Aftermarket gauge questions...many.

[Fett]

Long story short, I am thinking about making my own cluster. I might use a Florida50 template, MC Machine template, or make my own....haven't decided yet.

I would most likely go with the same gauges the stock cluster has, speedo, tach, volt, water temp, oil pressure, and fuel.

My questions:

If I went with electronic gauges (except speedo), would I be able to simply use the ending wires from the stock cluster harness? I have a diagram of the connectors and would just repin all the leads into a different connector so I would simply plug in my gauges. I just don't know if the stock wire harnesses would have all the connections I would need to run electronic gauges.

As far as the speedo goes, the mechanical speedometers I have seen say they use a cable. Would I just plug in my stock cable and the aftermarket speedo would be accurate? Or would/could I use a 94+ VSS on my tranny and go with an electronic speedo?

 

[Fett]

Sorry for upping my own thread...but I think I figured some stuff out and was looking for clarification.

After looking at the Florida50 site, it looks to me like their instructions show you just use the stock wiring and stock sensors/senders to operate all the electric gauges.

I figure in theory all the wires you need are in there. Tach signal wire, temp signal wire, volt, oil pressure, ect. Along with 12+, ground, and lights. But that would mean the stock senders and sensors must use the same voltage range as the gauges.

 

[Nova]

hey man, i just got done with the MC machine plate into my 87. so if you have any more specific questions dont be shy to ask. ive got some pics too.

yes you can use all the sender wires. i used a mechanical oil pressure/water temp gauge because i already had them, so i had the senders for those.

for the speedo you can use an adapter or have a custom speedo cable made. i have an adapter ill sell you for $20 shipped.

 

[Fett]

I'm pricing everything out right now, but it's looking like I might be better of going a different route. So far the 6 gauges in the Z-series come to almost $400. So it might be better to find a different route.

I may just re-ground the cluster itself to new location and see if that helps. I can get by with what I have now, but I would really like something different. I think a lot of the things I do and want to do are more about trying to accomplish something myself. Even with this cluster, it would be easier to go with a complete FLorida50 setup, complete with gauges...but then I am not building it myself. I have more fun building something than anything else.

 

[Nova]

haha, yeah i hear ya mean. i loved the look of the mc machine plate, and the milled lights were the deal maker. if you need some tech help i can help you with whats what and what not. the adapter is just sitting on my shelf. everything else is pretty straight forward. the forida 5.0 brings the gauges closer to the driver and angles them, where the mc machine plate keeps them on the stock bolt plane. if that doesnt make sence i can try to explain it better.

 

[Fett]

Yea, after looking at a few pics of the two setups, the MC would be the way to go. The Florida50 one looks....well, it looks cheap. The MC one looks great.

I think I am going to try to make a new, or repair an old, printed circuit. I am either going to try a thin copper sheet, or use conductive paint. I have to run some tests to check the resistance of both ideas first.

Basically I have issues that many of us do, with the water temp gauge moving when you turn on your lights, and random bulbs not working. I already went through all my grounds...twice, so I know that's not my problem. My next step is to rule out any issues with the cluster itself. Which is why I figured replacing them all with Autometer gauges would be the best bet. But that is going to be an expensive test. So I will try to rebuild a stock setup.

I don't like the look of aftermarket gauges outside the cluster, for whatever reason I just don't like they way it looks. I think the ricers killed the look for me, now instead of seeing extra gauges and thinking it looks good, I can't help but to think it looks ricey.

I love the stock look, so I guess it's off to the bone yard to grab a few clusters to start playing with.