How to Change Ford SVT Instrument Cluster/Gauge Color

I did this write up to help any svt owners who hate the stock green color of their gauges and odometer. I went with red but any color could easily be used. Materials used are 1 white sheet of printer paper size 8.5 X 14 inch and 1 colored transparency sheet of equal length. Tools needed are Phillips screwdriver, flat head screwdriver, 7mm socket wrench, T-10 socket,razor blade, scanner, photoshop(or equivalent photo editing software), and a printer. I am not responsible for any damage to your vehicle. This how to covers the steps for the main instrument cluster. The same steps apply towards the small gauges on the right.

1. Remove the 3 screws holding the trim piece covering your gauges.

2.Push in the two tabs on either side of the steering column. This releases the trim piece connected to the gauge cover.

3.Disconnect the hatch release button.

4.Use the 7mm socket to remove the four bolts holding the instrument cluster in place.

5.Remove the clip on top of the instrument cluster(this is the power source that lights up the gauges.) Separate that piece from the gauges by pushing a flat head under the plug and sliding to the right

6.Remove the main harness located on the back of the cluster. Slide the black bar all the way to the left and pull out.

7.Separate the black cover piece from the white gauge housing by lifting up on the four tabs(two on top and two on bottom)

8.Remove the 3 black plastic tabs that hold the tach needle and speedometer needle in place when the vehicle is turned off. These pieces pull straight off. Also remove the needles by pulling directly up.

9.Remove the 3 torx bolts holding the gauges in place. Once these are removed the gauges lift straight out.

10.Remove the plastic piece that interacts with the odometer from the underside by squeezing it together and pushing it out.

11.You then separate the gauge face from the back white part that actually lights up.

12.The gauge face is what you scan. Using a photo editing software edit the gauges to whatever you want them to look like. I enlarged the svt logo and deleted the kph. Also you need to delete the background(the gray part of the gauges) so when it is printed all that prints out are the numbers and lines. The gauge is larger than a normal piece of paper so use 8.5×14 inch paper.

13. Using the stock gauges as a template cut the new printed gauges out including all holes and the rectangle where the odometer is seen.

14. Use the stock gauges again to trace out that same shape onto the transparency sheet of your color choice (I went with red to match my seat inserts.)

15.You will have to cut your stock gauges to install the High beam light, abs light and traction control light. Once cut from your stock gauges install them directly on the white part of your gauges that light up. You will also have to cut away these sections from your new gauges and transparency sheet.

16.Install the new gauges on top of the transparency sheet and then those two pieces go on top of the white part of you gauges that light up.

17. Now you can put everything back together in reverse order.

18. to calibrate your needles use this:How To:Ford Focus Fanatics Needle Calibration

Thanks, I hope everything goes well. Soon to follow will be how i did my odometer.

how i changed the color of my odometer. This will go between steps 15 and 16 on the previous how to.

Remove the black plastic clip surrounding the odometer. Be extremely careful because the odometer is very fragile and can crack easily!!

The actual odometer is made up of three layers. There are two layers of glass and under that there is a piece of paper that has a green tint on the back. By sliding a razor blade between the bottom glass and the white paper remove the paper from the odometer.