robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

The car is a shell currently, not a single bolt on it. I have a clean slate right now and can build it any way I'd like. Some opinions would be great.

I simply can't decide which interior/dash to use. Here are my choices:

Stock 91 dash. Of course used with a Camaro center console and such.
Pros - it's stock, it's electronic
Cons - Kinda ugly imo



Pre 90 dash with Autometer gauges. I built it in this thread here:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...ash-gauge.html
Pros - Already done, no electronic adapters for fuel level or speedo, built by me.
Cons - Could get decent money if I sold it.



Firebird interior (full):
Pros - It's MINT, vents/gauges look much better, I already have it.
Cons - Firebird interior in a Camaro (do you consider it any different than a 4th gen interior swap?)


This is the car it's going in:

lawdog49

iTrader: (6)

I would keep a camaro dash (although i personally like the TA dash layout better) in a camaro. I was going to do the LS swap, but decided to keep the car old school TPI since it's a nice survivor. I spoke to forum member 'Pocket' (done several swaps and seems to be very knowledgable about integrating factory harness with LS harness and does this for members)- about mating an LS harness to factory harness. Just saying you could do that and keep the factory setup easily enough. Or you could sell me your phantom gauges I see pros/cons of each that you described but I also think it depends on the overall style of the car (mostly factory appearance, modded, etc).

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

I'm leaning toward the Firebird interior even if it is a Camaro. I think it just looks a lot better. You can buy those Phantom gauges from me!

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

Keep the 90-92 dash.

The firebird one really doesnt look that great, and honestly that early camaro dash panel looks rough, and cheap.

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

OTOH, if you are set on a different setup i'd put the firebird dash way ahead of a 4th gen swap.

Too many people think its a great idea to do the 4th gen dash, yet none of them are ever complete, and i'd rather have a complete proper fitting doo doo brown interior from 1983 before having some dash that will never fit right, halfway installed in there.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

I AM leaning toward something different, but the Autometer gauges are hard to pass up since they're direct-connect.

I do agree about not liking a 4th gen dash.

Also the Firebird black seats, carpet, everything......is in untouched condition.

I

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

The gauges may be "direct connect" to an 89 and prior car, but the wiring is different in 90-92 cars, as are the metal brackets at the ends that are welded to the car.

Swapping to an earlier dash isnt going to be that easy and simple.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

What I meant was that the Autometer speedo and fuel level gauges are universal and will read any signal, thus not needing any converters for the LS swap.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

One thing I also really like is the full-sweep electric programmable fuel level gauge. Having an accurate fuel level gauge is a small pet-peeve of mine. Not the end of the world with a stock gauge, but it's something I like having

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

No converting needed for the 90-92 dash either, technically shouldnt need one for the early firebird one as well.

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

Earlier dash looks terrible in comparison to the 90-92 dash, not to mention the giant issue of changing the mounting brackets at each end of the dash on the car, if you've absolutely gotta have the programmable gauge, i'd just sell the giant tach and speedometer, buy the 3-3/8" versions and make a decent panel to install in place of the 90-92 cluster.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

You're putting a modern fuel injected engine into the car, use a modern looking dash setup.

But... can you make the 90-92 dash work with the LS1 sending units? IF not it's a moot point. But the 90-92 dash looks much more modern and, in my opinion much better.

Mine has silver overlays which I think make a big improvement. Not a fan of all the yellow-on-black myself, even if, on the whole, I prefer the newer dash.




Only issue with the 90-92 dashes is the tachs tend to be wildly inaccurate. There's a pretty easy fix for it, though. These guys have figured out what causes it and it's just a factory resistor that seems to inevitably drift out of spec. You remove it and wire in your own 200kohm resistor and its just like new.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...meter-fix.html

But just for added peace of mind, I put a shift light in place of my cig lighter (wish I had put it somewhere else, now, lol). The shift light on my tach in the pic is long gone.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

I'd argue that the Autometer gauges look more modern than either Camaro or Firebird clusters. More accurate too. I calibrated the electronic speedo and it was dead accurate according to what my GPS was telling me.

Looks like lots of love for the 90-92 gauges.....I never would have guessed! At first they were my last choice, but you guys might be swaying me. Especially with a different overlay.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

I think the Autometers look pretty cool too. They also have different color bulb lenses that I've never tried. I'm not dead set on anything, just throwing stuff out there to consider.

Flip 2

iTrader: (1)

Go Autometer.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

No argument about the accuracy. Im sure they are better. But as far as looks go, I think the 90-92 setups look more "professional" and modern. The Autometer stuff looks amazingly cool, and I'd LOVE an all-autometer dash one day, but my current gauge setup is already a sunk cost, included with the car, so I made it work.

http://www.macewenmotorsports.com/ov...92-camaro.html

The other thing is, again, can you make the old sending units work with LS1 stuff? Im guessing you can buy adapters for the CTS (if there's a place to put it...) and the oil pressure sending unit, but I dont know how the tach works. Im pretty sure the LS1 setup gives you a "4-cylinder" style tach signal. Now you could, if you had an accurate tach to cross reference, use a potentiometer in place of the resistor on the board that goes to the tach, and adjust the tach until it's accurate. The resolution of the factory tach setup isnt gonna be as good as the autometer but you can get it pretty close.

I've been, more and more, wanting to ditch all the "aftermarket" looking stuff in my interior. I ditched my shift light and wired up one stealthed into the dash and Im thinking Im going to get rid of my autometer tach and get the factory one working properly again. It's very easy to do, but I've lost my soldering iron so it changes a 50 cent job into a 25 dollar job.

Podium

iTrader: (2)

Autometer set up! I like third Gen dashes way better than 4th gens. While 3rd Gen dashes are viewed as being plain, I think the 4th Gen dash I'd much cheaper and janky looking. 4th Gen dashes are made with zcheapet parts and seem to fall apart and warp easier. IMO

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

Go 97 TA interior. Seats , dash , center console and door panels.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

I'm gonna stick with 3rd gen stuff actually. Searching for another donor car would suck *** and I already have all the possible 3rd gen stuff.

I'd still like to actually see a car with a 4th gen dash swap. I'm totally digging the Formula dash I have though....

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

I posted in the INTERIOR thread for ya.

Im sure you can find a ton of 4thgen dash swaps on this board also.
Old car that I never got finish cuz it got smashed in the rear. MOved on to a diff. project.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

Do dash swappers keep functional passenger airbags?

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

No, they generally also dont keep a-pillars that fit, a front half of the dash that is presentable, or a lack of door panel to dash gap.

lawdog49

iTrader: (6)

4th gen dash swap looks to be a pain and i agree seems most don't have the follow-thru to make the project really work.

you can mate the factory harness to an LS harness- like I mentioned before, search posts by 'pocket', good guy and very helpful. he advised me against cutting up my 91 TPI harness cause they are more valuable. he said i needed to find a v6 harness, which i did pull out of a firebird- so we could just mate the LS and V6 harness and plug in on the engine bay side- keeping all the interior wiring stock. alas, i decided not to go LS motor, so now I have the firebird harness just sitting in a box.

cdoyle

Keep the 90-92 style, If you don't like the yellow writing you can have white letter version ones made and then you can get different colored LEDs to light it up.
I don't care for the white face ones, they stand out too much.

The aftermarket ones you posted, I don't care for at all. I've never liked the looks of those, to me that just looks like you shoved some gauges in your dash.

The Firebird one looks a little too dated.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

Well..........what are aftermarket gauges supposed to look like?

cdoyle

Well I like things to look like they belong there, not something that was slapped onto some plastic. I personally don't like the example you posted, maybe if the gauges were. Installed differently (flush, more descreet, don't stick out so far ) they wod look better.

That's just my opinion.

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

90-92 with the 3-3/8 tach/speedo looks much better than the 5" pre 90 stuff IMO, WAY better. Started working on something even more OEM looking using them but never got around to finishing it.



Edit, stupid no remote linking, fixed.

robguitargod1

iTrader: (4)

I've never seen the 3 3/8" gauges. I stayed away from them because I kinda liked the larger look. Never know though, I might actually like them. Still not ruling anything out yet!