Fitting a Buick Riviera instrument cluster in a Fiero (finally?) with OBDII (Page 1/2)
Chris Eddy MAY 16, 07:39 AM
[img][img]Greetings from a Noob, I just signed on to the forum.
I bought a rough Fiero in Feb, and have been getting it (a) road safe and (b) legal.
I noticed in my research that a few folks had had great aspirations to put a Buick Riviera (1990) instrument panel in a Fiero. So I thought, why not. It is the sort of challenge I like. So I bought a cluster and BCM from a 1990 Riviera. It took me 4 sets of schematics (shew) to get ones that covered the BCM I had, but alas, I connected the two up on the bench and persuaded them to talk to each other. I connected an embedded processor to the 8192 comms, and captured the messages. I pulled them into my software, figured out the checksum, and did get my processor to talk to the instrument panel. I am plodding though bit by bit changes to discover what parts of which messages control which objects on the panel.
You can see the current progress at youtube, https://youtu.be/n0Kuv5vYFUo
So my plan..
I want to make a box with an embedded controller that marries the Fiero's 160bps data to the Riviera's commands. I will have to process the speedometer and tachometer signals, as the Fiero IPC processed that. And while we are at it, I am going to add OBDII to the box. That way I can use a modern reader to troubleshoot the car.
Maybe a good idea for the community would be to release a project just to marry OBDII to the Fiero ECM, as most folks will not want to do the instrument panel swap, but may want OBDII.
Are some of the folks that wanted to do the Riviera retrofit still lurking around here?[/img][/img]
Dennis LaGrua MAY 16, 10:34 AM
This is a very interesting post. Deciphering the code that operates the Riviera digital dash is a nice achievement and if you program an embedded controller to do an analog to digital conversion, I have no doubts that you will make it work.
That dash panel looks very large though. It certainly appears that there is little room to fit it in the Fiero speedometer console area. How do you intend to install it and will it fit?

------------------
" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Spintech/Hedman Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

Chris Eddy MAY 16, 12:17 PM
So there was this post some time ago on this forum..
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...0314-1-058885-4.html
Look about half way down the posting. Wicked86 shows this instrument cluster. I seem to recall another post where he plops the cluster in place of the Fiero cluster, and took a pic. And it fits nice and dandy.. but I cannot find that post. It is not as big as it looks.. the overall dimensions are 12" wide by 7.5" tall. Hopefully Wicked86 is still on this list, and chimes in!
Synthesis MAY 16, 05:39 PM
I'd be VERY interested in this cluster setup in my stock ECM 86 GT.

I'm also considering moving to the 7730 ECM down the road. I assume that this cluster would work with the 7730 as it has a faster baud?
Chris Eddy MAY 16, 05:44 PM
It is possible that I can detect auto-baud rate. It would be nice to have it do just 160, for ease of install.. but if there are ECM's out there, that would be the 87-88 manual 4cyl, that are 8192, maybe I can do both.. the issue is getting my hands on (for days or even weeks) every example of ECM. I was hoping that the 160 data is the same across them all. I have another thread running right now on this very question.
I am hoping that the old hands will check in to let me know what the variations are.
The 7730.. did that come in any Fiero, or is it strictly swap fodder?
Patrick MAY 16, 05:54 PM

quote
Originally posted by Chris Eddy:

You can see the current progress at youtube...





OMG... what a geek!

Looks really interesting. Good luck with this!
Synthesis MAY 17, 09:34 AM

quote
Originally posted by Chris Eddy:


The 7730.. did that come in any Fiero, or is it strictly swap fodder?



Swaps only. It's a much faster unit both in processing and in baud rate.
It runs at 8192 Baud.
Chris Eddy MAY 17, 03:01 PM
Yes, I see that folks seem to like the 7730 on the 3.8L.
It appears that my 87-88 4 cyl manual is unique in that the 1227748 is 8192 bps with different messages. So I will solve this one example to complete the project. Sorry 160 bps!
Cajun JAN 22, 09:09 AM
What ever became of this project? Any further progress?
Chris Eddy JAN 22, 09:25 AM
Yes, I have the PC board built, and software written.. have been working on getting it to run on the board.
Analog inputs (batt, fuel, coolant) circuit did not work, will not until revision.
Getting closer!