To those of you that have your own custom gauges and panel, did you use led's for the turn signal indicators? did you wire them striaght up to the factory wiring? or do you have to put a resistor in line with them to get the flasher to work properly? I am just curious about this before I finish wiring my panel.
thanks, Luke

 

When I did mine (87 TA), I used part of the old cluster so I could retain the turnsignal and high beam indicators. However... I was going to use LEDs. It was just hard finding 12v LEDs prewired and ready to go in blue and green... in a style that I liked.

If you get an LED that is set up to work with 12 volts, and it has the resistor built in, you can just use the stock wiring to power them. If you get LEDs that arent pre-wired...you will need to determine what resistor you need to run off the 12v system. There are some online calculators that will do it for you.

Radio shack has some pre-wired LEDs...but no blues that I can remember.

Justin

 

Well, I had the same issues when I had decided to custom make my own guage panel as well. I ended up using these green LED's from Radio Shack. They were round, have a built in resistor, and light up really nice. They were about $1.99 each. I simply spliced the red wire to the appropriate turn signal, and the black goes to ground. Here is what they look like in my gauge panel...



And this is what the actual LED's from radio shack look like in case you want to pick some up. They can be found with all of the little gadgets and doo dads in the bins at the back of the store.

 

Yeah those are the ones that I got for my warning lights. They work "ok"... I wish they were brighter. I might change up one of these days..but they serve their purpose for now.



You can see them under my 4 regular gauges. From left to right... SES, BRAKE, LOW COOLANT, LOW OIL.

Justin

 

I used these..

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...13683_-1_10409

plenty bright during the day,but not overly bright at night

pics here

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ight=autometer

 

same here. Thats what I used. But I have my entire car wired with a painless harness, from bumper to bumper.

 

I also used those radio shack lights. real easyto hook up and they look nice. I chose not to run a high beam indictor light since my high beams dont ever work, I have the dreaded high beam loose bolts in the switch thingy. Besides, I know the high beams will be on if the little light on the fog light switch if off.

 

pic

 

hey BOTTLEDZr28 what size gauges did you use for your dash i like that alot

 

I use 3 3/8" gauges for the tach and electric speedo and 2 1/16th gauges for the rest.

 

Do you have more pics of you guage panel? I have a 92 Camaro and would like to do the same thing.

 

dont mind the messy car

 

Nice gauges...

 

thank you to all that responded! it was very helpful. my setup will be like onebad82z except that the gauges are ultra lites. but am thinking that i might like the textured black panel behind the ultra lites better. I'll have to make one of each and see what looks better, black or polished aluminum panel.
thanks again, Luke

 

Luke, a word to the wise. Dont use a polished piece of material for the cluster panel. you may find that it will glare in your eyes at certain angle to the sun. the last thing you want is a constant distraction in your eyes while you drive. I would go with a piece of ABS plastic. itmatches the rest of the dash perfect and the stuff is really cheap. you can find it on ebay or just typr in ABS plastci sheet on google or something.

 

I must say I really like ur gauge setup. I am thinking of using something like it with nexus gauges on my 92rs and my 85. WOOT WOOT

 

BOTTLEDZr28 what kind of material did you use to cover the instrument panel you made? it looks really nice.

 

its just a sheet of simulated carbon fiber that I bought at a local custom motocycle shop. There is tons of it on ebay and stuff. I am thinking of getting rid of that look and using a piece of ABS plastic so it matches the rest of the car. Not sure yet on what I want to do. Remaking a new panel is a lot of work

 

how hard was it to make the gauge panels? and would you guys reccommend making it out of wood or plastic or aluminum? how did you make the curved sides? that is the only thing that might cause me a problem.

 

Im not sure what you mean by curved parts on the cluster. if you referring to any radius cut or the actual holes for the gauges then I used a jigsaw to make my cuts and then sanded it on a bench grinder. I made mine out of a piece of thin gauge steel. I wouldnt make it out of wood if I where you. Buy a nice piece of ABS plastic. it has the same texture as the interior does. I will be redoing mine like that after the holidays. The one thing I dont like about the IROC cluster is that the mounting crews are exposed when it all said and done. On the 90-92 Z28 ones, the screws are hidden by the trim panel so it look a lot cleaner but I think it might be easier to do this on the older clusters.

 

i am talking about the sides on the older style cluster. it is curved a little, its not a str8 edge. i think i can figure it all out but im ready to get my guages, that wont be till christmas... i guess i can make the plate now though. i kinda like the look of the carbon fiber like you have but ill just get the abs and cover it in the carbon fiber and if i dont like it then ill take it off.

 

i
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i be honest the 89 and later cluster is way better than 90 and later just more you can do with it...

 

maroon88iroc: Do you plan on using the 5 inch tachometer and speedometer in your gauge cluster? If not, and you decide that you would rather use the 3-3/8 inch tach/speedo then you could use the Covan's piece. Now, personally, I feel that you would appreciate it alot more if you built it yourself, but if you are unsure about how to make it, or don't have the right equipment to do it then it might be an alternative for you. They look like this...



Now, these things go for about $120 so they aren't cheap considering that it is just a blank panel. They also make them complete with gauges and wiring harnesses to plug into your factory wiring. Just a thought.

 

what the heck does that mean? You mean the 82-89 cluster is better then the 90-92 cluster in your opinion?

 

thanks for the heads up man. i have checked them out and i think the $120 is too high for me. i am planning on using the 3 3/8 speedo and tach though. that is a nice piece but im going to try one on my own and if it doesnt turn out right i might look into one of those. i really dont think i will have a problem making it i was just trying to see if there were any tips you guys that have done it had for me b4 i started on mine.

 

for leds try superbrightleds.com the have a lot to choose from and sell everything you need to hook up the lights to any application. you will also have the option of picking something that looks a little less like it came off of an arcade game like those radioshack lights do.

 

update on my panel. if the picture works, this is what it will look like.

 

Where's the fuel gauge?

 

fuel gauge, fuel pressure gauge, and air fuel ratio gauge are mounted in a panel that bolts up under the center vents. three straight holes about the width of the center vents.

 

cool

 

why the hell do you need SO many gauges, everything you need to know is in the factory gauges haha that looks so retarded

 

 

HAHA...didnt expect a post count of 91 from that last guy... figured Ide see a 2 or something.

Soon as the stupid weather clears up a bit Ill be bringing something new to the table hopefully. Might be a bit more work than most are willing to do...but should be cool atleast.

J.

 

yeah those factory gauges are extremely accurate too..

 

jimmy jams has a gauge cluster panel that is half the price and twice as attractive as that covans piece of art.

 

I'm just wondering who is retarded? what do you mean soo many gauges? you need a speedo, tach, water temp, oil pressure, you could do without volts, need fuel level. The air fuel ratio and fuel pressure I need for tuning purposes. the air fuel is wideband and makes tuning a whole lot easier. The fuel pressure I like to monitor especially when running nitrous. Why am I changing the setup? To be different, make it custom, make it my own. Lets see you make something different. You're probably one of those people that leaves everything stock and then puts one of those monster tachs screwed up on your dash so you think you look cool. I am sure there are plenty of people who appericiate different custom stuff. Making your own mods and changing the way the factory does it is true hot rodding, make it your own.

btw, my panel is different than the above, that was a first sketch draft.

 

here's the panel. it will be powder coated black. I also have a billet z28 emblem that will go in the lower left corner that I made. I'll post a final pic when done. Will be about 2 weeks.

 

These look great but I don't understand why everyone keeps the tach and speedo so far apart. Wouldn't it be better to put them higher and closer together with oil, temp, and water gauges in a "V" in the middle? My MOMO wheel is the larger one (350mm I think) and the outer scales of my tach and speedo are almost hidden when my hands are on the wheel...
Just a thought...

 

that would be nice, but you can't fit 3 small gauges in the middle in a 'v'. Tried that and it won't fit. The closest you can get to 3 in the middle is like the previous picture in this post.
here is my panel all done!

 

BTW, the fog light on w/the high beams, is easily over ridden. A simple mod! If *I* can pull it off myself, anybody can.

I might as well ditch my switch, since I never turn the fog lights off, and always run with them and the running lights on.

Fog lights w/high & low beams mod

 

I dont know if i just missed it, but does anyone have a cluster that is fiberglassed? I was thinking it would be pretty cool to fiberglass it, that way you could create more of a 3D shape, maybe a curve or something.... i dont really know why you would want too, but it would be pretty cool. perhaps some 3D flames as the background or something?

 

Does anybody have any idea what the total cost of a project like this costs from start to finish? I was thinking of (2) 5" gauges and (3) 2 1/6 gauges.

 

Go to Summit or Jeg's, price out the gauges you want. From there, it would depend on your fab skills, to build the plate, or have it made for you.

 

Yeah just price it all out... Its kinda expensive to go all autometer, but its WAY worth it in my opinion. I think I spent approx. $500 on main gauges (ie. speedo, tach, fuel, oil, volts, temp). Then factor in a few bucks for adapters and materials that you need to construct the dash etc etc.

J.

 

Sorry, I know its been a while but I finally got my gauges installed about 3 weeks ago. I've been very busy at work. They turned out very nice. Only problem I had was finding a place that made a speedometer cable, since the autometer gauge does not accept the factory clip end style. Finally found a place just down the street that makes custom speedo cables. Only cost $25 too! I'll get some pictures on here tomarrow.

 

here is some pictures.

 

one more.

 

Your panel looks very similiar to mine, except i put the extra two gauges where the radio used to be. Looks good though, just curious how visible the volt gauge in the bottom corner is while your driving?

For turn signals i just went to radio shack and picked up the 12v lights that they have, they are quite bright during daylight, but not overbearing at night. The red light in the center is for the e-brake. I didnt bother with a high beam light since i couldnt find a blue light in the same style as the red and green ones.

I used 1/4" black vinyl clad mdf for mounting the gauges and just used a scroll saw to make the holes for the gauges.

All the gauges are Auto-meter Ultra-Lite II's which were very expensive but i love the way they look, the LED backlighting looks so much better than the round the dial style. The tach and speedo are 3 3/8" while the water temp/oil press/fuel and volts are 2 1/16"

the switch next to the two lower gauges is for the reverse lockout.

 

so does anyone have a clue what wires are for the turn signals, i dont need anything else like high beams or nothing, just turn signal wires to wire up me new leds in my new pannel....need wire colors laidies....let me know...

 

Here ya go.....
http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=19