Carrera Cluster On Boxster Revisited

[whall]

I purchased a used MY02 Carrera C2 instrument cluster to be installed on my MY03 base Boxster. Thanks to Tool Pants, I have read the various threads posted on this forum concerning said installation. It is my desire to remove the entire Boxster unit, cluster, cover, etc., putting it aside, and to install a complete Carerra unit in it's place. Right now, I am having a problem figuring out what bits and pieces I need to assemble a complete Carerra unit.

This is an illustrated page from the Carrera parts catalog.....I hope I'm not violating any forum rules:

https://techinfo.porsche.com/techinfo/pdf/e...996_KATALOG.pdf

This is an illustrated page from the Boxster parts catalog:

https://techinfo.porsche.com/techinfo/pdf/e...986_KATALOG.pdf

Comparing the two pages, the Carrera has just the "cover", one part, part no. 26. The Boxster, on the other hand, has a "cover", also part no. 26, made up of several other parts, i.e., part nos. 27 -30. Is the Carrera illustration and parts count correct? Part no. 24, which looks common to both instrument cluster installations, is really part of the dashboard structure.

BTW, I picked up the used instrument cluster in person and the guy I bought it from had reinstalled it in his car to demonstrate to me that it was fully functional! You've got to love Porschephiles!

Happy New Year,

Bill

[Tool Pants]

Porsche uses the words cover and cover lower part. I use the words cap and surround, like you see in the Boxster picture.

When I started this project years ago the best I could figure out is that on the 996 the cap and surround were under a single part number. On the 986 they are 2 part numbers. I thought this was strange. I did not order the 996 part so I do not know for sure. This would have been expensive for me because I have Boxster red leather.

Why not cut the 986 surround to fit the 2 extra gauges?

There is a gray 996 cap on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-986...1QQcmdZViewItem

Black cap and surround. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-99-...1QQcmdZViewItem

[Paul Fraser]

TP, I've seen the suggestion to cut the 986 surround to take a 996 console before. Have you seen this done? It looks like it might be tricky... I'd be interested in how it was done if anyone has done this, and what the margins of error are.

[Tool Pants]

One of the local owners, Larry with a 2000 3.4 engine conversion (aka Monster Boxster), has a 996 cluster and the 986 surround was cut. It was a good tight fit with no gaps. I asked Larry but he did not do it. I assume it was done by Tim Benson, the mechanic that did the engine swap.

When I was going to do this I contacted a non-local owner who had done it. He said he used a dremel. The plastic that needs to be cut is thin and easy to cut.

[Tool Pants]

And I'm proud of my Toyota instrument cluster swap that I did a few days ago. :huh:

I have owned this pickup for 18 years. It came with no tach, or volt or oil pressure gauges. I got another cluster from an SR5 truck and put it in. Had to run a wire from the coil to the cluster so that the tach would work. Then removed the sender for the oil pressure idiot light and put in the sender that is used for the gauge. Didn't have to run an extra wire for the gauge sender because Toyota uses 1 wire with and without the gauge. The volt meter just worked when I pluged in the SR5 cluster.

But the instrument clusters are the same size, so no dash modifications are needed. This picture is at a weird angle, both clusters are the same size.

[djomlas]

why would u even wanna bother switching out the clusters?

[Popolou]

why would u even wanna bother switching out the clusters?

Oil temp? Oil Pres?

Regards

Popolou

Edited January 8, 2007 by Popolou

[Tool Pants]

The 986 cluster does not have volt and oil pressure gauges, but the 996 cluster does.

On my Toyota I did not even have a tach, but now I do.

[stumpjumper]

The 986 cluster does not have volt and oil pressure gauges, but the 996 cluster does.

is that data displayed if you simply plug in the carrera cluster or is there more to it than that?

[Loren]

The 986 cluster does not have volt and oil pressure gauges, but the 996 cluster does.

is that data displayed if you simply plug in the carrera cluster or is there more to it than that?

You would need to add an oil pressure sender to the engine and run the wire to the cluster.

[Tool Pants]

When I plugged in my 996 ebay cluster to test it the volt meter worked. Problem was, the middle LCD was defective. So I never finished the project by putting in the 996 oil pressure sender and running the wire.

But Loren is going to give me his perfect 996 cluster. He even has Boxster red....

[Loren]

But Loren is going to give me his perfect 996 cluster. He even has Boxster red....

Still dreaming? :lol: