Gauges...

[tpunx99GSX]

Hey guys,
Ive been contimplating this for a while now. I am thinking about replacing my Speedo, RPM and coolent with Autometer Cobalt gauges. Has anyone done this before? Is there any downsides to this as far as operability with DSMLink and such? Anything else i should know about this before putting it into my budget.

[A//// Guy]

Stick with stock till your car works for more than a day or so. :)

[Goat Blower]

Keith Anderson on here did it years ago. Very nice, but it's not easy, especially getting the speedo to work with our tranny.

[tpunx99GSX]

**Edit** NM no defi speedo or rpm that i could find.

[Jakey]

Hey guys,
Has anyone done this before? Is there any downsides to this as far as operability with DSMLink and such?
See this thread:
http://www.dsmstyle.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6701&highlight=gauge

[TwoTalons]

Keith Anderson on here did it years ago. Very nice, but it's not easy, especially getting the speedo to work with our tranny. It can be done but like Steve said, it's not easy. I built two of them. Still have this one:

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/krefly/733776_9_full.jpg

The electronic speedo makes things much easier. No speedo cable required and the electronic sending unit screws right on the tranny. You just need the correct "tang" to drive the sender.

[Swifty1638]

How did you do that all exactly? What was a rough estimate on cost? I too have been wanting to do this, but it's not quite at the top of my priority list.

-A. Swift

[sleepydsm]

*Off Subject* Keith, I remember seeing your totaled car in your driveway, and it almost made me cry. I had gotten my very first DSM, and came to your house to buy your factory hatch cover. I remember you were working on an El Camino SS at the time. That was one of the nicest 1gs I have ever seen!

[TwoTalons]

How did you do that all exactly? What was a rough estimate on cost? I too have been wanting to do this, but it's not quite at the top of my priority list.

-A. SwiftWell, whatever the gauges, speedo sender, and tach adapter cost plus a spare cluster to hack up.

Doing just the three center gauges is easy. You just have to enlarge the holes in the face and clear the housing behind so they fit. The printed circuit on the back stays intact so all the dummy lights work.

If you do the speedo and tach as well, you'll have to make a decision about keeping the dummy light functionality. Keeping them functional makes the job a LOT more complicated and time consuming. The problem is the depth of the gauges. They stick out the back of the cluster. In order to get them to fit, you have to hack the shit out of the housing. The bulkhead sockets will no longer work which means you have to custom wire everything. You also have to hack up the dash behind the cluster. The bulkhead connectors have to be taken apart and the wires reconnected to some other type of connector like a 25 pin computer plug or something. You have to figure out which wires go to each dummy light and wire them appropriately. I cut up the printed circuit and soldered wires to each piece for the lamps. I have more pictures of the back side of the finished cluster somewhere. I'll post them later.

[TwoTalons]

*Off Subject* Keith, I remember seeing your totaled car in your driveway, and it almost made me cry. I had gotten my very first DSM, and came to your house to buy your factory hatch cover. I remember you were working on an El Camino SS at the time. That was one of the nicest 1gs I have ever seen!Ya, that sucked big time. It was one of the nicest DSM's I ever owned. Only consolation was I actually made money on it. The El Camino is gone too. I sold it back in April. I had that car for 26 years.