One of the hardest part of removing the gauges on an early 944 is disconnecting the speedometer cable from the back of the speedometer. To do this, the gauge must be slid out of the dash enough to get your hand behind the cluster to unscrew the cable connection. By pushing all of the slack in the speedometer cable from the engine compartment through the dash into the passenger's compartment, you may be able to slid the gauges out enough to disconnect the cable. However, if this does not work, you'll have to remove the turn signal assembly to get enough room to disconnect the cable.
Tools
Phillips head screwdriver
24 mm socket (or 15/16") and ratchet
Scribe, paint pen, or brightly colored nail polish
Procedure
Remove the horn button from the steering wheel and disconnect the electrical spade connector on the back of the horn button.
Using a 24 mm (or 15/16") socket and ratchet, remove the steering wheel retaining nut and washer.
Using a scribe, paint pen, or nail polish, mark the orientation of the steering wheel to the end of the steering shaft. This will facilitate easier installation during re-assembly.
Pull the steering wheel off the steering shaft.
Remove the two Phillips head screws located in the outer to gauge pods.
In the engine compartment, locate the speedometer cable and push as much of the slack in the cable through the firewall into the passenger's compartment.
Slide the gauge assembly as far out as possible, reach behind the assembly, and unscrew the speedometer cable.
If the gauges will not slide out enough to unscrew the speedometer cable, remove the turn signal switch assembly as follows:
Remove the two screws holding the upper and lower steering column covers in place and remove the covers. The lower cover will come off easily. However, the upper cover will requires some wiggling to remove. Be careful when removing the covers as they are easily broken.
Disconnect the electrical connectors for the turn signal switch assembly.
Remove the three screws from the face of the turn signal switch assembly and remove the assembly from the steering shaft.
You should now be able to move one side of the gauge cluster out far enough to get your hand behind the assembly and unscrew the speedometer cable.
Once the speedometer cable is disconnected, slide the gauges out far enough to disconnect all the wires attached to the back of the gauges and then remove the cluster from the dash.
The individual gauges can be removed from the cluster by pushing them from the back of the cluster out the front.
