2001 gauge in a 2000 Boxster S
 

I bought a spare instrument cluster and tried to swap out original. back of the original has black, white and blue harnesses while the 'new' one i got is green, white and black....

I cannot insert the harnesses into the new cluster and think that i could if i used my dremel to nick off the one side blocking out the harness...

anyone try this and any nasty issues? shorts? fires?

wondering why porsche swapped these out mid model 986 ??

The newer gauge cluster will not work in your car. See this Pelican DIY for more information: http://https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/90-ELEC-996_Cluster/90-ELEC-996_Cluster.htm

I am not sure why Porsche made the switch, but the LCD displays in the older clusters were prone to defects. It is possible that Porsche determined that the dot matrix displays in the newer design would not break as often.

Could you post pictures of the 'new' instrument cluster - front and back?