Sport Cluster

[2001Exploder]

I want to put the Sport Cluster into my 99 Limited. I've found the instructions and all seems fairly straight forward. However, I did see a thread that said the fuel/gas gauge did not read accuratly. They mentioned that they thought this was because the fuel tanks on the Sport models are smaller than those on regular Explorers. I know several of you have done this swap, however I can't find any additional info in searches. Can anyone confirm or dispute the fuel/gas gauge issue? Does it read accurate after the swap or not?

Thanks!

 

[2001Exploder]

Thanks for your help. Here is the thread that I read stating the problem with the gas gauge: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203189&highlight=sport+cluster

It's about thre quarters of the way down.

Interesting about the message center. I'll have to check it out since I have one.

 

[celly]

I did a similar swap, except that I didn't put the whole cluster in my '99 EB. I just took the white overlays and red needles off and installed in them on the black cluster that had white needles. Looks way better and I didn't have to worry with the odometer being wrong or any other measurements being whacked. It did take a little while to recalibrate my tach and speedo however. They're bang on now (according to the Scanguage I used to calibrate as well as GPS confirmed). The only thing I missed out on where the black on white numbers on the odometers. I can live with that. For the other needles I just took a digital photo of the positions of them before I did the swap and then tweaked accordingly until they were pretty close to the originals.

 

[2001Exploder]

Thanks guys - Anyone else have any info on this?

 

[Cobraguy]

I did this exact swap. It is not plug and play. However, if I recall, I didn't have to do anything with the fuel gauge. Nor should you. The fuel level sender goes up and down and has no knowledge that the Sport tank is a few inches shorter.

I swapped the speedo, tach, and temp gauge from my 99 to the new cluster. The tach from the 6 cyl Sport didn't like the V8. Rather than screw around with the changes to make it work correctly, it was much easier to swap the old tach. For some strange reason, the temp gauge doesn't work correctly in the Sport cluster in either my 99 or my 95 that I did this change with. I tried swapping printed circuits, etc and could never get it right. I swapped gauges. After swapping all the gauges, I used my scan tool and gps to set the needles back on for the tach, temp, and speedo. They work perfectly. Also be advised you may need to repin the wiring harness to make the warning lights operate in the proper places. I can't remember if I had to do that on the 95, the 99, or both. But things like the Door Ajar, Check Engine, (those are arbitrary examples) may have changed where they are located on the cluster any you have to repin to get them in the proper place. What that means is (again, just an arbitrary example) the Check Engine light may light up when the Door Ajar should light up. Simple stuff.

The beauty of swapping your speedometer to the new cluster is you have the original speedometer in the car and you have no legal hassles, stickers, etc to deal with if and when you sell it. You also don't have to worry about resetting the odometer to be legit. It's a no brainer way to go and the only difference is the coloring on the odometer and tripometer numbers. Believe me, you won't notice.

 

[celly]

The beauty of swapping your speedometer to the new cluster is you have the original speedometer in the car and you have no legal hassles, stickers, etc to deal with if and when you sell it. You also don't have to worry about resetting the odometer to be legit. It's a no brainer way to go and the only difference is the coloring on the odometer and tripometer numbers. Believe me, you won't notice.

That's why all I did was swap the needles and white overlays to my OLD cluster (i.e. nothing swapped from the old to the new). Outside of tweaking the needles, it's a no-brainer. No need to even unplug the existing cluster.

This is a shot of the same mod on my old '00 Sport. I actually removed the white overlays and red needles before I traded it in on my current ride ('99 EB)

 

[2001Exploder]

Hmmm...this I'm getting conflicting reports here. Cobra guy said he had to swap the actual gauges because they didn't work and Celly said he only swapped the overlays and needles and everything works. Can anyone else chime in on this. I understand it's a little different from year to year, but these seem drastically different.

 

[Steeda90GT]

Has anyone tried this swap on a 2 DR Sport? I'm wondering if it would be a direct plug in for a 2 DR 6cyl Sport.

 

[celly]

Has anyone tried this swap on a 2 DR Sport? I'm wondering if it would be a direct plug in for a 2 DR 6cyl Sport.

I just edited my post above. Photo is on my old '00 Sport which is pretty much identical to a '99.

As before, I didn't bother with the swap of the cluster. I just removed the white overlays from the cluster I scored from a '01 Sport/Sport Trac and installed them on my existing cluster. It's dead easy to do. The overlays are held in place with light adhesive. I just used masking tape loops to hold them in place on the old cluster. To remove the needles, just use a salad fork. I kid you not, the best tool to pry the needles off is a fork.

Once I had the red needles on, all except the tach and speedo were just eyballed from a photo I took before the swap. To calibrate the speedo/tach, I partially re-assembled the cluster, leaving the plastic lens off. I used a Scanguage plugged into my OBD port and then tweaked the needles so they match the "recorded" speed as presented by the Scangauge. OK, the Scanguage is a bit of an added expense, but it can be used for other things and isn't overly expensive as far as diagnostic tools go (Check eBay or Scangauge.com).

I've done this swap twice and it's the way to go, IMHO. I didn' feel right about swapping in an odometer with the wrong mileage and it's pretty difficult to set the odometer to the correct mileage (lots of conflicting reports on how to do it).

 

[celly]

Hmmm...this I'm getting conflicting reports here. Cobra guy said he had to swap the actual gauges because they didn't work and Celly said he only swapped the overlays and needles and everything works. Can anyone else chime in on this. I understand it's a little different from year to year, but these seem drastically different.

All I'm going to add is that if you have an AWD 5.0 (which you seem to have based on your profile), then get the white faced gauges from a FWD Sport/Sport Trac. Reason being is that there are extra lights for 4WD Hi/Lo that are not needed/used in the AWD cluster. It would be fine if you scored a 4WD cluster for an AWD Explorer, it would be fine because the extra gels simply don't light up, but if you score a 2WD cluster for a 4WD Explorer, then you won't get 4WD Hi/Lo lighting up.

I made that mistake when I scored a cluster for my old 4WD Sport. The first cluster I got was from a 2WD Explorer. I then scored a second cluster that did the trick.

If people need to ask the difference between AWD and 4WD, then all I can say is.....use the SEARCH button. :

(HINT: The guy who asked about is '99 Sport will have either 2WD or 4WD, not AWD).

 

[celly]

p.s. the only difference between the photo I posted above, and the setup I have now on my AWD EB is that the farthest right overlay is different. In the photo you'll see indicators for 4Hi and 4Lo. I put the overlay from a 2WD Sport on my EB instead.

 

[Steeda90GT]

I just edited my post above. Photo is on my old '00 Sport which is pretty much identical to a '99.

As before, I didn't bother with the swap of the cluster. I just removed the white overlays from the cluster I scored from a '01 Sport/Sport Trac and installed them on my existing cluster. It's dead easy to do. The overlays are held in place with light adhesive. I just used masking tape loops to hold them in place on the old cluster. To remove the needles, just use a salad fork. I kid you not, the best tool to pry the needles off is a fork.

Once I had the red needles on, all except the tach and speedo were just eyballed from a photo I took before the swap. To calibrate the speedo/tach, I partially re-assembled the cluster, leaving the plastic lens off. I used a Scanguage plugged into my OBD port and then tweaked the needles so they match the "recorded" speed as presented by the Scangauge. OK, the Scanguage is a bit of an added expense, but it can be used for other things and isn't overly expensive as far as diagnostic tools go (Check eBay or Scangauge.com).

I've done this swap twice and it's the way to go, IMHO. I didn' feel right about swapping in an odometer with the wrong mileage and it's pretty difficult to set the odometer to the correct mileage (lots of conflicting reports on how to do it).

Yeah, I've done this for a few Mustangs I've owned. I could never get the gauges to light up nicely though (couldve been the manufacture of the gauges as everyone else complained about the same thing) plus it was a pain to get some of the needles right. Fuel was easy, just filled the tank, as was tach and speedo.

I just want something that is plug and play, especially for the Explorer (a vehicle which I really don't care too much about...it's my beater because I own 3 stangs) For my 94 GT, I just swapped in a white faced cluster from a Cobra and everything worked nicely.

 

[celly]

I just want something that is plug and play, especially for the Explorer (a vehicle which I really don't care too much about...it's my beater because I own 3 stangs) For my 94 GT, I just swapped in a white faced cluster from a Cobra and everything worked nicely.

How do you handle the odometer "discrepancy" that results?

With the right tools, getting needles etc isn't as hard as it sounds. I am not a patient person and I'm about the worst mechanic you'll ever find. I don't use my Scangauge often because I have a Message Center in my EB, but they are useful for lots of things (taking lots of readings, re-setting codes etc). The mph (in my case km/h) and rpm measurements are a bonus and make it pretty easy to set them up. In addition, the "overlays" are OEM and are miles ahead of aftermarket overlays, hands down. It's dead simple to line them up because they are OEM. Those other overlays you mentioned probably weren't.

 

[CDW6212R]

I've tried to be satisfied with the stock cluster face just to not have to mess with the needles. I'm trying now to decide if I'd rather have blue lighting, adding gauges I want to attempt to match colors.

The speedometer/odometer units are a breeze to change. I have corrected the mileage on one cluster for my 99, but that was the hardest that I have ever done. Don't use a drill, that takes forever. That odometer unit failed soon after and I didn't correct the next one, it is about 600 miles high.

 

[celly]

...I didn't correct the next one, it is about 600 miles high.

600 miles is great.

I actually just "caught up" the the kilometers on my white faced cluster, but I couldn't be bothered to swap out the cluster to get black numbers on white background on the speedo/odo.

I found out how to "needle tweak" by accident. The first time I removed the white needles to replace them with red, I found out the hard way that you simply cannot put the speedo/odo needles on and expect them to adjust themselves. I was way off! I didn't use a Scangauge that time. I had a software package for my Palm Pilot that helped me take care of the km/h and rpm issues (whew). That was when I put the white faced stuff in the Sport. Took a few days to get it right. With the EB, it took maybe an hour because I knew what I was doing that time. The salad fork method really is idiot proof.

 

[CDW6212R]

Do you remember my picture from the first day driving my truck, with the speedometer uncorrected? I was getting passed by a lot of people at the time, note the tach.

 

[Steeda90GT]

I actually figured out how to tweak the odometer. It's a pain but if you pull it apart you could see how it works and set it to any mileage you want. I settled with about 500 mile difference and called it a day.

This was with a Mustang though, not sure how easy it is with an Explorer.

As for the needles, they're a piece of cake.