Since I have been messing with Honda's for a few years, it gave me an idea. Swapping instrument clusters in a Honda is fairly simple. Since we share a lot of the Mazda3. Would the instrument cluster interchange also?
Well, yeah… guess you could say we’re stumped because as far as I know, it’s never been done before. You may have to be a trailblazer with this one. But I have noticed that because of the tunneled gauges in the 3, they’re sloped from closest to you at the top, to furthest away at the bottom… while the 5 has a more traditional slope of closer to you at the bottom and furthest away at the top. So from that standpoint, can’t see the 3 gauges fitting in the 5’s opening, at least without some brave slicing and dicing of the dash and possibly custom fiberglass work to fill in the holes. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s involved with the wiring/compatibility issue. But, that’s just a point of view from a guy that’s never done more than audio system installs, which is nothing compared to the task you’re shooting for. Sorry that’s really not much help I know, but the best answer I could give for the sake of not leaving you hanging.
BLACKOUT is currently undertaking the project on his own with changing the color of the gauges/information display… that may be a good one to follow as it’ll get rid of the plain jane green in leu of your desired color. I don’t think he’s got the gauges figured out yet, but at least the information display is complete. http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123694020. Another thought to consider that was presented in BLACKOUT’s thread is that the 08 Mazda5 has EL backlit gauges which IMO look fabulous, and they may be an easier swap than a 3’s tunneled gauges.
Thanks for the reply. I was looking at quick glance at the gauges on the 3's. And our gauges are placed the same way. I'm assuming the tunnel look is part of the cover that actually goes over the gauges. It will come down to seeing if just that part will replace the glass cover in ours. I like making these kind of modifications on vehicles. Where only true enthusiasts of your particular vehicle will know. I'll keep digging into it.
