white lights .. so when it shines thru the stock guage it shows the color thats already on it........ the new indiglo ones, at least the couple that ive installed on F150s .. they r clear by the blinkers .. battery light.. and so on ........ cuz originally the indiglo was supposed to be placed over the old gauge so the color from the old one would shine thru... but they dont match up too good...... so therefor i just did away with the stock gauge... and bought some,now i believe theyre called gels... theyre used for stage lighting..... that cellophaine crap is too cheap and thin....... so u will need that stuff (gels)if ur ripping off ur old one and u want color.... the hobby store should know what ur lookin for.... i kinda learned it as i went the first time i did it..... i just took my time... it went faster on the other installs after i knew what i was doin......... and the way i described earlier in a dif reply on here on how to set the speedometer.... that way seemed to work pretty good... i hope all goes well on the install 4 u ............ as a matter of fact ima go out and take some night pics now post em in a few min

 

Just took some pics..




This is the dimmer switch

 

Those look sweet! Great Job!