E46 M3 cluster swap

[nando]

well I want a tach that actually goes as high as my rev limiter.. and E46 M3 clusters are cheap. :p

[James Crivellone]

whatcha working on?

[nando]

talk to this guy, he did it.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=163048

that's perfect! it looks like he made his own lense/coverplate.

[nando]

Buy an e46.

no thanks :p

[IRON-E]

Nando; use a piece of cardboard and wrap it with some vinyl. I covered my GPS in the center console this way and I can move it from car to car without much effort.

Shitty pic for reference

[Jean]

^Yep, since the e46 cluster is smaller than the e30, looks like you have to hack/cut the e30 cluster housing and make it fit lol

[Jparkr]

talk to this guy, he did it.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=163048

[e30sd]

Buy an e46.

[nando]

you mean over top? then I wouldn't have access to the trip odometer buttons..

I have some plastic I could use to go around the cluster, but it would be really hard to get that curved shape without gaps.

[Jean]

Make a cover that will overlap the whole thing?

[nando]

it only occured to me last night that I have an extra dash in the garage, right next to me, for test fitting this stuff...

anyway - the plan for now is to mount the E46 cluster into a gutted E30 cluster shell. The E46 cluster is significantly smaller (and lighter!). It actually fits pretty well, but what do I do about the gaps around the outsides?

I was thinking maybe there's some sort of expanding foam I could use, maybe vynil wrap or plasti-dip it? thoughts?

I also thought about cutting the face off the E46 cluster and putting everything inside an E30 cluster, but they have very different shapes. Ironically, the E30 cluster is curved while the E46 cluster is basically square. I'd also have to buy another parts cluster, which I don't really want to do. This one was already broken so I didn't feel bad about hacking it to peices.