will a 91 dash go into a 88

[TooFoxy]

i have a 91 parts car with all black interior and i wanna trade it into my 88.. i notice there is a diffrence under and around the steering wheel but is it possible to modify it so it can work? also can i trade the intrement panels from car to car? i see they are alill diffrent but i was wondering if i would have to re-pin the connector and all the stuff would work correctly from the 91 panel cept the airbag stuff.

 

[Daggar]

Yes it can and is done fairly often. I can't provide you with any details as I've never done the swap myself. You will likely end up having to grab the wiring harnesses from the donor vehicle as well. Here's a bump for ya though. Someone will come along that will be able to shed some more light on the swap for you.

 

[RsStanG1987]

It should go right over the only difference is the way the heater controls are set up but everything will work the same.

 

[TooFoxy]

i would like to put the fuse panel back in the spot it was on the 88 dash becuase i had a 92 also and the fuse panel always in the way of my foot going from clutch to the dead pedal was kinda annoying i wonder if i can cut the dash so that it will fit under the trim thats normally under a 91 up dash

 

[RsStanG1987]

i would like to put the fuse panel back in the spot it was on the 88 dash becuase i had a 92 also and the fuse panel always in the way of my foot going from clutch to the dead pedal was kinda annoying i wonder if i can cut the dash so that it will fit under the trim thats normally under a 91 up dash

You should be able to cut it to relocate the fuse panel but you wont be able to have the same panel the older cars have there.

 

[wazazzle]

You should be able to cut it to relocate the fuse panel but you wont be able to have the same panel the older cars have there.

i tried swapping, but had the prob of... the fuse box not fitting, hvac is diff, and the plastic steering column support always breaks. i thought the metal brace would swap but i was wrong on that too. so i just kept my old dash, sanded the rust off the bracing and painted/sealed it, and dyed my dash glossy black. looks brand new now! you could make the 91 dash work, but you'd have to mod it a bit. besides the 88 column support is metal, the 91 is plastic and will break.

 

[TooFoxy]

i took out the metal brace from the 91 and put it in the 88 everything went well the dash fits nice console is in now i only have to do the electric part i put the instrement panel in and to my expectations only half the guages want to work... and well its the most important one not working... the TACH ... i need my TACH some one please help do i need to do some sorta repin or can i change the tach(back parts cyclinder and chip) from my old cluster into the new one and get it going?

 

[TooFoxy]

bump

 

[trbkrb]

If you are using the 91 cluster, it is wired all differently from the 88. I suppose you want it for the 140 speedo? You can change the wires to match the 91 harness by using this diagram:

http://www.stangnet.com/tech/cluster87-93.pdf

Or just use the 88 cluster. I'm using the 87 in my 90 interior. I have thought about swapping to the newer cluster and use the 88 electrical plastic panel and parts in the back, but I'm not sure if it would work. A friend still has the 92 cluster I got my 140 speedo from. I put only the speedo in my 87 cluster, but it took some cutting, filing and drilling to make it fit.

On the fuse panel, I put mine under the knee pad in about the same location as the 87-89 is stock. I cut out a hole, but I had to mount it sideways due to the space limits. I didn't put in the metal backing panel for the knee brace, so if I have to get to the fuse box, I only have to pull the plastic knee panel off. It pops back in place.

Good luck!

 

[TooFoxy]

thank you for the diagram i just printed it and will prolly begin to work w/ it tomorrow some i have work here in a few mins but one more thing if you could take a picture of how your fuse panel is set under the kneebopper i would very much appricate it, its exactly what i want to do but i just would like to have a visual before i start the project

 

[TooFoxy]

anyone have written directions on the re-pin for a 91+ cluster in a pre 90 car?..also i'd like to see pictures of anyones fuse box relocations in a 91up dashes. thanks guys.. ill have pictures of the new black interior up as soon as i get it done

 

[trbkrb]

Here is a pic of my fuse box. It is a little ragged, but I was trying to figure out where to locate it, and cut the hole a bit too high up at first. I just made a paper template of the outline and drilled holes along the edge and then cut through the holes woth a hand saw, filing down the edges.

Sorry it is huge, my photo software won't let me resize it.

http://statefilingsoftware.com/pictures/fusebox1.jpg

 

[Killer50stang]

i tried swapping, but had the prob of... the fuse box not fitting, hvac is diff, and the plastic steering column support always breaks. i thought the metal brace would swap but i was wrong on that too. so i just kept my old dash, sanded the rust off the bracing and painted/sealed it, and dyed my dash glossy black. looks brand new now! you could make the 91 dash work, but you'd have to mod it a bit. besides the 88 column support is metal, the 91 is plastic and will break.

painted or dyed? How do you dye plastic parts? I've wanted to do this myself...:OT: :OT: :OT:

 

[TooFoxy]

i didnt dye / paint i got the black from a parts car

 

[TooFoxy]

finally done i used that link and re-pinned the 2 connectors on the back of the instrement panel had to run a few splices from the brown connector to the grey one but it only took about an hour or so. all the guages work. only thing really to see is if the warning lights work i'm not sure, but it dosent really bother me any if they dont. the turnsignal bulbs and all the illumination works.. i like it alot thanks guys. i still need to cut the whole out to do the fuse box relocation.

Anyone know what it intails to change the a/c controls from a 91 into an 88 or should i just cut the dash and fit the old ones back in? i think cuttin the dash will be easier but if anyone has any tips about changeing the controls let me hear it

 

[trbkrb]

If you have the 91 AC panel, just use it, unless you have billet knobs or something. All the connections are the same, except the wires need to be pulled a little bit longer from under the dash since the fan controls are on the opposite side, and I had to lengthen the yellow vacuum line from the ac/vent/ defrost switch since it was not long enough to reach when the connection was moved to the right side. The yellow line came off the defroster vacuum motor right above the gas pedal under the dash, and I just put another piece of vacuum line in the end and put that on the fitting.

If you want to use the older style controls, you will just have to line it up and drill holes for the mounting screws. I put the 90-93 controls in my 87 dash before swapping to a 90 dash and it fit, just had to drill two holes to mount it. I don't think I could use all 4 screws.

 

[TooFoxy]

for somereason i cant get the temp control cable to go on the back of the 91 panel like its too bulky or something sound familiar?

 

[ChristmasGT]

wow back from the dead!

Hey there wow bringing this thread back from the dead! But I've been re-pinning my 88 dash to accomidate my new 91 cluster. Its going into a mustang coupe 4 cyl turbo.

Anyway I've finished with a lot of the re-pinning and notice there are a lot of wires that seem to go nowhere on the 88 coupe (like the low coolant wire, and a fuel light to relay wire) and I was just wondering do the wires that seemingly go nowhere on the newer cluster get cut and tied up? Also I don't see a way to get the warning lights to work which is fine.

Also it seems like the c250 is missing a 12v connection am I wrong? Thanks!

 

[trbkrb]

Got your PM, just was too busy to reply earlier. I was going to ask if you had a 88 GT or not. On the wires for low washer fluid, low fuel, and one of the low oil wires, they went to the warning light module located in the lower right part of the instrument surround. All the 87-89 cars had the face plate, but only the GT cars had the wiring and lights to illuminate the warning lamps. Unless you have the add on GT warning lamp part, I don't think there is a need for the wires.

Here is a pic of the GT cluster with the warning lamps:

View attachment 408008

Oh, and it looks like pins 4 and 7 should have the 12V power feed on the new cluster, while the old one only has one power feed. You might need to splice in a new line connected to the #4 pin wire for the # 7 pin if you don't have #7 hooked up to 12V.

 

[ChristmasGT]

I thank you for the very fast reply. And yep after some searching was aware of the wiring differances for warning lights also that the gt had differant fluid resivoirs for coolant and washer fluid to accomidate the sensors

Also what goes to the malfunction indicator pin on the 91 cluster? I take it nothing?

That's exactly what I was thinking about the 12v connections thanks there!

I'm sorry I'm on my sidekick so I can't show u exactly what wires I'm having problems with. One of the yellow/red fuel ones that is on c251 I think its called fuel relay or something along those lines

Can u by chance list what wires aren't needed on an 88 lx harness for this swap?
Thank u so much for the help I'm hoping to make a step by step faq to help make this much easier