GT500 cluster installed - some observations MY COLOR 2005-2009 S-197 Gen 1
 

Ok, freakin sweet looking cluster. I finally have a tach and fuel gauge that works! They've both been dead for about 2 years now. I had heard that the shift light was not functional, but you can definitely see from the pics that it is. I set it at 2500 RPM on the way home, but then decided on the drive that I'll set it for the max (6,000 RPM) and use it as an "SHIFT STUPID!" light for the few times a year I hit the track. Not a lot of info around, but I found conflicting reports on being able to set the entire tach color to change at a set redline level, however that seems to only be 2010 and up.

The Red, White & Blue MyColor setting is awesome, that's what it will be set on probably for life. I can't confirm or deny that there will be a black Mustang on one of the seriously remote back roads around here this evening attempting to see just how close we can get to the 160MPH line on the new speedo. :D

Ok, calm down, I won't do that, it will be unsafe, etc. etc. Please stop. I won't do it. (As far as you know)

PS - Forgot to add, the dealership screwed up the mileage and gave my car an additional 500 miles on the clock. It's getting high enough without the help from those guys, come on! :doh:

Sweet ... I plan on doing this in the next month or so , my fuel has been dead for a year or so too. I also like the fact that the tach is on the right hand side of the cluster. Where did you get your cluster , I know KC on here has them , and what did the dealer charge to install it ...

Very nice! If I could get the boost gauge to work I would probably get this.. as the backwards GT cluster is annoying.

Looks great. Definately worth it just to swap the gauges. Where I sit there's a blind spot on the speedo but the tach is in full sight.

nice!! How long did it take to do the swap? What does the dealership charge to set your mileage? what was your total cost for the job?

All the info available would really help. I want this as well real badly.

I paid full retail for the parts and install at my local Ford dealership about 4 miles from my house. I did call Steve at Tousley Ford who will sell it for ~$230, but then you have the issue of bringing in outside parts to your dealer to install. I would also have to pay for shipping from them to get to me, shipping my old cluster back to them for the core charge, and floating the $300 core charge while all that was going on.

Retail cost was ~$330, labor to install was ~$150. All total with labor, taxes, etc. was $534, no dealing with shipping or core charges. I went out of town Sunday through Tuesday, so I dropped the car off Saturday evening, picked it up Tuesday afternoon. It can be done in 48 hours. If I would have been in town, I could have dropped it off Monday morning and picked it up Tuesday.

They have to order the cluster with your cars mileage, it is overnighted to your dealer, then installed the next day. To install, they have to download the data from the cluster, which I believe has to do with the security of the key / car, to the new cluster, you can't just pop it in. That's where the ~$150 install charge comes from. Based on what the service guy told me, that process takes about 2 hours.

The big deal for me was that the speedometer started going out on my old cluster too, it was starting to stick in a few spots, which in a very short time would have left me with 4 dead gauges (tach, fuel, volts, speedo). I limped along with a dead tach, fuel and volt gauge for about 2 years, enough was enough. With the right set of circumstances, I might have been able to save anywhere from $40 - $80, but that's probably about it, and I would have had the burden to carry with shipping and core charges. It's not a super cheap swap, but given the issues and the payoff, dollar for dollar this might be my favorite mod to date. Forgot to mention earlier, the GT500 cluster is the exact same price as the standard GT cluster.

Of course, I haven't purchased a supercharger yet...:D

Is the shift light only on the GT500 clusters? If not then how do you set it?

Thanks for the info and Thats not a bad price at all.

Thats awesome! I want one so bad. Especially if the boost gauge works with the Saleen boost.

I don't think anyone has been able to get the boost to work , I think you would need the GT500 computer. I plan on getting it anyway , but you're right the boost sure would be nice ...

Shift light is only on the GT500 clusters. Well, actually there is a cutout for one in the GT cluster, but was never enabled. It's only been operational in the GT500 clusters. Once you install the GT500 cluster, it shows up as one of the options in the same menu as where you go to configure MyColor settings. You can set the light to be active or not (if not, then SVT stays lit bright red all the time), set the RPM for when it comes on, and you can set a shift tone as well.

As for the boost gauge, I've heard the same thing, nobody has ever been able to get it to work. Someday down the road with a motor rebuild once this one gets too tired (I'm at 74K now) I'll be adding a supercharger and would love for the boost gauge to work, but I don't think it's ever been activated by anyone. People were having a really hard time getting shift lights to work at first but they figured it out, maybe there just hasn't been enough people working on getting the boost gauge to work on this cluster because it's a pretty niche market of folks who would want that. And, if I was a guy who sold parts, that would represent zero potential revenue if I did figure it out, so I probably wouldn't bother. My guess is that the boost gauge will probably never work.

hmm while disappointing to hear its not activated on the regular clusters that just sounds like a nice challenge to find a DIY way to get a funtional shift light back there lol

Couldnt someone just put a shift LED behind the cutout in the cluster? I like my saleen boost gauge anyway.

I really want to do this and add the GT500 a/c vents. How much did the dealer charge you for this?

I have one on my car now that I got from a wrecked GT500 and I never took it to the dealer to download it. It works 100% fine in my car. No problems and I've driven it for about 600 miles now.... My original car is an 07 V6 with My color and the speedo is from a wrecked 07 GT500.... :unsure: So I don't know and I'm saving myself $150....

From what I've read from what KC has researched it is specific to the GT500's computer (I forget the technical car name for it) He has it is his Ford OEM section for those who want to check it out.

On my gauges I took the outer cover off and put Tungsten touch up paint into the groove that is on the base of each needle. I think it looks cool and it didn't cost me anything to do since I had the paint already.

@Tungsten - did your actual mileage come up on the new cluster, or did it display the last known mileage of the car it came from? Just wondering, because I installed a mycolor cluster that worked perfectly, except it displayed the mileage from the car it came from, essentially knocking 70,000 miles off my odometer

Once the odometer starts going it can not be adjusted. The ones that you buy new come with the correct mileage. Mine was only a difference in about 500 miles.

How hard is the install? Did you do it yourself?