The 1999 Mustang GT 35th Anniversary edition included many special touches to both interior and exterior. One of the more striking changes made to the 35th Anniversary edition Mustang's interior is the silver dash bezel that surrounds the gauges. Performance Parts, Inc. has always been a source for such specialty and SVT parts. The 35th Anniversary Dash Bezel can also be found there. This article will detail the installation of this very nice looking piece.

The hardest part about doing this swap is removing the headlight knob. Special thanks to Mustangworld for a tip on how to remove it. Even with their hint it still took us about an hour to figure out how to remove the knob. After this the rest of the install is easy.

Installation

The headlight knob is mounted on a triangular shaft and held in place with an interference fitting inside the knob. To release the knob you will need to pull the knob out activating the headlights. Then turn the knob so that you can see the slot at the base of the knob's shaft. If you look inside you'll see a metal tab. Pulling on the tab will release the interference fit being applied from the opposite side.
1. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the end of a finishing nail into a "J" shape. This way you can hold the nail with a pair of pliers and use the "J" end of the nail to pull on the knob's metal tab. The trick is to pull the tab out towards the driver's side window HARD, while siumultaneously pulling on the knob at the same time, as if you are turning on the lights. We had to pull fairly hard on the knob to get it to come off, harder than we thought we have needed to. With a little persistance though it came off. After this is done the rest of the swap is a piece of cake.

2. Using the 8mm socket and ratchet, remove the two screws on the underside of the gauge pod dash trim.

3. Unsnap the gauge pod trim cover from the dashboard and remove it.

   

4. You should now see the exposed gauge pod cluster and its mounting screws.

5. Using the 8mm, 1/4 drive socket, an extention and the ratchet, or spinner, remove the bolts holding the gauge pod to the dashboard.

6. Gently pull the gauge cluster out so that you can gain access to the two wiring harnesses connected to the back. Disconnect both harnesses and remove the gauge cluster from the dash board. You should now be left with an empty gauge pod.

7. Take the gauge cluster to a clean dry work area. Using the T-5 Torx, remove the screws holding the factory dash bezel in place. Remove the factory dash bezel. The gauge cluster will now be exposed, be careful not to touch the gauge faces as you will leave finger prints that will attract dust later on.

   

8. Carefully set the 35th Anniversary Bezel in place on the gauge cluster. Reinstall all fastening screws.

9. Reconnect the wiring harnesses into the back of the guage pod.

10. Set the guage cluster into place and start the car to ensure that all gauges work properly.

11. Reinstall all of the gauge cluster's mounting bolts.

12. Reinstall the gauge pod trim piece and refasten the two screws in place.

The entire installation took about two hours, the bulk of which was spent figuring out how to get the headlight knob off. After that total install time was no more than 30 - 45 minutes, including swapping out the factory bezel, testing, and reinstallation.

Contact Information:
Performance Parts Inc.
http://www.mustangparts.com
info@mustangparts.com
703-742-6207
13120 Lazy Glen Court
Oak Hill, VA 20171-2326