All 96-00 Civic gauge clusters are plug n' play. The car is pre-wired for the tach in the gauge cluster harness, the cluster just doesn't have the actual tach.

You can just swap in an entire gauge cluster with a tach and it will work, that's all there is to it.

If you want to preserve the odometer reading, you'll want to swap the speedometer from your gauge cluster into the new gauge cluster.


Here is how to get to the gauge cluster:
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=78683

And although you don't need to pay attention to the LED portion of this, you can use this DIY as a guide for removal of the gauges from the cluster (if you are going to swap the speedometer).
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=45573

 

so in other words i have to take the whole dash display out to get anywhere near a tach pin? i know with my friend's 02' focus he pluged it into the ecm or something.

it shouldnt be too hard to drive without a tach, what should i keep in mind while driving it? my friend's going to give me a lesson tomorrow or the next day, his does have a tach

 

Well as the engine revs up, its sound becomes higher pitched. Also, you can feel that the higher the RPMs go, the more sensitive the gas pedal becomes. Try to get a feel for these two things and memorize what it feels and sounds like at certain RPMs.

 

so getting up to speed shouldnt be a problem, and at 60mph, 100kmh i should be in 5th gear?

 

cruising at 60 you should be in 5th gear. accelerating at 60 mph you'd either want to be in 3rd or 4th, depending on how fast you need to accelerate... usually 4th gear.

 

woo awesome i should be able to drive a standard tomorrow, thanks a lot! i'm hoping this car will be worth it