[MENTION=147255]iwaisurfer[/MENTION]
It wasn't a simple plug and play mod by any means. Definitely as in all mods it's at your own risk. Kinda of a spendy part to replace...okay, CMA is over- here's what I've got...
I am
still working on getting the fuel gauge needle juuuuust right. Doesn't help that I have to wait between low fuel light to fill-up. Using the photo of the original fuel needle position did not work. The other needles were pretty easy. I did have to break one of the old needles apart to get it off (they generally pull straight off) but had picked up some replacements from broken clusters at the boneyard for spares. Ended up using the coolant temp and fuel gauge needles out of a newer 3rd gen because I like the style better.
Basically I pulled the front of the cluster apart (clips in, easy to do), pulled the needles off, unscrewed tiny screws to remove the faces, cut gels to fit behind the dial faces with cut-outs for the parts I didn't want colored, put it all back together.
I also removed the orange paint from the needles and re-colored them. Just the bottom edges so the light would still shine through them.
The green bulb condoms on the original cluster bulbs come right off. It all works just as it did before but not as bright because of the light having to shine through the gels. Still dimmable.
There are way easier ways to color your cluster!
The climate control on the 96, on the other hand, was simple to color to match.
The key light has a green bulb condom too. I removed that and will later figure out a blue bulb condom or configure a matching gel.
Getting the cluster out of the truck post 1854 (from a different mod, but the instructions to remove the cluster are here)
habanero's 1996 4Runner Build-Up Thread - Page 93 - YotaTech Forums
few pics that give a good gist of the situation post 2903+
habanero's 1996 4Runner Build-Up Thread - Page 146 - YotaTech Forums
During the day it's pretty Clark Kent:
I thought about coloring the back of the gauge faces with ink but was afraid there would be a quick color fade issue. Would also have to source another gauge face to make sure I got the color right first. Still think fading would be a big issue with that.