I have 2 EL falcons, a 98 opt20 GLI and a 98 Futura. I am taking the opt20 off the road and using it for parts. I have removed the police instrument cluster from the opt20 and would like to install it into my futura. I am aware that I need to swap the existing oil pressure switch for an oil pressure sensor and I am wondering if there is anything else that needs to be done to my car in order for the opt20 cluster to work properly?


I read in the technical document section about retaining the original kilometers by desoldering the EEPROM chip from the original cluster then soldering it onto the new cluster, but I lack the skills and know-how to do so... Does anyone know of anywhere I could take the clusters to have the EEPROMs swapped over? and what are the legalities of doing so?


Many thanks in advance for you feedback,
Shane.

It's a straight swap over between the 2 cars besides the oil sender.

There will be NO point is swapping the eeprom, as the speedo calibration is part of the eeprom's programming well as the ODO.

ie: pulling the eeprom out of Futuraand placing it into the Police cluster will work, but you'll loose the calibration features.

Messing with clusters is a tough one, your not allowed to modify the odo readings but hell its a 14year old car. its not like your a dealer and selling it.

The police aint going to pull you over and check your odo reading match up to the rta's database to check your within tolerance.

thanks for the info mate, the only issue I have with swapping the clusters over is the fact that the opt20 cluster has 305,000km on it where as the futura has only done 119,000km

My next question is, how hard would it be to take the oil pressure gauge and amp meter gauge as well aswell as the printed fascia from the opt20 cluster and add them to the futura cluster?

Just buy a fairmont/xr cluster. reverse engineering your "lowish" KM cluster will be more effort than its worth.

as above, and no, you cannot just plug in the mechanicals, you need to add components on the pcb.

easier to slap in a fairmont cluster and add the resister as in the tech doco.

I'm looking to change out the original face plate to an aftermarket one but it requires me to remove the needles on the instruments.
Will removing the needles mess with the calibration or setting of the speedo etc?

No.
Just take note of where they are pointing prior to removing them (a dining fork is ideal for this). When replacing them you can simply tap the needle higher or lower at its stops to adjust it back to it's original position.