The standard Honda Civic gauges can be replaced with reverse glow or indiglo lighting. A typical reverse glow gauge made for a Honda Civic is a template (a gauge face) that fits over your factory gauge face and cluster. This replaces the factory lighting scheme with a usually red and blue glow from the needles and the numbers on the gauge cluster
Turn the bolts on the battery counterclockwise to disconnect the battery. This will usually require a 10 mm socket from your socket set, but the size may vary depending on the year of your Civic. Remove the negative cable first.
Unscrew the two screws on the cowl that holds the trim surrounding the gauge cluster. The screws will be located at the top of the trim piece and will be recessed so that they may not be immediately visible. You will have to use your fingers to search for two holes on the upper part of the trim piece.
Remove the trim piece (shaded in yellow) once the two screws have been removed. Pull the trim straight out. There should be to retaining clips in the bottom, so you will need to pull from the top--where you removed the screws. The trim piece will pop out.
Pull the gauge cluster assembly out of the dash and unplug the wiring harness connected to the cluster in the back of the assembly. You may not be able to pull the gauge cluster out very far. This is OK. Do not force the cluster assembly out. You may have to gently wiggle the cluster around and maneuver it in such a way that you can reach your hand behind the gauge cluster to remove the two plugs that power the Civic's gauge cluster.
Pull the trip/odometer plug off (it should slide off, but you may have to give it a good pull) once you have removed the outer trim piece and unplugged the assembly. Pull the plastic cover off of the gauge cluster unit. You will need to push up on the tabs on the retaining clips that hold the cover on. These tabs are located all the way around the edge of the gauge cluster assembly on your Civic.
Make sure the needles of each gauge point at zero (except the fuel gauge, of course, and mark the exact position of the needle with the dry erase marker on the gauge cluster face.. Slide the tines of the fork under the center of one of the gauge needles. Gently rock the fork back and forth while pulling up at the same time. It should not require a lot of force to pull of the needle, however, depending on the age of your Civic, the needle may be stuck on there pretty good.Repeat this process for every gauge needle.
Place the new gauge faces over the factory gauge faces and center them.
Use the knife to cut a slit in the bottom of the factory gauge cluster to accommodate the new gauge face wires. A typical location for this cut is between the speedometer and the fuel/water temp gauge cluster. Gently route the wires coming from the gauge cluster through the cut you just made.
Reassemble the gauge cluster in the reverse order that you disassembled it.. Make sure that the needles are placed in the exact location where you removed them. You may have to gently lift up and "peek" under the new gauge faces to align the needles properly.
Run the wires from the gauge cluster for your new gauge face to the taillight/brake brake fuse on your fuse box. Pull the 10 amp fuse out, and wrap the exposed end of the wire around one prong of the fuse and plug the fuse back in.
Locate a bolt under the dash to attach the ground wire to. It does not matter what bolt you use. It is important that the bolt be touching metal that is connected to the frame, or grounded. Loosenone of the bolts under the dash just enough so that you can wrap the exposed ground wire under/around the threads of the bolt. Then, tighten that bolt.
Verify the system is working by turning on the lights. Place the gauge cluster assembly back into the dash and reassemble the dash. Installation is the reverse of removal.
Reconnect the battery.
