Aftermarket Product ReviewProvide questions and answers about aftermarket parts for the Third Generation F-Body.
Welcome to ThirdGen.org!
Welcome to ThirdGen.org.
You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, at no cost, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, join the ThirdGen.org community today!
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilrs89
wow, those look really cool. if you have the money, i would say go for them!
Its hard to justify a $600 upgrade, when I could use brake upgrade also. I do not have the disposable income to do this whimsically, but I no longer have the patience to work without a gas gauge and functioning gauges.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
600 is dirt cheap for a gauge upgrade. I am planning on buying a new tach, speedo, and 7 gauges to go along with those, with a new face plate to hold the gauges in, it's going to run me close to 1,500. Even if you knock 4 gauges off (cause you only get 3 in that digital) I'm still looking at over 1,200.
So.. Long story short 600 for a tach, speedo, and three gauges with the precision that digital gives you is a good buy. Not overpriced yet not underpriced.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
after thinking about it, i definitely like autometer's version of digital gauges better. my only complaint with dakota gauges is the cheesy looking bar that goes under the speedometer and the tach.
also autometer gives you the option to mount them however you want. with dakota i get the feeling that you have to put them in the stock places, and the front plastic piece for the stock gauges would still be there.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
I have mounted this in one Monte Carlo SS and a vette..
I did not like them wery much.
the numbers was not nice in the round housing.
was some better in the vette cause the orig instrument vad digital too. but it is better to have a analog indstrument when driving it is easyer to read. when driving you need a split secound when to decide gear shift and so.
digital take some longer time to read and you loose time.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by RED_DRAGON_85
after thinking about it, i definitely like autometer's version of digital gauges better. my only complaint with dakota gauges is the cheesy looking bar that goes under the speedometer and the tach.
also autometer gives you the option to mount them however you want. with dakota i get the feeling that you have to put them in the stock places, and the front plastic piece for the stock gauges would still be there.
i am just being picky though.
Does autometer have a full digital setup with tach, speedo , etc (i've never seen it if so, i've seen some of the smaller gauges though)
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
It just occured to me that this does not have a trip meter. It matters to me only because I gauge my fuel efficiency .... actually im not even going to lie about that, I use the force when it comes to my fuel gauge, I just want a trip meter.
I have this feeling that as soon as I buy these things, someone is going to come out with an OLED gauge solution that will allow you to put whatever you want in the dials. Im surprised those don't exist yet.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
They are good, accurate gauges. A little hard to see in the sunlight but nothing too bad. I had some trouble with mine but it wasnt the gauges fault, i just had a loose wire on my part.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
I work about a mile away from Dakota Digital and have looked at their guages. They always have a booth set up at the local car shows and seem to have a very good rep. They have a good website also and have seen many bikes with their guage packages on them.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Years ago i installed he Cyberbyne/Nordskog digital panel.Same as dakota bascialle ,but in red display.I rigged mine so i only had to pull the cluster to removed the panel, just like stock.I wasnt keen on cutting my harness & glad i didnt.I never had a problem viewing them in direct sunlight, but eventually the digital look got boring.So i switch back to OEM gauges.
It wasnt too difficult to install either.Even the way i did mine.I only had to fashion a bracket to mount the speedo transducer on the cluster.Instead of down by the trans.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 84 1LE
Years ago i installed he Cyberbyne/Nordskog digital panel.Same as dakota bascialle ,but in red display.I rigged mine so i only had to pull the cluster to removed the panel, just like stock.I wasnt keen on cutting my harness & glad i didnt.I never had a problem viewing them in direct sunlight, but eventually the digital look got boring.So i switch back to OEM gauges.
It wasnt too difficult to install either.Even the way i did mine.I only had to fashion a bracket to mount the speedo transducer on the cluster.Instead of down by the trans.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
You mean for the cluster?No connector needed.I relied on the stock ones(2) used by the printed circuit board/to the dash connection.I popped off the metal clips that the gauges plug into & sandwiched the wire leads between the clip & the printed circuit.Then i pushed the clip back onto the cluster.I used the factory schematic to find the pos/neg for each gauge.I never bother with the dimmer feature, but once done i simply pulled the cluster out in one piece without having to worry about butt connectors,splicing or a butchered harmess.When i grew tired of it.It was simple matter of re-installing the original gauges/cluster.No re-wiring or whatever to deal with.
If you meant for the transducer? The transducer is suppose to go between the speedo cable & the housing that mounts on the trans.All i did was mount the transducer behind the speedo on the cluster housing with a bracket i made.Then just plugged the speedo cable to the transducer.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 84 1LE
You mean for the cluster?No connector needed.I relied on the stock ones(2) used by the printed circuit board/to the dash connection.I popped off the metal clips that the gauges plug into & sandwiched the wire leads between the clip & the printed circuit.Then i pushed the clip back onto the cluster.I used the factory schematic to find the pos/neg for each gauge.I never bother with the dimmer feature, but once done i simply pulled the cluster out in one piece without having to worry about butt connectors,splicing or a butchered harmess.When i grew tired of it.It was simple matter of re-installing the original gauges/cluster.No re-wiring or whatever to deal with.
If you meant for the transducer? The transducer is suppose to go between the speedo cable & the housing that mounts on the trans.All i did was mount the transducer behind the speedo on the cluster housing with a bracket i made.Then just plugged the speedo cable to the transducer.
sorry i meant how did you connections to your digital set up but you answered my question. Do you have any old photos of your install?
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by shawnc16
So this gauge panel is basically plug and play?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Artic-Trans am
no it's not! you have to cut your wires and conect one and one!
No it's not plug & play. When mine was installed, we used T-taps for the signals from the original harness, then ran the new wires to the Dakota Digital microprocessor box. My original harness is still intact, no cut wires.
My piece cost quite a bit more being 90-92 style and not stocked. I had to send them an instrument panel have their gauges fitted into.
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
I posted this in another thread, but i thought I would update this one as well.
My question was answered, a friend (a very good friend) got tired of me fiddling with my old gauges and he actually ordered the Dakota Digital gauges for me. (He is a blessing)
The control box from dakota digital allows you to run all of your lines to a remote location rather than trying to fit all of that junk behind the gauge cluster. I would note that their is minor modification needed to the stock IROC gauge housing assembly that is not mentioned in the instructions. Their is a hollow column inside the assembly that will need to be dremelled out before it will fit properly. Otherwise, the install was relatively easy.
It was a challenge getting to the oil sending unit to replace it, but not at all impossible, and the water-temp sending unit on mine was on the front of the manifold.
I ran new wires for the oil pressure and water temp sending units. (although I I did splice in the stock connector for the water as i thought the ECM might need to know whats going on with the water temp)
It has many cool features, 0-60 meter , quarter mile time, odometer, high speed, high rpm etc. It basically has a Driver info center
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by omnipotentgoku
I posted this in another thread, but i thought I would update this one as well.
My question was answered, a friend (a very good friend) got tired of me fiddling with my old gauges and he actually ordered the Dakota Digital gauges for me. (He is a blessing)
The control box from dakota digital allows you to run all of your lines to a remote location rather than trying to fit all of that junk behind the gauge cluster. I would note that their is minor modification needed to the stock IROC gauge housing assembly that is not mentioned in the instructions. Their is a hollow column inside the assembly that will need to be dremelled out before it will fit properly. Otherwise, the install was relatively easy.
It was a challenge getting to the oil sending unit to replace it, but not at all impossible, and the water-temp sending unit on mine was on the front of the manifold.
I ran new wires for the oil pressure and water temp sending units. (although I I did splice in the stock connector for the water as i thought the ECM might need to know whats going on with the water temp)
It has many cool features, 0-60 meter , quarter mile time, odometer, high speed, high rpm etc. It basically has a Driver info center
Re: Whats the word on these Dakota Digital gauges ?
Sorry guys, I will try to get some pics tonight with my phone atleast. It was a relatively simple and clean install. I put the control box under the driver kick panel and it fits well . It has 2 toggle switches that I put in the "bay" under the cigarette lighter (where the fake alarm lights always go... yeah this thread is worthless without pics.... i'll get em this evening.
. and saving money
