Okay,so I wanted to try and put a digital cluster in my stock dash.
Several reasons for this.
1.I am custom building a dash with something wayyyy cooler than this,so I I don't plan to use it long.
2.It will be easier to sell the easier it drops in I figure.
3. I want to keep my stock interior intact,so I bought a parts car
specifically for interior peices to alter.

The digital cluster is out of a 1995 GMC Safari.
I also cut all harnesses available and the reset buttons,drac
module(speed sensor calibrator) and anything that looked related to the
cluster.
I then removed the stock cluster assembly from my parts car and dissassembled it.

Remove 2 7mm screws from front of cluster



Remove 2 7mm screws from rear of cluster



Stock cluster



Safari cluster



Comparisons of the size differences.












Safari digi cluster


The surround


Test fitting--yeah right.
trying to get an idea of what is in the way,as of this time I haven't decided
whether the actual cluster will be the safari unit,fiero unit or a hybrd
bastard of the two.




And the digi without it's face.
Pretty bare in here,with alot of plastic.
I'm beginning to think that maybe moving the electronics to the fiero
cluster housing is a definate possibility for easy on install.




Don't need or want this,3 screws and it's gone.




Time to dissassemble the Fiero cluster,parts to be sold in the mall.


Got more pics of the trimming,cutting process on the safari cluster.
Where i'm at now is trying to find a peice of acrylic for the new faceplate.
Picked up a couple acrylic (I thought) picture frames at wal-mart but the one that fit turned out to be glass,.grrr

I've got some final trimming to do and i'm going to make mounts so it will drop in place of the original cluster and no altering of the stock surround will be necessary.

Also need to mount some idiot lights,as the digital cluster had them in the part I cut off.
Got an idea for that though,shouldn't be a big deal.

The fun part comes next,wiring.
I do have enough parts so I can make an easy to install adapter for the stock harness though.
Should have time to work on it some more tomorrow I hope.

Keep posting pics, this is very interesting....

I have the S-10 digital cluster in my fiero with a dash that I built. I love the Digital keep up the good work

------------------
1985 Pontiac Fiero SE 3.4 4-Speed(Project Car)
1985 Pontiac Fiero SE 2.8 5-Speed(Daily)
1985 Pontiac Fiero GT 3.8 SC Auto(Track)
1988 Toyota Celica GT 2.0 Auto

Going to the city for class today,will pick up the peice of acrylic I need hopefully.
Got most everything else done,just need to post up the pics.
Haven't started on wiring yet,will mock it up and wire it into my parts car first.
Be this weekend before I can mess with it again,also rebuilding and porting a v6 TB currently.

Well,got the acrylic and faceplate is cut and also bossed so the stock screws will still be flush.
My tint job sucks,but it's not permanent just practice and to guage the darkness i'll need.
I'll type that stuff up later though.

Dissassembling the stock cluster (of which there was really no need,but here ya go in case your pondering how to do it)
First take off all the screws on around the plastic,pretty straightforward.
Once you take the off lift up carefully.
In this pic you'll see the foam around the fuel/temp guage and idiot lights.
If you pull too hard,you'll bend the face. just apply easy pressure.


Mine had a couple screws missing holding the guages in.
Just unscrew all the guages and carefully pull them out.
The goofy sized screws are 6.5mm which is a really oddball size,luckily I had one mixed in with my chinese crap tools.
Unscrew all the screws you see and then try lifting peices out.
They are kind of interlocking (without actually locking).
Lift up firmly on the guages but evenly,they're socketed in place but will pull right out.





And dissassimbling the Digital dash






After trimming the digital cluster housing.


Still some more trimming needed






I'm much furthur along but these are the pics I have available right now.
I'll add in more explanation etc.. later
Still don't have all the pics downloaded,though it's easier now that I have a cool photobucket app for my iphone.

Have had very little time to work on this,like 10-20 minutes every few days at night.
But figured I would post a pic of where i'm at so far.
The screws need to be inset about .5mm more to be perfect and the tint is a terrible job.
Tint also needs to be a bit darker.
I've got slight problems with seeing components behind the acrylic when the LCD is on so i'll need to work on that.

Just actually put it all together for the first time with all parts together and powered up.
When I have time next I will be test fitting and working on installing the cluster in the surround.
I'm still aiming at stock drop/bolt in,and so far it's working.
I've reused the partial skeleton of the older cluster (I have a couple pics i'll post up later) I just need to see exactly what I need to do so the stock attachments line up.

Keep in mind this is all rough cut,I know it looks like crap.
When it's done I'll be retinting and some other stuff to pretty it up more.

[This message has been edited by DefEddie (edited 11-05-2009).]

Nice work so far, that's gonna be a really unique cluster setup.

Is that acrylic or polycarbonate?

I know they have pre-tinted stuff for this purpose in Menards.

If acrylic, how are you working it? I've found it to be too brittle to cut and drill without specific tools.

It's acrylic.
I have been using a dremel at high speed.
It melts the acrylic slightly on the edges,but a wire brush
cleans it right up and a couple 1k grit swipes finishes it.

quote Originally posted by DefEddie: Mine had a couple screws missing holding the guages in. Just unscrew all the guages and carefully pull them out. The goofy sized screws are 6.5mm which is a really oddball size,luckily I had one mixed in with my chinese crap tools.

Having disassembled about a 100 clusters, I can tell you that you probably didn't have any screws missing. Some of the screws which hold on the faceplate also hold in the gauges. Such that the speedometer falls right out once you get the faceplate off.

This is a real nice build. I love digital dashes and yours will look really nice when it's complete.

pretty good lad, pretty dang good lad!

------------------
First LX9 Fiero GT, 1987 | My Fiero Fuel Economy | MPG Display for OBD I
Youtube Videos of My GT | modernize your fiero with technology!
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem
Fiero's are people too. We pay just as much attention to them, if not more than our loved ones
screw paying those bastards. im not going to become rich by paying for things.....

Thanks for the encouragement guys.
I've started working on how i'm going to setup the idiot lights.
I've got the films cut down,and am looking at using the fiero cluster bulb/shields.
Not sure exactly what i'll use to socket the lights/bulbs or how I will wire them yet though.
I don't wish to alter or reuse the printed circuits though,but have a malibu and a couple GMC clusters laying around.

Also decided to use the digital odo,I need one anyway to track mileage.
No issues there I can see,just need to change the mileage. Might even be able to certify it through the dealership,have to ask the boss.
I have the trip,economy,mileage board also which is another reason I want to use the odometer.

What are you going to use for a tach? I don't see one anywhere.

It's an automatic
I do need it for diagnostic purposes though.
Had you not mentioned I would have never noticed.
I will have to figure something out,thinks for the sharp eye.

quote Originally posted by DefEddie: I will have to figure something out,thinks for the sharp eye.

It looks like you have room to squeeze in an aftermarket digital tach on the right where that wonky PRNDL was.

That was where I was going to put the idiot lights.
Since this morning i've had an awesome idea though.
It would mean using this same digital cluster in the dash i'm building though.

I was going to use an LCD screen with my OBDII programming,datalogging stuff in the carputer and just make a guage cluster on it.

The idea I have might be better though using this cluster instead of the LCD screen.
Can't describe it,basically the idiot lights follow the curve of the dash on the top edge.
Not important now though,will worry about that later.

As for the RPM guage,not sure what i'll do.
Start looking for options,the PRNDL idea sounds good depending on idiot light placement.
Idiot lights are more flexible though,room for them maybe on top of cluster and a few can fit under the odo.

You should be able to pick up a digital tach someplace fairly cheap. Cannibalize it for the internals and integrate it into the cluster. Should be able to separate the readout from the electronics so it would probably fit in a fairly small space.

Something like this- http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymot...tZRaceQ5fCarQ5fParts

Hey D,

Great thread! BUMP!

At first I was like EEEWwwwwwww... but that picture with it all lit up was quite impressive. keep it up!

bump

Sorry,have wayy too much going on to finish up this project any time soon.
Only spare time I have is spent keeping the car running till I get the TGP motor finished or working so I can pay off my house.
If anyone is interested in it make an offer and i'll sell everything I have for this project,otherwise i'll get back to it when it comes up on the priority list. (it's kinda low on the list currently)