How do i take out the instrument cluster?

no remove first remove the steering wheel plastic surround two screws, then the plastic trim dash colored below the steering wheel three bolt 8mm i think, it then pops out clip retainer just pull staight down. remove the black bracket it snapped into two 8mm bolts. remove the light switch and hazzard switches use a small flatblade screwdriver to release the tabs. unscrew the torx screws on the cover of the instrument cluster the thing the lights switches were in two on top and one on the bottom. pull away noww u can see the instrument cluster torx they i think r a different size remove them not the ones holding just the lens pull away slightly two electrical connections squeeze to remove and squeeze to remove the speedo cable ur finished

U actually dont have to take off the cluster at all to replace the speedo cable. Just take off the knee gaurds(2 i believe). You then have just enough room to squeeze your hand up in there to access the speedo cable. It should only take you a few minutes. I have large forearms so i am pretty sure most people could do it

Theoretically, you're supposed to be able to change out the speedo cable without removing the gauge cluster. For whatever bizarre reason, even though it was a straight shot for me to just reach up under there and grab hold of the sucker, I couldn't for the life of me yank that bugger out without loosening the cluster and moving it forward about 6" - I didn't have enough room to pull the cable back enough to disengage it. Stabbing the new cable in was a bit of a pain, too, as that little square-shaped tip was apparently turned just a smidge out of alignment and didn't want to mate with the back of the speedo until I crawled under the car, disconnected the VSS end of the cable, and gave it a tiny turn.

Then again, my car feeds on blood and bits of flesh periodically, and it received a small feast from the knuckles of my hands and wrists that day, so mayhaps that had more to do with it...