DIY: E36 Gauge Cluster Needle Retrofit

[DmcL]

forgive the lack of structure in the post as i have condensed it down from a days worth of posts on another forum into a single post here.

what u will need:
E36 gauge cluster needles
file or sandpaper
needle nose pliers
phillips head screwdriver
flat head screwdriver
sewing needle/pin
superglue
some patience

got to looking at the cluster i pulled from a parts car E36 and the spare one with a dud speedo from my E30 and thought "i wonder if the needles can be swapped" and in short yes they can.

right side OEM E30, left side E36 retrofit:



Instructions:

this can be done either with the cluster in the car or with it removed.

!!FIRST AND FOREMOST!!

CHECK THE AMOUNT OF TRAVEL EACH WAY OF THE E30 NEEDLES PRIOR TO REMOVAL SO U KNOW WHAT THE RESTING POSITION SHOULD BE ONCE U FIT THE E36 NEEDLES AS U WILL HAVE TO ADJUST THEM AFTER FITTING.

1. remove the surround for the cluster along with the little panel below it. (the panel comes off first and is held in by 2 round nuts, one either side of the steering rack). the cluster surround is held in with a few phillips head screws (2 at the top, 4 at the bottom). if removing the cluster from the car there are 2 more screws hidden by the surround which u can get at after removing the surround then the cluster pulls forward and u can wiggle it out after disconnecting the 3 block connectors and ABS light.
   
2. remove the plastic lense from the face of the cluster, should break loose with a little prying from a flathead around the edges.
   
3. pull the E30 needled out then get the pliers and carefully pull out the little splined part left behind. u should be left with a very thin straight pin in the hole of each gauge.
   
4. take the E36 needles and mildly clamp the end of the shaft on the coolant, fuel and tach needles (speedo and tach are the same but u will have to modify whichever u use for the speedo). u must do this for the needle shafts to grip the little pins in the E30 cluster as the E36 ones are ever so slightly bigger.
   
5. take whichever needle your using for the speedo and cut off 2-3mm from the end of the shaft with the pliers or with a fine tooth saw/etc. now file or sand the end back to a more or less flat end and clamp it a bit with the pliers to open up the hole in the middle then take a small needle or sewing pin and tap it in carefully with something fairly light (ie no hammer). this will get the round shape back in the middle then carefully clamp it slightly just like u did with the other 3 needles shafts.
   
6. now comes the fun part, press the needles carefully onto the shafts on the E30's cluster taking particular care when doing the speedo needle that u modified (i broke the small pin doing mine and had to rob the speedo from a spare cluster i had laying around and do it over).
   
7. check the needles are pressed as far down on the pins as they will go with mild pressure (dont push too hard as u could break the pins or bend them).
   
8. set the needles to the appropriate resting position (for the tach u can lift the end of the needle slightly to clear the stop pin at 0rpm). its also a good idea to check the RPM displayed on the tach after swapping with something like a Gtech Pro that has already been setup for the car but not totally necessary if u get good reference points beforehand. as for the speedo u can correct the typical BMW over reading of road speed (if u have an OBC) by driving the car and resetting the average speed on the OBC bang on 30mph, 40mph, 60mph, etc. then see how far out the needle is and re-adjust accordingly.
   
9. find something to make a couple spacers out of and superglue them to the top middle and bottom middle of the lense (where in mates to the cluster ie the very top and bottom inner edges). u will want the top spaced out by atleast 5-6mm and the bottom by 2-4mm to ensure the speedo needle doesnt foul against the inside of the lense.
   
10. reassemble everything but leave out the inner most screws on the bottom of the cluster surround to account for the spacer. the top will either need new holes for the screws or with a bit of pushing and putting the screws in at a bit of an angle u might manage to get them in the original holes at the top.
    
11. enjoy the new needles :-D

even tho there is no backlight for the needles in the E30 they still catch the light from the bottom of the cluster and look as if they are backlit.

so anyway here we go, the completed E36 needle retrofit with my previously installed chrome bezels:

[transatlantic0207]

ok so I've been playing around with this for a bit on an old cluster and a bunch of e36 needles I have.....I can't seem to fit the e36 needles on the e30 shaft. The tach and speedo are slightly loose fitting and the gas and coolant are too small to fit.

Could you clarify?
btw, I only have the e36 needles, no e36 shafts

[fiftytakedowns]

thats wicked

[Wh33lhop]

I like it. The fact that the illuminated portion of the needle crosses the center of the gauge/axis of rotation has always kind of bugged me.

[MR 325]

Hey, that's cool! Going to have to look for an E36 cluster at the yards.

[dude8383]

Hey, that's cool! Going to have to look for an E36 cluster at the yards.

Werd man, that does look really good!

[transatlantic0207]

Am I the only who attempted this after seeing this? If not, how did you secure the needles.
I've been trial and erroring it on a few fubared clusters and I am stumped as to how to secure the needle properly

[dude8383]

Am I the only who attempted this after seeing this? If not, how did you secure the needles.
I've been trial and erroring it on a few fubared clusters and I am stumped as to how to secure the needle properly

lol dude i saw this when i came into the office THIS morning. i still have to source a cluster and then i can try. i remember wayyyy back in the day Jordan attempted to get the e36 needles to work but said it was impossible. there was a thread on bimmerforums where he posted some kind of nissan needles i think...or maybe z3 needles?? don't remember...

[george graves]

kitchen fork = ultimate needle removal tool.

[DmcL]

whoa.. forgot about this thread lol

unless your LHD clusters are different getting the modifications to get the E36 needles to fit the E30 cluster should be covered in steps 4-7 in the original post.

when u pull the E36 needles from their cluster u will also need the little metal part that fits in the middle of the needle at the back, the E30 ones wont work so they have to be carefully removed then u will be left with a very small pin sized shaft sticking out the hole int he middle of whichever gauge ur working on. with some trial and error u can clamp on the metal part at the back of the E36 needles so they will grip the little pins on each of the gauges in the E30 cluster. the one for the speedo will have to have the metal bit on the back of the needle shortened as well as the plastic lence on the cluster havign to be spaced a bit so the speedo needle doesnt foul on the lense.

[JinormusJ]

Gonna bump this cause I need answers

How did you remove the speedo needle without destroying the motor/shaft? I've trid to remove 2 needles already and, while successful, I have always broken something in the process. I reached the point where I bought a speedo and left it how it was (e30 needle, white- not red, and bent)

I'd really like to replace it with something different...

[nando]

use a fork.

I didn't have any issues fitting the E36 needles on the E30 instruments - all I had to do was file down the back of the needles a bit, and they popped right on like the stock needles. The clusters are surprisingly similar, the motors nearly indentical - the major difference is the solid state odometer and SI board.

[AwakenNoMore]

Anyone have any luck illuminating the needles correctly? Maybe glue some LEDs near the shaft?

[august125]

Bump for pic rehost.

[stopsign01]

Yup

I'd like to see the pictures as well, anyone?