Writeup: JSpec Gauge Cluster
[Kudos on black face+orange backlight!]
01-26-11, 11:42 PM
#30
Despite what one might think based on this thread I hate wiring and electronics, nothing but tedious headaches (see my "leaning out under boost thread"). The lighting difference in real life is so minimal I didn't find it worthwhile to wire in anything additional. Plus it would be kind of annoying to have a second dimmer just for gauges....i think.
01-27-11, 11:01 AM
#34
While I appreciate that you have done something similar, replacing all the gauges has been done before, and is not the topic of this thread. If you could refrain from posting pictures of other setups in this writeup thread it would be appreciated. Thanks.
Pele:
My name is James it was built according to my specifications;
J ....Spec.
-Ted. Took issue w/the moniker on RCC, lol - kinda surprised it took so long for someone to bring it up here.
Pele:
My name is James it was built according to my specifications;
J ....Spec.
-Ted. Took issue w/the moniker on RCC, lol - kinda surprised it took so long for someone to bring it up here.
01-27-11, 02:57 PM
#35
work in progress....
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My bad i was responding to this post on it. Sorry.
now someone needs to do a writeup doing a complete custom cluster (speedo,tach, and all the others). that would be epic, I've seen an aftermarket tack put in the stock tack place in the stock cluster but a whole cluster would be awesome. don't get me wrong, this is truely a great idea and great writeup, looks legit, but it leaves me wanting ALL the gauges looking like the new ones.lol. maybe I'll do one later on if I can figure out how to do it with all the gauges working (I'm looking at you, speedo).
bte, I vote archive for this.
bte, I vote archive for this.
01-27-11, 03:00 PM
#36
Sideways is the only way
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sorry, my fault that he posted pics of those because I said it would be cool to have an actual writeup on a full gauge conversion. I do really like your placement of your boost gauge now, at first I wasn't sure but it's grown on me.
03-22-11, 01:23 PM
#38
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@Karack I can attest to the gauges being much better IRL than you can see in pics. The LED's are very bright, so it causes alot of light noise that a camera will pick up but your eyes will sift out. They are brighter than the stock gauges of course, but it is not as bad as it looks and is hardly distracting.
So... Since I got permission from Sharingan, here goes my writeup on how to do this for the S5 cluster:
I didn't want to bother precisely shaping aluminum and dremeling out huge chunks of my stock gauge bezel. And since the Prosport 45mm amber gauges fit the circles in the stock bezel perfectly I figured that would be too good of an opportunity to waste.
1. At first I thought I could heat treat a piece of Lexan and form it to the shape of the clear cover that is glued on the black plastic bezel so I could replace it after I broke it off, but abandoned that idea when I realized I would need a heat supply in excess of 300 degrees which I did not possess. So the next option was to break the glue off without damaging the clear cover.
2. I found this could be accomplished by CAREFULLY using a knife to separate the clear cover from the black bezel. Since the bezel is formed to come over the clear cover much of the time I simply chipped and broke off pieces of the bezel to separate the glue. This doesn't matter since it is obscured from view when assembled. The important thing to remember when doing this is that the clear cover is more of a brittle plastic than the black bezel, so you should apply more force on the black piece and less on the clear piece. You can also use a solvent to loosen the glue, but there are no guarantees with 20+ year old glue and plastics.
3. Install the gauges in a position of your liking. I used oil press, water temp, and boost gauges. If you're OK with keeping the nasty stock water temp gauge, you could skip cutting the fuel gauge out later on. Of course this part is all a matter of preference.
4. Here is where the dremel makes it's appearance. You're gonna want to cut the mounting brackets to a length of 16mm from the inside base of the bracket. You don't have much room to screw these on, so this needs to be precise. If you mess it up you can always resort to gorilla glue.
5. Finally the cluster housing will need to be dremeled out. If you needed to cut the fuel gauge, it is a bit easier on the S5 since there is no metal spine to cut through, but be careful to cut it in the right place so light doesn't creep through the bottom. I decided to run the gauge cables through the lower left front illumination light, so I widened that out on the circuit board and cut a slot for it in the bottom of the housing. There is another hole here that could be utilized without cutting out the illumination, but it is a tighter fit. Finally the lower left box used to isolate the buzzer will need to be cut. Assemble (attach cables and re-glue the clear cover) and install.
Of course there are a bunch of other issues pertaining to cable routing and the mounting of the sensors, but that will have to be covered by someone else.
Hope this helps!
So... Since I got permission from Sharingan, here goes my writeup on how to do this for the S5 cluster:
I didn't want to bother precisely shaping aluminum and dremeling out huge chunks of my stock gauge bezel. And since the Prosport 45mm amber gauges fit the circles in the stock bezel perfectly I figured that would be too good of an opportunity to waste.
1. At first I thought I could heat treat a piece of Lexan and form it to the shape of the clear cover that is glued on the black plastic bezel so I could replace it after I broke it off, but abandoned that idea when I realized I would need a heat supply in excess of 300 degrees which I did not possess. So the next option was to break the glue off without damaging the clear cover.
2. I found this could be accomplished by CAREFULLY using a knife to separate the clear cover from the black bezel. Since the bezel is formed to come over the clear cover much of the time I simply chipped and broke off pieces of the bezel to separate the glue. This doesn't matter since it is obscured from view when assembled. The important thing to remember when doing this is that the clear cover is more of a brittle plastic than the black bezel, so you should apply more force on the black piece and less on the clear piece. You can also use a solvent to loosen the glue, but there are no guarantees with 20+ year old glue and plastics.
3. Install the gauges in a position of your liking. I used oil press, water temp, and boost gauges. If you're OK with keeping the nasty stock water temp gauge, you could skip cutting the fuel gauge out later on. Of course this part is all a matter of preference.
4. Here is where the dremel makes it's appearance. You're gonna want to cut the mounting brackets to a length of 16mm from the inside base of the bracket. You don't have much room to screw these on, so this needs to be precise. If you mess it up you can always resort to gorilla glue.
5. Finally the cluster housing will need to be dremeled out. If you needed to cut the fuel gauge, it is a bit easier on the S5 since there is no metal spine to cut through, but be careful to cut it in the right place so light doesn't creep through the bottom. I decided to run the gauge cables through the lower left front illumination light, so I widened that out on the circuit board and cut a slot for it in the bottom of the housing. There is another hole here that could be utilized without cutting out the illumination, but it is a tighter fit. Finally the lower left box used to isolate the buzzer will need to be cut. Assemble (attach cables and re-glue the clear cover) and install.
Of course there are a bunch of other issues pertaining to cable routing and the mounting of the sensors, but that will have to be covered by someone else.
Hope this helps!
03-22-11, 09:31 PM
#41
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As it turns out my engine is a bit of a frankenmotor. While I have an S5 NA shell the engine is a late model S4 JDM turbo and strangely enough the casting on the rear iron for some of those engines used the S5 coolent sensor, so that bolted right up. That said my one complaint at prosport is that the threads are cut a little high, and while I got it to fit, both the oil press and water temp gauges had to have me use the threaded holes as a die and screw the sender in and out (giggity) until the high spots were worn down enough for the senders to thread in all the way. Seriously, my oil gauge wouldn't screw in easily into prosports own adapter kit they sold me
04-01-11, 10:24 AM
#42
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awsome Ill add mine here too...
Sharingan made me a bezel for the gauges. I had to do a bit of work to it, but it came out well
I used a prosport 52mm digital wideband and a 45mm coolant temp gauge
Sharingan made me a bezel for the gauges. I had to do a bit of work to it, but it came out well
I used a prosport 52mm digital wideband and a 45mm coolant temp gauge
04-01-11, 05:36 PM
#43
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now someone needs to do a writeup doing a complete custom cluster (speedo,tach, and all the others). that would be epic, I've seen an aftermarket tack put in the stock tack place in the stock cluster but a whole cluster would be awesome. don't get me wrong, this is truely a great idea and great writeup, looks legit, but it leaves me wanting ALL the gauges looking like the new ones.lol. maybe I'll do one later on if I can figure out how to do it with all the gauges working (I'm looking at you, speedo).
bte, I vote archive for this.
bte, I vote archive for this.
05-03-11, 11:26 PM
#44
Here is a VERY VERY basic sketch of whats to come. this is a mockup gauges only so things have been chopped/cut that will not be cut in the real cluster that goes in my car. Everything is going to be recessed if all the plans work out. i have tried many diff combos/ variations. went threw a few clusters. I wanted to use just the pro sport gauge itself without the bezek and everything but its weird. I do not have lens on my gauge
05-03-11, 11:49 PM
#45
Seems like the cleanest way to achieve the "recessed"look would be to separate the bezel from the rest of the gauge, but I'm pretty sure someone had confirmed that doesn't work too well....
I look forward to your final solution, if your bodywork is any indication, it should be tight.
I look forward to your final solution, if your bodywork is any indication, it should be tight.
05-04-11, 09:36 AM
#47
I would use this method BUT! You see them 4 notches in the cluster, them have to be covered and i dont know how to make a perfect ciricle so the white slashes have a even gap all the way around. obviously in the pictures its not lined up but you get the idea
06-10-11, 11:31 AM
#48
Bomberman - like what you did with the guages, but I was just wondering about the fuel level gauge. So you actually have to take it out along with the water guage? I hate not having a working fuel gauge. I wonder if they make an aftermarket one that works...
06-10-11, 11:53 AM
#49
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So basically while it appears that you have 6 gauges in your cluster, in fact you only have 4. This is because the fuel & coolant gauges are one unit, along with the oil pressure & boost/volt gauges.
So as I said in my writeup in order to install 3 of the 45mm gauges it is necessary to separate the fuel gauge from the coolant temp gauge. It can be cut very easily with a dremmel (easy on s5 clusters, apparently s4 clusters have a metal rib that also needs to get cut) The fuel gauge still works just fine, although it cannot be relocated since it gets its electrical signal from where it bolts up.
If you don't want to take the chance of dremmeling it out wrong, and you only want to install 2 gauges where the stock oil pressure & boost/volt gauges are, you can avoid this by not cutting the fuel gauge and leaving the coolant temp gauge where it is. However the coolant temp gauge is probably the most inaccurate gauge of them all. I have personally blown an engine in part due to the vague readings this gauge gave me. So as far as I am concerned, you really wanna get rid of that one.
06-10-11, 11:34 PM
#50
Thanks for the clarification! Now I see what you mean about the fuel gauge. I don't have any problem with separating the gauges - my degree is in circuit board repair, so I'm good at that kind of stuff. I'm actually swapping mine into a s4 car on top of it all - partly for the 9k tach (my new motor is bridgeported) and partly because I like the look of the s5 panel better with the gauges swapped in. And partly for the challenge 
My plan is for a coolant temp and oil temp and pressure gauge in the cluster and larger boost gauge on the column. I also have an AFR gauge that I need to find a place for, plus I want an AIT gauge and EGT gauge, but I think I'm gonna wait a bit for those.
My plan is for a coolant temp and oil temp and pressure gauge in the cluster and larger boost gauge on the column. I also have an AFR gauge that I need to find a place for, plus I want an AIT gauge and EGT gauge, but I think I'm gonna wait a bit for those.