Just finished new digital dash. Machined panel out of 1/2" ally so I could sink the gauges in. The centre one is an AEM wideband sensor display, unfortunately only available in red.

One more bit ready for engine swap day!

The fuel gauge (in the centre console) is something I've still got to figure out. It has 3 resistance ranges it can work with, but I don't know what range the Z sender uses.

If anyone knows I would be very interested.

 

Forgot about the US market. You can get Nordskog digital dashes over there for a few cars, and they look quite nice. Did consider transplanting a Corvette one in my Granada at one time.

 

Friday, I have Cad drawing of the backplate which you are welcome to have if you send address.

The fuel sender is a piece of piss to remove. Take out the boot carpet, remove the 4 scews holding down the cover plate, then the 6/8 bolts that hold the fuel pump cover plate - whole lot comes out as one - measure what it reads at empty and full :)

Looks great bud!-now stop messin' about and get the lump in!

BTW-I was looking at the Dakota Digital guages but didn't go for the colour! ;)

The fuel gauge (in the centre console) is something I've still got to figure out. It has 3 resistance ranges it can work with, but I don't know what range the Z sender uses.

If anyone knows I would be very interested.

 

Forgot about the US market. You can get Nordskog digital dashes over there for a few cars, and they look quite nice. Did consider transplanting a Corvette one in my Granada at one time.

 

Friday, I have Cad drawing of the backplate which you are welcome to have if you send address.

Cheers bud, very much appreciated, it's friday76@lycos.com Muchos, muchos thanks! :)

 

Manta: been mulling over the very same gauges for the past 2 years matey. They are very nice indeed ;)

Looks pretty good man. Is there a specific reason you've decided to swap the location of fuel and water temp gauge?

best DIY mod ever, absolutley fantastic.

you could make a mint!!!!

That looks fantastic, I`d buy one

Awesome result there Keith :shock:

 

Like it loads - Like you say, shame the centre guauge does not quite match the others but with those looks, I doubt it will notice.

 

I hate loads of aftermarket guages cluttering up the interior of any car, so your dash is THE perfect solution.

 

Like Andy Duff said, there really is a market for that, so think about it......

 

........when's the new series of "Dragon's Den"..... ;) :rofl:

 

Richard :)

I would buy one ;) fantastic mate

there you go....

 

i think you now have an obligation to make them for your fellow members! lol

i second that. stunning mate. ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks again.

Andyduff, didn't realise you could get to the fuel sender without dropping the tank, so that's saved a lot of aggro, ta.

Slobo, I like to keep an eye on temps and boost and air/fuel ratio more than anything else so put them in main console. Fuel gauge is waste of time with a 6.3 supercharged chevy anyway, I just fill up at every gas station I pass! :)

 

If anyone is thinking about doing something similar, then just a few pointers:-

I was a bit sceptical about going digital, would the numbers be changing so fast that you couldn't register what the hell was going on???

 

After doing it I found they were superb to read on the go. All that's needed is a quick glance and the brain takes it all in instantly. Nowadays driving a car with analogue gauges is like going back to olden days, takes ages to read wot's going on. Only downside is when sun is coming in over your shoulder, makes them difficult to read. But they look amazing at night.

 

Oh, they dim when sidelights come on.

 

The problem is that there's a ton of work to fit them, the backplate took a load of milling out, loads of mods to the original console to fit plate and get the bottom left warning light bit to fit, theres a ton of wires coming out the back. Took 7 hours yesterday to wire it up, different resistors for different colour led's to get the brightnesses right. Still a load of work to splice it all in to the car to get it all to work. Drilling, tapping, fretsawing, blasting, spraying etc.etc..

 

So, not a weekend job.

 

MantaV8, still got 6 weeks of rubbish houshold jobs before car comes off the road. Just collecting bits at the moment. Can't wait tho'

Would in not be possible to s;ice ionto the car orignal loom, i know the gauges are digital, but is that the meter side and nothing to do with the wiring? or is it the senders that need to be digital??

 

Neil

Looks the nuts

Very impressed !

thats fookin awesome, would love to do that for myself, but im a lazy arse lol

Just finished new digital dash. Machined panel out of 1/2" ally so I could sink the gauges in. The centre one is an AEM wideband sensor display, unfortunately only available in red.

One more bit ready for engine swap day!

 

 

Out of interested where'd you get the gauges from? a web site(s) would be good,

 

Cheers

 

Neil

Neil, web site is http://www.nordskogperformance.com although I buy it all from Summit in USA.

The range is called Street Digital.

The digital bit just refers to the display, the sensors are normal resistance based analogue type.

However, it would be a pure coincedence if the zed sensors are the same output as the Nordskog ones, but the proper matching sensors are not expensive compared to the overall cost of such a job.

 

I don't know if the original wiring could be used cos I've not looked up how the zed gauges work, ie if any of them work off the ecu, as I will run new wires for it all anyway.

 

The speedo needs some sort of electrical pulse so it may be possible to use the z one but I don't know how many pulses per mile it gives. My speedo can take up to 60,000 pulses per mile from memory. I have the matching sensor reading off 4 bolt heads on the prop. I think it was about 12,000 revs per mile on the Granada.

JD and I decided to go down a similar route as we were fed up with gauges littered all over the dash and interior. Not only do they look cluttered but when you're driving hard you need everything as much in your line of sight as possible, otherwise it distracts from the road. I'm hopefully fitting my Knock-Link in the pod but need to see exactly where with my Tech Edge Wideband O2 sensor will go!

Friday, the drawing will be an autocad file, are you ok to open it?

Can post it if not.

Friday, the drawing will be an autocad file, are you ok to open it?

Can post it if not.

About to send you a PM mate! :)

Keith, what did you do about the speed signal to the PAS ECU from the stock speedo? Was going to retain the factory speedo to keep it correct.

That is top banana, excellent. I am going to buy a 2nd dash and do the same myself :)

John, not figured out what the pas will need to keep it working, although mine doesn't work properly at the moment anyway. Mine is super light all the time.

Had a quick look at the manual and it looks like the pas selonoid uses different voltages to regulate the steering load, so I may just have a variable voltage supply to it and alter it till I get a nice, all round steering weight.

 

Having said that it would be nice to have it working properly so if anyone knows how to get steering working right, without the speedo installed, then I would be very grateful.

 

Ps John, did you manage to find that steering pump?

Cheers

Bugger, knew someone was after it! Has no pulley but it's there if you still want it.

Might be best to remove the circuit from the back of the stock speedo, box it then use that do drive the PAS ECU. I'd imagine it converts the pulses from the speed sensor to an analogue signal used by the PAS ECU but I've never had to check it out. Hopefully someone can shed some light on it

the main engine ECU needs speedsignal too for quite a few things (eg. VTC solenoids, Rev limiter, AFR routines, Fuelcut routines).

 

I would do as John suggests and keep the circuit from the old speedo or weird things might start to happen ;)