1994 Metro Xfi - Instrument Cluster Swap


Get under the bonnet and remove the Speedo Cable Lift that rubber boot pull the wishbone shaped pin and just tug it out. Lay it out so its straight and you can pull from inside without snagging on anything.	Bad Pic sorry top inside the Gauge Bezel there are 2 screws.	Left and Right bottom 2 more screws.	Bottom of the Steering Column Plastic. 5 Screws. the 5 loner screw is covered by the other Dash Plastic trim piece. 2 screws and thats off too.

Dash Plastic and Column Plastic	Here are the Steering Column bolts. 12mm Socket to remove these. Once you break them they will spin off easily enough by hand. .JPG	Here are all the screws and nuts you just removed. Left is your Column bolts center is your 5 screws for the bottom plastic (INSIDE holes are the machin screws to secure panel to column OUTSIDE holes and 5th hole are Coarse scerws that hold the top plastic to the bottom plastic panel. Right is the Bezel Screws (I was missing one replaced from my goody bin)	Column drops down you can not remove this top plastic panel although you don't need to for what we are doing you might as well yank it (no screws holding it anymore) so you can clean it and have less in your way.

Close up of one of the column bolts. that plastic thing is a "zip tie" holding the ignition and wiper/lights module cables to the column.	Remove these top to "whtie tab" screws and also the 2 bottom screws with the metal plate.	This is the metal plate and screws.	Cluster is now ready to wiggle free.

You can see the cables all connected here and the speedo cable.	From behind you can see the white plastic clip holding the speedo cable in place. Depress it and rotate it. push it up out of the way onto the cable. Pop the cable out	Remove the cluster.	Here is the back of the stock 3 gauge cluster.

MOD TIP - Don't like the green gauge look? see those larger brown bulb socket thingies? unscrew one. the bulb is covered in a flexible green skin that you can remove. well remove it.	Skip to the bottom for Reassembly! Time to reinstall the Speedo cable unde the hood. Pull the actual speedo cable a few inches out of its sleed and insert it into the KEYWAY push the plug behind it making sure it goes in far enough for the wishbone clip to grab BOTH tug gently to be sure you got it and recover with the rubber boot.	New Cluster up and running	Bad Pic sorry (cam died so I was using a Point and Shoot for this while the cam battery recharges. Its a nice soft warm white.

Reassembly is the reverse. Insert the Speedo cable by first rotating the plastic retention clip back into place and "CLICK" it onto the new cluster. Very easy and an audible click signifies success. you might have to rotate it a wee bit on insertion to line up the square drives. Reconnect the 3 wire clips (2 white 1 blue) whites on the outside blue center right.

Before going any Further Put your key in and MAKE SURE ALL THE BULBS WORK you might even want to pop the column nuts hand tight just to take a spin real quick to make sure all works.

Slide it into palce wiggle and shove as needed gently till its seated. Reinstall the metal plate and 2 screws and then the White Tab Screws. How reconnect the plug for the defroster button and shove it back through the hole from which it came. reinstalling the dash bezel as you do. Reinstall the 4 screws for the bezel.

Set the Steering column top plastic in place shove the colum up and reinstall the bolts using your hands and then the 12mm socket to tighten. Install the bottom plastic using the 5 screws the machine screws go into the inside two holes the coarse scerws go into the other three. The pair of coarse screws secure the two plastic halves together so you may have to push them into alignment to seat the screws.

Reattach bottom dash plastic and your all done. Reattach the Speedo cable under the hood if you have not done so and have at it. Why did I make this swap? well more gauge is always fun but what I was really after was the TRIP METER which my cluster lacked. Now i have it.

I did note my speed is no longer accurate. Previously it was as close to exact as I could measure (within a fraction of a second) now its 4-5 miles per hour off. I am guess it came from a car with a different tranny maybe? no idea. Will have to figure out how to fix that.