AutoMeter Gauges in FD Inst Cluster
 

I have posted some pictures in the Gallery:
https://www.rx7club.com/photo/showga...13&ppuser=2939
Showing the progress of my project to install 3 AutoMeter "SportComp" gauges in place of the stock oil press, water temp and fuel level gauges. As you can see in the pic's:
I moved the new Fuel level gauge to the old Water temp loc,
The new Water temp gauge (120-250f) in the old oil press location and put a Oil temp gauge (14-300f) in the old fuel level loc. the stock oil press gauge has been replaced by a mechanical 0-150psi SportComp gauge monted on the 'A' pillar along w a SportComp Boost/Vac gauge (visible in the pic of the stock instruments)
The wiring will be tied into the orig harness through the orig flexible circuit board with the Autometer Senders replacing the stock Oil Press Sender & Water Temp sender, The new Fuel gauge will be wired to the stock sender. The Oil Temp sender will be installed in one of FC3S.orgs (http://www.fc3s.org/) NEW fd Billet Oil filter pedestals (replaces the stock unit and provides 2 gauge taps)

Very nice work. Looks great!

Damn Max, that's sweet!

That's it, I'm sending you my dash next winter. ;)

Very nice bro! Its great to see someone brave enough to do somthing like this. I am thinking of converting to a full digital dash like used in indy ;)

Looks awesome, very cool idea too. I've thought about things like that but would never dream of attmepting it. Very nice work. How much to do mine??

I have always wanted to install an electronic boost gauge with a digital water temp combo into the dash. I know you race a lot, and for you the gauges you chose will serve a purpose, but to me, the boost combo is the way to go.

Nice work!

Mica:

Check out Max Cooper's site (http://www.maxcooper.com/) he put 2 dual SPA digital gauges in his Inst cluster. and has a good write up on his site.

I hope to have the project completed in time for the July SoCalRX club meet :cool:

Wow, good job.

Max has great information on his site but it's getting to the point where I'd almost offer to fly up to take clearer pictures for him just so you could tell what was going on. :)

Yeah, Max's site is very informative. But he needs a mini tripod. Also some times, the camera is too close to the object.

:)

Well I recieved (monday) & installed (wednesday) my new Oil Filter Pedestal from fc3s.org It is a very nicely made polished billet piece w/ 2ea 1/8 npt taps for installing aftermarket gauges, so now all I have to do to complete my Gauge Install is, pull my inst cluster, swap my Tach & Speedo to my modified cluster, add 3 warning lights (for fuel, water & oil level) probably in their own mini cluster mounted on top of the steering column, get all the photos processed & scanned, and finsh a write-up for anybody that wishes to attempt the same.
I could even po$$ibly be pur$uaded do do one for anybody that is interested ;)

Hmm.... would it be at all possible to make the newer 99-spec rz/rs dash's boost gauge functional, or is that just too big a PITA?
Batmobile just bought the instrument cluster, and I think it's a waste of space to have a non-functional guage (not that the stock temp is good for anything).

I Think the 99 gauge works off the stock MAP sensor bidkfs you would have to check the 99 FSM/ Wire diagrams, If it is a Mech Gauge ( but i doubt it is) just plumb it to the normal place (the extra nipple on the uim)

lol.

Good job Max and Max. I was eying the SPA fuel pressure gauge this morning. At $286 a gauge I'm going to have to sleep on it though.

Well I would be further along BUT getting the Oil Filter pedestal on and having it be LEAK FREE have turned out to be two entirely different things :( - I will be stopping off at the Parts store for some High Temp Form-A-Gasket on the way home from work today. Hope that will fix it.

Well I finally got the pedestal on w/o any leaks (turns out the O Ring counter bore was .25mm too deep preventing the O rings from sealing properly, Dave Re-Machined the unit and also added a machined notch for the Bump that is only on the AUTO Bellhousing. Pics Are pending in the Forum Gallery and are posted in the SoCalRX Club Yahoo Group PHOTO section:

http://tinyurl.com/iytl


More updates SOON :D

Pics Are in the Gallery (FINALLY!)

https://www.rx7club.com/photo/showga...18&ppuser=2939

UPDATE:
 

Well the Gauges are in & the cluster is reinstalled & are all working (more or less) using the stock wiring harness connections. I still have to hook up the lighting for the new gauges and the Fuel gauge needs tweeking - w/ the Stock sender the gauge pointer is about 15deg beyond the F mark when Full and when the pointer shows 1/4 it only takes 9 gallons to fill up (about 1/2 tank)
I think I need to add a small resistor(s) in parallel/series to matsh the gauge range to the sender range better. More pics soon. :cool:

Looks great Mark!

That's an awesome job!

So, how much $$ are we talking for your $ervice$? Have all the bugs been worked out? How long would someone have to leave the car @ your place?

Nothing at the moment though, just some planning. I don't think I can even afford the gas to drive the fd up there :(

:withstupi

UPDATE
 

Here are some pictures of the (almost) final product

https://www.rx7club.com/photo/data/3...ningLights.JPG
The nearly completed wiring on back of the cluster

I still have to add some warning lights for low oil, coolant & fuel - They hook up to the 3 pairs of terminals I added to the flex circuit where the orig bulbs went.

https://www.rx7club.com/photo/data/3..._Reinstall.JPG
Complete cluster ready to go back in the car

https://www.rx7club.com/photo/data/3...tPnl-InCar.JPG
Modified cluster installed in car

Also I need add some resistors to the fuel sender wiring to match the sender (7ohm F -76ohm E) range to the gauge (10ohm F -73ohm E) range I figure it will take 1 3ohm resistor in series w/ the gauge to get the Full reading right and a 900 ohm in parallel to get the Empty reading right.

I will also be adding a seperate Dimmer for the autometer guage lighting so I can match their brightness to the stock lighting.

I have not thought about pricing yet :D Or am I even sure I want to do this for other people.
IF I do, do this for others, I would NOT need (or WANT as I have NO pace to store sombody elses car, I barely have room for my 3) the car, just the Instrument Cluster. Let me know what you all think this would be worth to you and I'll consider it

how about a pic of the setup at night? I'm curious how the autometer gauges will look at night. Very nice thread though :)

I have the red covers on the AutoMeter light bulbs so the light color is fairly close to stock, acording to AdamC, VDO makes 'orange' light bulb covers that are an exact match to the stock color. I am working on getting the light INTENSITY to match between the stock & AutoMeter lighting. Thanks for the kudos :cool:

I loved this thread, but the photos got lost in the forum update, maxpesce can you please post them again?

-s-

Yeah, I'd like to see the lost pictures too

First link does not work..

Mahjik

Thanks for the reply & link - I thought I posted a new link to the Garage pics back in July :confused:

Update
 

I will try to find the rest of the photos that went w/ this thread but for now here is a recent pic showing the warning lights i added for low fuel and low coolant

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...e/PICT0194.jpg

Looks good but why is the fuel gauge turned? I understand the temp gauges to point upwards. I looked in to this but never did the project. I wanted to replace the water and oil pressure with Defi water and oil temps as well as the tack but I don't want to loose the low warning as well as the cruise lights.

the fuel level guage is turned simply to match the oil & water temp guages.
I still have to add a low oil level warning light - I plan on putting it in the A-Pillar pod next to the Oil Pressure guage

I can't get the lnkto open. has it been deleted or something?

There are quite a few links in this thread.

Did you see the link on post #30 to the VB Garage? It works.

hey max,

what is that on your steering column?

Gas light and check engine looks like.

From post #32;

"low fuel and low coolant"

thanks RE I didn't make the connection when I read it. Apparently I'm stuck on slow today. :)

i'm curious if the backlighting on the autometer gauges match the stock ones?

You can change the lamp covers to any color you want. But yes, mine match. Autometer sells little covers in different colors to give you the look you want.

Update
 

I have posted pics on my web site:

http://web.me.com/maxpesce/DavidMark...-7_Gauges.html

Sorry Above Link is broken

Try This one
http://web.mac.com/maxpesce/MyCars/M...om_Gauges.html

how much ohms do those three gauges need? I need to replace tack and speed gauge on my cluster on my FD. Thinking of replacing all the gauges with autometer. Can someone please help? Share some info.

you do realize this is a 2 year old thread?

I used the "Ford" style Fuel level meter, and for the other two (Water Temp, and Oil Temp) I used the Autometer senders. The Oil Temp sender is mounted to a custom oil filter pedestal. for Oil Pressure I used a mechanical gauge with tapped into the same port the stock pressure sender was located in.

The ford style fuel meter is not a very good match to the mazda sensor so now I would use one of the newer programmable style fuel meters instead.

If you read the FIRST post you would realize this thread was started over SEVEN (7) years ago, but i still have the car and I am still around to answer questions! so your post is moot! :-)

I have been trying to call some other guys who replace clusters but got no response. it's been about a year. I have seen many negative responses on repairing or replacing clusters in this forum and it doesn't sound good so I were looking into auto meter 5'' tac, 3-3/8"speedo,2-1/16"water temp,fuel and oil .To me thats the way to go but i need to know the ohms for WT, fuel and oil.

Yep, What he said.


All hail Max!