I recently purchased a Cavalier Z-24 digital gauge cluster. It is pretty straight forward to swap them wiring wise from what I have read. It would be a matter of cutting off the original plugs, and trying to work around the steering wheel, and splice, solder and heat shrink all the wires in the confined area there.

What I would like to find, are 2 female plugs, like are on the back of the stock gauge cluster. It would be far easier to wire the new dash with the plugs, then simply plug the existing plugs into this one to install the cluster.

The plugs on the instrument cluster, as we know, are just a membrane wrapped into the opening, so that really can not be used. Does anyone know of some sort of other plugs, that could be used, or one that could at least be cut or modified to work?

These are the 2 female shaped plugs that I am looking to get/make/create......



Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated as always!

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 04-17-2011).]

Why not remove the plugs from the digital dash and cut/splice/solder/ them in the Fiero harness? Then when you want to install it just plug them in and bam, done!

Yes, that can be done, but as I mentioned above, if I can work on the work bench soldering and heat shrinking 24 connections, it is a FAR better choice than sitting in the car in that cramped area trying to do it

Also, doing it this way, I am not destroying the original wiring harness, in case down the road want to switch the cluster back ect.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 04-17-2011).]

Oh, I understand what you want to do now. Sorry. Yea, I have no idea of what to use/make for that in that application. I'm guessing you got the dash in the mail?

Nope, not yet... you JUST mailed it yesterday LOL. It says it will be here around the 21st according to the Post Office. Their tracking SUCKS I have seen messages like this, stay like this till the package arrives, and then 3 days later update to show delivered.

Label/Receipt Number: 9102 7850 9140 1006 2623 51
Expected Delivery Date: April 21, 2011
Class: Package Services
Service(s): Delivery Confirmation™
Status: Processed through Sort Facility

Detailed Results:

Bullet Processed through Sort Facility, April 16, 2011, 5:41 pm, WARRENDALE, PA 15095
Bullet Acceptance, April 15, 2011, 12:12 pm, NORTH RIDGEVILLE, OH 44039
Bullet Electronic Shipping Info Received, April 15, 2011

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 04-17-2011).]

quote Originally posted by JohnWPB: Nope, not yet... you JUST mailed it yesterday LOL. It says it will be here around the 21st according to the Post Office. Their tracking SUCKS I have seen messages like this, stay like this till the package arrives, and then 3 days later update to show delivered. Label/Receipt Number: 9102 7850 9140 1006 2623 51 Expected Delivery Date: April 21, 2011 Class: Package Services Service(s): Delivery Confirmation™ Status: Processed through Sort Facility Detailed Results: Bullet Processed through Sort Facility, April 16, 2011, 5:41 pm, WARRENDALE, PA 15095 Bullet Acceptance, April 15, 2011, 12:12 pm, NORTH RIDGEVILLE, OH 44039 Bullet Electronic Shipping Info Received, April 15, 2011

oh that's right. Well excuse me, this weekend has been a huge blur.

Tell me about it! This so felt like a Friday today, which means Monday is going to feel like it came a day early

I can't wait to get this dash, as it was the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle in my head for the new dash. I have started the center console, got a new dash cover from Archie, and was going to use the existing instrument cluster, till I saw you had this one up for sale I really is the last little part that I was not sure on what I was going to do.

You can see some of the progress on the center console in my build thread

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 04-17-2011).]

Well, one last bump to see if anyone has any ideas

At one time, jscott was doing plug and play harnesses for Camarobird dash swaps.
That kind of implies the he had the female side of the connectors. (I haven't seen one of harnesses, however.)

You might send him a PM.

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Raydar
88 4.9 Formula IMSA Fastback

Read Nealz Nuze! Praise the Lowered!

Cool, thanks for the tip! It's my first (and only thus far) lead to follow.

I sent him a PM a few days ago, and no reply.

The bottom line is I do not want to cut the harness in the car. I want to make certain that this digital dash is good, and everything works. If not, I would like to be able to just plug my original cluster back in.

Any more ideas on what type of plug, from anything, that could be made to fit on the 2 plugs for the cluster harness in the dash?

He doesn't post very much lately. NASA is gearing down with the last shuttle launch, and his life is probably on "hold" until this is over. I think I read where he said he would sorta be out of here for about 6 months or so.

Why not cut up an old cluster and solder the new plugs on to the connections?

I have two one old clusters in my junk room that are going to get tossed out soon if your interested.

I could cut the plugs out of it and the surrounding connections for you if you want.

[This message has been edited by Jake_Dragon (edited 04-24-2011).]

That would probably work fine, never thought about it. I would have thought that getting a cluster, paying for shipping would be a very expensive route for a couple of plugs. BUT if you have a junk cluster you could cut up, that would be great!

I should be able to solder to those leads on the membrane, then seal it with some sort of resin coating to somehow secure it all well.

Then, instead of having to twist wires together, and solder and heat shrink... I am going to crimp male/female connectors on the wires for each plug. This will make it easy trouble shooting if I get wires mixed up as well

I could probably fold it up and stuff it in a padded envelope.

PM me your address

Wow, I should be able to work with that! Thanks PM sent.

My plan is to make that all into a plug, with nice male/female connectors on the wires. I can use crimp-on male / female connectors (The round ones with the shielding around the plugs), so no soldering & heat shrinking necessary on all of those wires. If there is a wiring problem, its then just a matter of unplugging connectors to switch it.

The best part, is I do not have to cut and destroy the original harness in the dash. Also, if this dash does not work 100%, I can just plug my stock cluster right back in.

Thanks again!

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 04-24-2011).]

quote Originally posted by josef644: He doesn't post very much lately. NASA is gearing down with the last shuttle launch, and his life is probably on "hold" until this is over. I think I read where he said he would sorta be out of here for about 6 months or so.

I'm back. Yes I was on an assignment for 6 months and I didn't really want to post on an open forum that my cars were sitting at home unprotected.

I have built what you need. It was designed for Camaro/Firebird, but the same idea could be used for any cluster.

//www.fiero.nl/forum/F.../000119-14.html#p523

Yes the nice part is that the harness can be built and tested on the bench and then hooked up in 30 seconds in the car. No wires are cut and you can go back to stock if you change your mind. The only tricky part is the speed buffer. The Fiero speed buffer is in the cluster. My harness packages that in the black box. Without it some modern clusters will be erratic.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 04-25-2011).]

Wow, that looks like a nice setup! I was interested in just the plugs, but I see you went the same route that Jake_Dragon suggested, using the original cluster as the plugs.

I would however be interested in maybe a stand alone type headlight switch set up from a Firebird to replace the one in the Fiero. I have an old switch here that I could cannibalize to take out the dimmer. At least some pin-outs and such, if its not too much to ask in giving away your wiring harness that you are selling.

EDIT:

I just purchased this one off eBay I actually found one with the fog light switch incorporated that I need, as I have the F355 front bumper from JimmyS with the location for the fog lights.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 04-25-2011).]

quote Originally posted by JohnWPB: if its not too much to ask in giving away your wiring harness that you are selling.

I'm not sure what you are asking?? The picture I posted was the prototype, (which I still have). In the mean time I have built and sold about a dozen of these harnesses to enthusiasts. I don't advertise really because at the price I'm selling them I'm not even breaking even let along making money. I mostly do it as a favor for people that ask me nicely.

If you follow the thread I linked to I go over in detail how I make these so the information is in the public domain and you can freely copy whatever it is you need to make your setup work. I will not be offended as I do not depend on selling these harnesses to put food on the table. Good luck.

Basically I am probably just needing the pin outs (In I guess) and such on the Firebird light switch, to wire it into the Fiero. I will read the thread more in debth, thanks for the help and link!

quote Originally posted by JohnWPB: Basically I am probably just needing the pin outs (In I guess) and such on the Firebird light switch, to wire it into the Fiero. I will read the thread more in debth, thanks for the help and link!

This is an older drawing where I used a relay. I later discovered I didn't need it by hooking the Fiero white wire to the "B" pin on the firebird

Are you kidding me! LOL

I just spent the past hour, made it up to page 14 and found those diagrams LOL
Thanks though hahah!

Now I got the get to sleep! Have to be up for work in 5 hours

Thanks for all the help!

quote Originally posted by JohnWPB: The least I could do for all the pointers and advice was to update the wiring diagram, dropping off the relay.

Thanks! I don't know why I never went back and updated that drawing. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if my car has the relay or not. I added the firebird dash back in 2002, so I'm guessing that I did use the relay, lol

BTW, the Firebird does not use the "B" pin so in order to use that pin you have to add the contact to the connector. I have enough spare junk connectors laying around that I can do that. Otherwise, you would have to figure out exactly which type of contact the connector uses and buy one.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 04-25-2011).]

quote Originally posted by jscott1: Good and bad news on that headlight switch. The connector for that is the one connector I was not able to source from anywhere except to buy the complete dash harness from the firebird.

I was thinking on using something like this to connect the wires to, then just plug them on the back of the switch terminals.



If that does not work, maybe some sort of circuit board connector, similar to the one that goes ti C1 on the Fiero dash cluster. Or an edge card connector that ya just stick the wires in, something like this:

quote Originally posted by jscott1: I'm back. Yes I was on an assignment for 6 months and I didn't really want to post on an open forum that my cars were sitting at home unprotected. I have built what you need. It was designed for Camaro/Firebird, but the same idea could be used for any cluster. //www.fiero.nl/forum/F.../000119-14.html#p523 Yes the nice part is that the harness can be built and tested on the bench and then hooked up in 30 seconds in the car. No wires are cut and you can go back to stock if you change your mind. The only tricky part is the speed buffer. The Fiero speed buffer is in the cluster. My harness packages that in the black box. Without it some modern clusters will be erratic.

Welcome back jscott1

I'm not sure if this will aplly but I think it does; you may want to look up the thread on rewiring the instument cluster to fix the factory screw up that puts lamp test volts on the eng temp guage that pegs/knocks the needle off position when you first the key. It only requires swapping two wires if I recall correctly?

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trueleo.com
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I did the spade ends for my firebird dash swap. That would probably work on one side for you. On the fiero harness side you could t-tap solder the wiring you need. It's a PITA but then you have reliae connections and the ability to go back if this somewhat hard to find dash konks out on you. I did not want to hack up my fiero harness at all. I've gotten too many cars over the years that have had stereos done this way, imagine it with much higher current.

quote Originally posted by jreigner: I did the spade ends for my firebird dash swap. That would probably work on one side for you. On the fiero harness side you could t-tap solder the wiring you need. It's a PITA but then you have reliae connections and the ability to go back if this somewhat hard to find dash konks out on you. I did not want to hack up my fiero harness at all. I've gotten too many cars over the years that have had stereos done this way, imagine it with much higher current.

I would be hesitant to hack up the headlight switch wiring because it is pushing some serious amps. What I do on the Fiero side is I gut open a Fiero headlight switch and I solder on wires to connect to my harness. Then I use that as the (male) connector for the Fiero (female) harness to connect to.

As for pegging the temp gauge...it's been so long I don't remember 100% but I think it was a simple matter of not implementing that "design feature" in my harness. In other words I would have had to go out of my way to connect the ignition power to the temp gauge. I guess the purpose of that is to tell you it's working, on the firebird that gauge is damped, so it wouldn't be a huge issue with the needle falling off, but I didn't do it anyway.

The main power wire is a big beefy gauge wire and I use a LOT of solder to ensure a solid connection. I also use the power from that to drive the Firebird cluster as the Fiero cluster does not have a "hot at all times" wire.

There are many nuances to swapping clusters and as I have been doing this for 9 years, I've probably uncovered most of them. If you have any questions just as.

@josef644 - Thanks!

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 04-27-2011).]