I have a 98 DX hatch. It doesn't have a tachometer in the cluster. I have a buddy who has one he pulled from an EX that has a tach. Will that work in my DX?

 

Yup, simple swap, so long as it's from a 96-00.

Two screws for the bezel.
Four screws for the cluster.
Unplug the two harness plugs.
If just swapping clusters, install is just the reverse.
If you're interested in maintaining correct mileage, then just swap the speedos. Easy to do, just be careful with the plastic tabs for the bezel parts.
Easiest if done while steering wheel is all the way down.

 

I have heard that you can use a cluster from an automatic to replace one from a manual. The only thing is that the gear selection indicator will stay on P for Park. Has anyone heard this?

 

never heard of the park thing but it would make sense that something odd would come up like that htough. Like RedHot said though, it'll be just a straight swap, and with the tach its always a plus

 

^ yes, the auto will work with the "P" light on, and when you change it, you might have overhead lighting issues in the cluster, and sometimes when you tamper with the cluster, you might damage other parts, it happened to me and now i'm ordering the gas/temp combo gauge from factory because it went bad

but yeah, the tach is so much better when you get it, i was so glad when i swapped it in my 97 dx

 

when you swap for the tach cluster, sometimes the new one includes the connection for cruise control, so that's a plus for future improvement