Cluster issues? My solution...Speedhut gauges retro fit.
06-26-11, 01:28 AM
#51
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So I peeled off the glass off and took the Speedhut glasses off of it. I didn't get a clear recess on some of the gauges location. To make sure I masked the Speedhut glasses and place them on the OEM glass where I would like the gauges to be. I placed the masked area to upward and I put double sided tape on the back o when I place the OEM glass back on the cluster they will stick to the fiberglass. I took off the OEM glass again and left the Speedhut glasses on the fiberglass. I painted the cluster and took the Speedhut glass off and it let me the marking where the gauges are going to be installed. This is it for today.
06-26-11, 03:00 AM
#52
The stock speedometer does handle some other tasks, other than just indicating speed and distance.
These include:
a) converting and relaying the speed info to the cruise control unit
b) converting and relaying the speed info to the ECU (I believe the info is only used to bump the idle when rolling in neutral)
c) monitoring the coolant level sensor and controlling the low coolant light
d) communication with CPU No. 2 (This should be for the low coolant buzzer)
e) Indicates to the the ECU whether the car has traveled 20,000 miles or not (only important if your running a stock ECU and even then...)
f) relays ignition signal to the tach (Not important if you also replace the tach; as you are doing).
I realize that none of these are all that important, the car will run fine without any of these, but I am curious if/how you are addressing any of these.
These include:
a) converting and relaying the speed info to the cruise control unit
b) converting and relaying the speed info to the ECU (I believe the info is only used to bump the idle when rolling in neutral)
c) monitoring the coolant level sensor and controlling the low coolant light
d) communication with CPU No. 2 (This should be for the low coolant buzzer)
e) Indicates to the the ECU whether the car has traveled 20,000 miles or not (only important if your running a stock ECU and even then...)
f) relays ignition signal to the tach (Not important if you also replace the tach; as you are doing).
I realize that none of these are all that important, the car will run fine without any of these, but I am curious if/how you are addressing any of these.
06-26-11, 09:03 AM
#53
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a) converting and relaying the speed info to the cruise control unit
R1 model no cruise control
b) converting and relaying the speed info to the ECU (I believe the info is only used to bump the idle when rolling in neutral)
Since my speedo/tach/odo hasn't worked in 4 month haven't notice any change with this anyways
c) monitoring the coolant level sensor and controlling the low coolant light
trying to make a low coolant warning light just got to figure out how
d) communication with CPU No. 2 (This should be for the low coolant buzzer)
Doesn't work. I was told that with the PFC you loose the buzzer which I hope is the reason why mine doesn't work
e) Indicates to the the ECU whether the car has traveled 20,000 miles or not (only important if your running a stock ECU and even then...)
PFC
f) relays ignition signal to the tach (Not important if you also replace the tach; as you are doing).
You said it yourself
I realize that none of these are all that important, the car will run fine without any of these, but I am curious if/how you are addressing any of these.
R1 model no cruise control
b) converting and relaying the speed info to the ECU (I believe the info is only used to bump the idle when rolling in neutral)
Since my speedo/tach/odo hasn't worked in 4 month haven't notice any change with this anyways
c) monitoring the coolant level sensor and controlling the low coolant light
trying to make a low coolant warning light just got to figure out how
d) communication with CPU No. 2 (This should be for the low coolant buzzer)
Doesn't work. I was told that with the PFC you loose the buzzer which I hope is the reason why mine doesn't work
e) Indicates to the the ECU whether the car has traveled 20,000 miles or not (only important if your running a stock ECU and even then...)
PFC
f) relays ignition signal to the tach (Not important if you also replace the tach; as you are doing).
You said it yourself
I realize that none of these are all that important, the car will run fine without any of these, but I am curious if/how you are addressing any of these.
06-26-11, 10:54 AM
#54
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I'm running a PFC and my coolant buzzer works just fine. Not sure if this is related to the 4 wires snipped on a USDM FD, mines an RHD one.
Learn something new every day though, I had no idea the speedo had anything to do with the coolant buzzer.... seems strange
Learn something new every day though, I had no idea the speedo had anything to do with the coolant buzzer.... seems strange
06-26-11, 12:58 PM
#57
Thanks for your reply. I am watching this thread expectantly as this is perhaps the best gauge solution for the 7.
As for the coolant buzzer, I can say for sure that the buzzer does work for the USDM with the PFC, as I have had this unfortunate experience; so it should work for you.
I do also have a coolant level sensor just laying around, so I thought I would look at it and see what it does. What I found was that the coolant level sensor is the most expensive piece of insulated wire you will ever purchase. The sensor is, near as I can tell, just a bit of corrosion resistant metal attached to a wire; cast inside a plastic bolt. 67 ******* dollars! I feel dirty. Anyway, since the thing is insulated from ground it uses the conductance of the coolant to complete the circuit to ground.
Hope that helps, and keep up the good work.
As for the coolant buzzer, I can say for sure that the buzzer does work for the USDM with the PFC, as I have had this unfortunate experience; so it should work for you.
I do also have a coolant level sensor just laying around, so I thought I would look at it and see what it does. What I found was that the coolant level sensor is the most expensive piece of insulated wire you will ever purchase. The sensor is, near as I can tell, just a bit of corrosion resistant metal attached to a wire; cast inside a plastic bolt. 67 ******* dollars! I feel dirty. Anyway, since the thing is insulated from ground it uses the conductance of the coolant to complete the circuit to ground.
Hope that helps, and keep up the good work.
06-26-11, 02:20 PM
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Thanks for your reply. I am watching this thread expectantly as this is perhaps the best gauge solution for the 7.
As for the coolant buzzer, I can say for sure that the buzzer does work for the USDM with the PFC, as I have had this unfortunate experience; so it should work for you.
I do also have a coolant level sensor just laying around, so I thought I would look at it and see what it does. What I found was that the coolant level sensor is the most expensive piece of insulated wire you will ever purchase. The sensor is, near as I can tell, just a bit of corrosion resistant metal attached to a wire; cast inside a plastic bolt. 67 ******* dollars! I feel dirty. Anyway, since the thing is insulated from ground it uses the conductance of the coolant to complete the circuit to ground.
Hope that helps, and keep up the good work.
As for the coolant buzzer, I can say for sure that the buzzer does work for the USDM with the PFC, as I have had this unfortunate experience; so it should work for you.
I do also have a coolant level sensor just laying around, so I thought I would look at it and see what it does. What I found was that the coolant level sensor is the most expensive piece of insulated wire you will ever purchase. The sensor is, near as I can tell, just a bit of corrosion resistant metal attached to a wire; cast inside a plastic bolt. 67 ******* dollars! I feel dirty. Anyway, since the thing is insulated from ground it uses the conductance of the coolant to complete the circuit to ground.
Hope that helps, and keep up the good work.
Well I'm done cutting the holes and fitting the gauges. I'm going to take a break from this and take my kids to the pool. when I come back I will take the cluster out of my car so I can use the good glass and start on the electrical wiring of this.
06-26-11, 07:05 PM
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So while I was taking a break from the cluster I decided to swap the speedo on my original cluster from the guinea pig cluster to see if it worked. Well it didn't. So I swapped it back. When I looked at the ribbon that plugs to the speedo board closer it looked like it was torn.
I grabbed the extra one and swapped it. Didn't work. So I swapped the speedo again...hey guess what IT WORKS!!! Any one wants a finished Speedhut cluster for $1200? J/k :
So where is a picture of everything put together. I still need to drill the holes for the buttons on the gauges and attach the second circuit board for the fuel.
I grabbed the extra one and swapped it. Didn't work. So I swapped the speedo again...hey guess what IT WORKS!!! Any one wants a finished Speedhut cluster for $1200? J/k :
So where is a picture of everything put together. I still need to drill the holes for the buttons on the gauges and attach the second circuit board for the fuel.
06-27-11, 07:26 PM
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Well I'm done with this. Now is plugging all the sensors in which is pretty straight forward.
The part I was dreading the most was drilling the holes in the glass. As you can see, I put a crack on the speedo side. The flash makes it look 100x worst than what it actually it is. You have to look at it straight in to actually see it. I will get a new glass anyways so I can have pretty chrome rings again.
The part I was dreading the most was drilling the holes in the glass. As you can see, I put a crack on the speedo side. The flash makes it look 100x worst than what it actually it is. You have to look at it straight in to actually see it. I will get a new glass anyways so I can have pretty chrome rings again.
06-28-11, 12:41 AM
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Rick... This turned out beautifully. Great concept and execution. Can't believe how easy you made it seem. I think it was all the pre-planning. I can't cut a piece of wire without screwing it up. I thik I asked before, but, are you using the stock trim rings or did you get chrome rings from Speedhut?
Gordon
Gordon
I only cut 3 wires from the factory wiring harness (fuel sender, tach signal and cigarette lighting) and I cut them to give me enough in case I want to reverse this.
Here they are installed in the car and lit up and running. The fuel gauge isn't as bright I was warned about so it isn't bad at all (it looks brighter in the pic than what it actually is). When the lights are on it dims. I haven't hooked up the oil pressure sensor and temp yet. I will do that this weekend when I change my oil and coolant. Got to get rid of the 50/50 mix I had for the Virginia winter and go with 75/25 water/coolant hot desert mix
So If I could go back and change anything of the way I did this I would do the following different.
1) Tried to make the gauges fit in the stock gauges opening. I tried this by trimming the inner part of the opening about 1/8 and made the tach fit but it sat too low. I bet if I would have played a bit with it, it would have worked.
2) Lay aluminum foil in the mold and pour the resin in then lay the fiberglass cloth on top. This would have ensure easier gauge placement and flat surface.
3) Make the hole for the button on the OEM glass with a "pencil" style soldering iron (I have a pistol style). This way I wouldn't have cracked the OEM glass.
4) Use another solution for the fuel gauge. Even though I do like it, I'm not thrilled about it. I sat in a BMW Z3 M coupe yesterday and I saw that it has 3 gauges under the radio. This gave me the idea to mount 2 gauges under the radio on a sunken in fashion to achieve this look. I could mount a fuel and volt gauge down there using a single din pocket and blending it in to the center/ac panel and ditching my Miata double din radio and using a Miata single din radio.
06-28-11, 12:42 AM
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IMO. If you really want to do this and you are in San Diego, I be glad to help you out.
