Cluster issues? My solution...Speedhut gauges retro fit.
 

I had the same issue with my gauges that some of you have, no speedo, tach or odometer. I did a lot of research on repairing it myself or getting it repaired by some one. I was afraid that I was going to pay some one $230+ for it to have a chance to fail again. While I was researching a fix, I came across Speedhut gauges. At first I was a bit hesitant about this because I didn't want it to look after market. I was shown a few option on how to mount them but it wasn't till I was referred to another forum that I'm not going to mention. He's also a member her (halfspec). He gave me the details on how to mount the gauges and make them look OEM. He is doing an LSX swap so he doesn't need a boost gauge. I don't want to have gauge pods in my interior since I want to have the cleanest looking interior I can achieve.

I contacted Speedhut with a lot of questions and they were very helpful in making my decision. The hardest part was choosing a finish I wanted. With Speedhut gauges, if you dream it, they can pretty much make it. All you have to do is make a rough design and they will match it to the best of their ability. They make OEM gauges for a few manufactures(Ford GT use these gauges) and kit car (Factory Five Racing being one of them). I did a few renderings of what I had on mind but I was afraid that I might get tired of looking at colorful gauges and might grow old on me. These are a few design I though about.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5165/ideacluster.jpg

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/7982/wtach.jpg

At the end I decided to keep it clean and simple and try to stick to the OEM look. So I went with the Black back ground and red lettering. When I placed my order and sent them the design I wanted, they were quick and sent me a proof the next day to see if it was to my liking.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/3906/picture2jtz.png

I place my order of five gauges, Tach, Speedo, Oil Pressure, Boost and Temp. For fuel I got a Auto Meter digital gauge that I will installed where the warning lights are on the right side.

Today I got my gauges and I was impressed with the quality. This picture do no justice to the finish of them.

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2156/img163c.jpg

Here are some detailed picture of each gauge and they associated parts.

Tach

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/3921/tachtm.jpg

My speedo function by GPS. These are a bit more expensive but when I was reading how to set up I said NO. It was too much of a hassle so I opt for the GPS unit. Don't mind the purple dots, that's from the flash.

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/1728/speedo.jpg

The other great thing about the gauges is that I could get my mileage programmed. I got tired of writing my mileage on paper every day.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4416/mileage.jpg

Oil pressure. I had to order an adapter for the oil pressure sender to fit where the OEM one is at. I got it from Summit Racing.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/5281/oilpres.jpg

Temp gauge. It is going on the TB line. I got the T from Lowes "Motorsports"

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7415/tempth.jpg

Boost

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8476/booste.jpg

The gauges break down for ease of custom installation and they are very shallow too.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3034/apart.jpg

They mount by a ring that screws in

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8798/mounting.jpg

They also sent me a "power distribution" wiring to connect the lighting control and power to one source for ease of installation.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/6493/disto.jpg

This is my fuel gauge. I have to take the bezel off to get a clean mount.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/2081/fuelc.jpg

This is my guinea pig cluster. I got this to be able to hack and in case I mess up I have another one to use.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4555/clusterz.jpg

My Speedhut gauges cost me $800 but I think it is a worth investment considering that you can have the gauge to look any way you want them. I did consider doing the a Spirit R copy but I stuck to the OEM look.

Keep an eye on this thread. I will start tomorrow to retro fit them on the OEM cluster.

Wow...this could be great. Will follow!

Wow that's awesome, can't wait to see em finished and lit!

Speed hut makes good products. Theres a few threads on them with great success. Subscribed!

Good luck with your conversion. It's a PITA but if you take your time it will turn out super nice. I just finnished mine up recently.
http://tapatalk.com/mu/a6cd0adb-dbcd-5633.jpg

http://tapatalk.com/mu/a6cd0adb-dc60-9439.jpg

http://tapatalk.com/mu/a6cd0adb-dc82-5004.jpg

This is the finish look I want to achieve. I hope halfspec doesn't mind me using his pictures. They way he did his and explained to me, its simple. I might have a simpler way that I'm going to try out first though.

Attachment 716959

Attachment 716960

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Lane's gauges look simply amazing. A far cry from simple though.

Can't wait to see how they turn out

Lane has been very helpful on this and he has pretty much walking me through this retro fit and made it very simple for me to do. I will not get as detailed as he did with the wiring (at least not yet ;) ) but I'm using most of his ideas.


One thing I forgot to mention about Speedhut. If you want o change the look of the gauge faces, you can send your gauges to them and they will take car of that. I forgot to ask how much they ask for them to do this though.

Damnit this is awesome!

Normally I hate aftermarket cluster replacements, but I'm taken back. This is awesome!!!

those gauges look first class, very nice.
I really like the GPS speedo, how large of a receiver do you have to install for it?

Something Heath and I can agree on, those look sweet. Might be in my future if I can't fix my odometer issue.

Subscribed

For some reason my Speedo picture isn't working so I posted a new one. I will put the GPS antenna on the little "bridge" between the front window defroster running the wiring under the dash. The gauges are 4" for the Speedo and Tach then 2 1/16" for the rest of them.

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/2180/speedoi.jpg

you should not need it out in the open like that, my suggestion is to leave it under the dash and confirm its working before putting it out in the open.
I install GPS speedos in boats all the time and its not required to be out in the open. A short delay is normal for them so dont take that as a issue with its mounting position

I like this I'd be interested In changing my FC cluster to this tach and speedo

Nice setup
Ive played with the Speedhut website before
Interesting

Looking great Rick! The gauge color combo looks really good! I'm pretty jealous! I chose stock looking colors because at first I was only planning on doing my oil and coolant gauges. I'm wishing I had gone with yellow lettering and backlight though. I'm subscribing to your thread and eagarly looking forward to seeing your progress :)

Lane

PS
You are welcome to post any pictures from my build thread you want. Here's one of the cluster when I finished. The only difference being is that the programming buttons are installed in the stock glass face :)

Attachment 716961

It looks like they make a fuel gauge as well correct? What made you decide to go with the autometer instead?

I want to do this SO BAD.

How hard is it to wire all these in?

It's not too bad. I believe ProjectD was able to still use most of his existing wiring because he didn't touch his rear PCB.

I took a more drastic approach and did this:

Attachment 716964
Attachment 716965
Attachment 716966

I wired in a 24pin Delphi GT Lever Lock series connector in so that my cluster is a one plug affair. My instrument harness was completely rewired to accommodate this change.

My build thread has a lot of info on my wiring and the cluster mod, but its on another forum. I'll post it over here some day, but if anyone is interested in seeing it now, PM me and I'll send you the address :)

Lane

I wanted to mount my boost gauge in the cluster because I didn't want to have have a boot gauge on a pod.

It isn't hard at all. My kit came with a distribution wiring kit for power and lighting. So you only need to tap into one power source and one lighting source then plug all your gauges to the "distribution block". Then you just put your new sensors (in my case boost. temp and oil pressure) in the engine and plug them to the gauge. For the tach just tap into the tach signal that comes from the ECU. Then follow the instructions and set your tach. The speedo only power and lighting is required because it gets it speed signal from GPS.

So today I started with the hardest task, mounting the fuel gauge. Lots of trimming to get this done. I took my time doing it with baby steps.

I had to gut the fuel gauge and separate the two circuit boards so I can fit it the way I wanted it.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1324/fuelguts.jpg

Here is the trimming I had to do to the cluster

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/2...ertrimming.jpg

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/804...elmounting.jpg

Here i how the gauge mounts to the cluster

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1497/fueloncluster.jpg

Here is a rough of how the fuel gauge will look. I still have to make a face so it covers the entire hole and only expose the number for a clean look. I also have to secure it to the cluster but this is just an idea of where it is going to sit.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/5404/fuelmounted.jpg

Okay semi done with the fuel gauge. Just got to connect the other circuit board to it but I will do that at the end.

Some 3M double sided tape to hold the cover I made. I used a combination of hot glue gun and some strong glue (Plasticaid) to hold it in place.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5...elfinished.jpg

This is what it looks like with the cover installed. Remember that this is going to be behind the OEM glass.

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/2...linstalled.jpg

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/491...installed2.jpg

very nice!! props to doing something different!

That is it for today. It 117 outside and tonight is poker night. Tomorrow morning I will start with the main gauges. The goal is to have the cluster done tomorrow night.

Sigh. Could this be any more awesome?

Interesting option, I'm liking it :)

One thing, an oil pressure gauge that only goes to 100 psi in an FD isn't ideal. You'd be better with 120-140, not sure if that was an option.

Rich, Speedhut on the 2" size goes from 100 then to 200 psi. I though I ordered the 200 psi one but I mistakenly didn't. At least I can monitor a low oil pressure warning that IMO is more critical than high pressure considering my driving (mostly cruising). I am planning on getting the 200psi one though. Swapping the gauge out is going to be a plug and play thing.

this is very cool ! love the stockish look, but updated technology in the cluster when you get done.

how much did everything set you back if you don't mind me asking ?

:icon_tup:

The Autometer gauge is really bright, so I would get the Autometer 9114 module.

$800
I have a solution for that ;) but now that we are talking about that, when you hook yours up, did you hook up the illumination?

Yes. The Autometer LEDs were so bright that I just hooked the ill. up to 12V all the time. Even the dimmer setting was really bright.

This is with the ill. hooked up to 12V
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp9g3G6uv7A

I have the speedhut gauge series though which aren't LED, so my gauges aren't quite as bright as yours.

Well I can either put a resistor in the lighting wire or put a tinted film in front of it.

How accurate are the GPS speedos?

Speedhut makes some awesome gauges and their customer service is top notch! I've thought about going the same route, but since my factory gauges work fine at the moment I went with four of the Speedhut gauges.

If any one is interested in just having a gauge that matches the stock gauges I think these are as close as you are going to get. I'll have to see if I can take a picture of them later.

Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Probably more accurate the the OEM speedometer. Especially with some of the tire and wheel setups some of us are using. Just don't get caught speeding in a tunnel! :D

Agreed. My stock tach and speedo work, but the other stock gauges are garbage.

Speedhut gauges are AWESOME. I requested some custom features, and they did them with no issue. Customer service is excellent too. Best part, I have the electric speedhut gauge series, and I paid only $340ish for 5 gauges, and I missed the sale. I've tried Defi, prosport, PLX digital, and Autometer gauges, and these are my favorite so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEOAu72-8v8

Looks like more stuff I'm gonna need to buy...

I'm going to take the speedo in my truck with my GPS Navigation. I'm going to compare the Speedhut unit to both of them and see. But right now the only speedo I'm using is the one on my Tom Tom.

If you really want your after market gauges to match your OEM gauges, you can send them a high resolution picture of your gauges and they will match it.

Wasn't even needed really. The font, lighting and color matched perfectly! Here is a horrible iPhone photo after the initial install. (Big props to my wiring Guru need-a-t2!)
http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/4148/imagezvg.jpg

Awesome! I've been dying for a tach like that... I like how the gauges have lowest readings @ 6 o'clock. Very nice!

that's a clean set up specially the tach.

Small progress today so far. Had a long fun night with friends and woke up too late to be working outside in the heat so I just did the mold. Tonight I might work on the black part of the cluster cutting it to fit the new mounting surface.

I took the glass of the Speedhut gauges and taped them to the OEM glass. Not only this will mark where the gauges will mount but it also gives me a sunken mounting surface so the gauges be against the glass. Once the black part of the OEM cluster is skeletonized, I will put them two together and lay fiberglass on the glass making the mounting surface. If you trim the holes in the black part you can get the gauges to sit in them but my tach was sitting a bit too low and not centered.

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8916/moldx.jpg

So I applied a THICK layer of wax to the OEM glass so the fiberglass doesn't really stick to it. Yes it is broken but when I'm done this one will go in the trash.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6043/waxed.jpg

And the black gauges surround skeletonized

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/3...oundgutted.jpg

Mold

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/3...tachedmold.jpg

Fiberglass laid down. Had to work fast because the heat here make the resin cure very fast.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/7380/fiberglassed.jpg

FWIW, I think it looks really nice.

About you FG work. You can use packing tape or aluminum foil next time instead of duct tape and trying to wax that you will see it will save you a ton of finishing work.

I was using packing tape but I could get it to stick well and to form to it. I was debating on the aluminum foil but I have no clues why I didn't use it. My wife asked me the same thing.