Celica Forums Install Guides and Technical Articles Interior Guides Gauge Cluster, Reverse Indiglo Overlays - Installation

Gauge Cluster Overlay Installation Instructions for 2000+ Celica GT/GTS
Originally written and photos by Andy "bad Andy" Nguyen
Revised with additional text and photos by Isaac DeCoursey



Disclaimer:
This is how I did mine. My set up does work, however, you are doing this at your own risk and I am not responsible for any mishaps that you might experience...



Remove the 2 screws holding the gauge cluster cover at the arrow indicated




Remove the 3 screws holding the gauge cluster at the arrow indicated




Ease the gauge cluster out, and unplug the 2 plugs in the back of the gauge cluster. The gauge cluster is now free. Take it to your work bench.

Detailed gauge cluster disassembly:
https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...ombination-meter-how-to-disassemble.html



At the work bench, turn the cluster upside down and remove the indicated screws (green arrows). Gently push in the black plastic tab (pink arrows) on the side and slide the cluster hood off.




Gently push in the clear plastic tab (green arrow) on the side and slide the cluster hood plastic cover off



Plastic hood cover separated from hood assembly








Point both needles upwards (tach ~6k, speedo ~95mph) and gently slide your new set of gauge overlays into position through the circle cutout of the indiglo gauge.

NOTE: Take EXTREME CARE not to bend the needles - although they will break, to this day I have not heard of anyone having broke their needles. At the time of this writing, in the USA, replacement gauge cluster cost is over $400 - so take your time and use caution.

Untouched, the needles will default to their base points of tack 0k and speedo 0mph.

The overlays should now lay flat and not hinder the needle's movement.



Gently put the hood back on, taking care to keep indiglo face centered with needle's pin. Push down firmly, and the black plastic tab should click and snap in place and hold the indiglo face on pretty good.

Put back the screws on the back of the gauge cluster (green locations) and tighten.



Bring the assembly and the clear plastic hood cover to the car. Plug back the two connectors removed earlier. Put back the clear plastic hood cover. It will snap into place.



Find a position you prefer and mount the switch and dimmer assembly. This is my Andy's location... but you can put yours anywhere you choose.



Connect the 2 wires from the gauge assembly with 2 long wires. (i choose a red and a black colored set so i knew what was positive and what was negative). Pepboys or Autozone can sell you a package of wire for less then $2. Anything 16 to 24 will work fine. The green line is how my wiring is done from the firewall to the parking light assembly.


These 2 long wires are fed through the firewall at the rubber bushing. I removed the battery and used a coat hanger to punch a hole in the rubber bushing and fed the two wires through.



This is the parking light assembly



Untwist and take out the parking light socket. Connect the red wire to the green wire of the parking light, using a butt wire tap or solder it in after cutting the green wire, restrip and connect back. Tape the wires up real good and put the light socket back.



Connect the black wire to a good ground source (I cheated and just used a nut on the negative pole of the car battery). Turn the car ignition to acc position. turn on parking light to test the indiglo face. It should light up now. Check the switch and dimmer and make sure they function. It all should work. If it does not, check all your connection points (most likely not grounded correctly).



If all works fine, put back the cluster, attaching the three screws taken out earlier.



Put back the cover trim piece, attaching two screws taken out earlier.



Voila!!!!! NiCE ...Enjoy!!!!!!!!


Source...
Credit for the majority of photos and outline of the original write-up goes to Andy "bad Andy" Nguyen.
Revised with additional photos and text by Isaac DeCoursey.

Changes from the original write-up include are:
-Gauges originally used were indiglo, Isaac used REVERSE indiglo.
-Original write-up documented how to remove needles so that overlays could be placed - this update documents how to install the gauges without removing the needles.
-Original write-up suggested drilling holes in the accessory panels to install the controller switches. Since reverse indiglo gauge controller attaches by sticker - no drilling is required
-Added installation cautions.
-Corrected a few minor grammar and spelling errors.

Thanks Isaac, I just got mine in the mail today, what's the estimated time of installation, of course being careful and not rushing anything? My guess is about two hours.

usual install time is about an hour... but once you start opening things and looking at all the other possibilities (changing leds, adding neon foot wells, spare slots in the accessory panel for new switches) and you lay under your steering wheel to run the electricity through the fire wall - you begin to notice the celica's body structure/crash bars, steering mechanism, electrical wiring and fire proofing... then it could take much longer than 2 hours - and you begin to learn a lot more about your car's mechanics (and you realize that your celica is just a car and not some complicated puzzle)

I've done the install at least 6 times already and each time usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour

The first time i did it, i was being very careful and was spending time to notice a lot of other things about the car - I was also given several ideas for new projects... that first time took a while

Placement of the included switch-pad that controls the bright/dark and selects the color that you want...

some people stick their switch to here...



But instead of sticking mine, I've slid it away, just over the OBD-II...



and it easily slides out when want it to...



Sorry, a little bright, but more detail...

yeah i have a 2003 gts and i look at the gauges on there and its shows it goes up to 8,000 rpm and on my celica it shows up to 9,000 and i was wondering if i get one if it will go to 8,000 or 9,000. so i was just wondering before i get one, thanx..

GT Speedo is to 140mph
GT Tach is to 8,000rpm

GTS Speedo is to 160mph
GTS Tach is to 9,000rpm

This is the major of the differences between the GT and GTS Gauges

I found that its much easier to simply splice the power for the gauges to your automatic lights, that way your gauges are automaticly on when you need them to be. The wire to which it should be spliced to (on a 00 gts at least) is the green with black stipe on the blue harness on the back of the gauge pod. Enjoy

Some alternatives for power for reverse indiglo gauges...
https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...ey-power-for-reverse-indiglo-gauges.html

To power my gauges, I tried splicing the power wire into the existing wire harness. Works like a charm! No additional cost for a fuse tap, and the lights come on with the gauges and interior lights. I did buy the wire splice ($.99 for a box of 6). But then I didn't need any additional wire. I have a '02 GT and the green wire with the black stripe on the blue harness worked. I grounded the gauge overlay to a screw behind the gauge cluster, so I saved a lot of time by not running wires behind the dash or through the firewall. Installation took me roughly 30 minutes, mounting my switch took me another 10.

Ok so i did my install without reading this how to. And i removed my needles. Now i finally got the tachometer working good again. But my needle for the speed doesnt move at all and its usually just stuck at about 30 miles an hour a lot of the time. HELP PLEASE.

I haven't done mine yet... but I'm thinking seriusly to install this overlays...
I like the idea you used for the power (splicing the power wire into the existing wire harness)... But, if the indiglo comes on with the lights... Why do you need to install the switch?

I just changed my radio this weekend... I don't know that much about this things, but if I installed it, the indiglo looks simple (talking about the "wiring")

CHECK THIS OUT: Nobody has mentioned anything about the dimmer; I noticed that in the harness I bought for the radio, the dimmer wire remains available (is the orange with the white strip)... do you think can it be used?so... it might work! Controling the indiglo with the "factory" dimmer would be cool!! No?
What do you guys think? I guess it might work... or... am I out of my mind??? Let me know...

the switch that comes with the reverse indiglo gauges has two options included in the pad - its an electronic dimmer (stock Celica is analog, so it wont work) and it cycles through the colors.

Once you've set the brightness and the color you want, you really don't need frequent access to this controller - this is why in my above post, I've added pictures of a location where the control pad could be easily tucked away at.

Another reason why you wouldn't want to combine the two dimmer switches is because you may want to dim your center console and needles, but keep your gauges bright... or vice-versa (or at lease have control to customize the level of light you want your car's display to have)

Hey, I have a question, back then when i read this page, or another one, it said to pop the needles out to put in the gauges, and when i did, putting everything back was simple, except for the fact that now my mph needle seems to be off by 5 or 10 mph... and i've tried over and over to re-calibrate it but it seems like it is still off... is there any other way to calibrate my mph and rpm needles>?? or should i go back to the dealer...

NEEDLE CALIBRATION:

Put back to two connectors from behind the gauges.

With the gauge hanging, turn on the ignition to the ACC position. Wait for 20 seconds and the gauge cluster should calibrate itself.

Speedo and tach setting now is calibrated to be at zero.

Replace the needle, making sure it points to zero. Gently push the needle back on. Note: do not handle the needle by the arm. Hold it at the black plastic center while doing this.

Turn off the ignition. Wait 3 minutes and turn it back to ACC position.

Needle should move as the gauge calibrate itself and then fall back to zero.

If needle does not fall back to zero, carefully remove the needle and repeat this procedure again until needle show zero after calibration.

THANKS ISAAC FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!!! YOU MAKE EVERY SINGLE PROJECT A LOT EASIER!!!!
I just did mine last weekend (w/no previous experience) I installed my indiglo overlay in about 1 hour!!! SWEET!!!

I hope this link can help others who have more detailed questions about the gauge cluster disassembly...

https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...ombination-meter-how-to-disassemble.html

When you take out the gauge cluster, does the mileage reset to 0 or does it stay the same?

Your mileage count is retained and it stays the same.

Resetting your mileage (also known as "Mileage Fraud") is illegal.

I hope you guys can help me. I bought a 2002 Celica GT and i love it. It has this gauge cluster installed, but the only problem is that during a drive the lights lighting up the numbers go out. all the other lights work fine like the high beam, brake, engine. usually when this happens my headlights stay on even if i switch them off, they turn off only when i turn off the car. I have no idea what it could be and its been bugging me. Hopefully you guys can give me some idea of what could be wrong with it. Thank you