I know that in 1984 all Firebirds had red backlighting. I have a cluster from an '84 and noticed that the needles are also red, compared to my '82 needles which are white. Just wondering if the '84's only had red needles or were they also available on the '83's? I know that Daytona's had red backlighting also, so those would be excluded.

Basically if a gauge cluster has red needles does that mean it is either from an '84 or Daytona and therefore backlit red??

Also, '84 was the last year of the mechanical speedometer correct? Didn't they change the design of the cluster gauges and go to electrical speedometer in '85??

Also, what would an '84 TA redline at vs. a V6 Firebird?

 

1984 had yellow needles with red backlight. If the needles are actually red it sounds like somebody painted them. 1983 also used yellow needles but the greenish-blue backlight(except for Daytona) 1982 is the only year for white needles.

1985 is the last year for the mechanical speedo. The gauge cluster is basically the same design except for different silk screening on the gauge faces.

 

Not sure about the V6, but there were two different V8 tachs in 84.

A 6000 rpm for the LG-4, and a 8000 rpm for the L-69.

And to be more accurate, the 1984 gauge back lighting were ORANGE, not red. It is even printed that way on the inside of the gauge bezel, which looks like was molded that color, then had the outer face painted black.



Leon.

 

My ’83 S/E v6 had yellow needles.

 

so this one would be from an '85 then? I wasn't sure and you're right about the different numbers and lettering. Are these also backlit red?

 

Leon, That 1984 L69 cluster of yours is pretty odd: Take a closer look at the speedometer. 1984 L69's all got the 8000 RPM tach, the 80 PSI oil gage, and an 85 MPH speedometer. Yours is showing 160 MPH... That wasnt available until 1987, IIRC. Even then, I thought it was 140MPH. Is that a custom stenciled speedometer?

 

Yes
Go here, https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=320180 to learn more

Leon.

 

Rock on!
I took a whole cluser from a 1987 Trans Am with 140 MPH unit and swapped it in. It took the repinning of 19 wires and several splices to make it work, and I did it in conjunction with the retrofit of the auto with a T56 manual. However, I preferred my old gages.

160 MPH would be nice though, I pegged the 140 unit on the road course earlier this spring and see nearly 120 before dropping onto the brakes at the end of the quarter mile.

 

Did you find any problems with the battery charging when you did your gauge swap? I'm thinking about exchanging the warning lights for the gauge package on my 85' but the charge light is apparently what starts up the alternator.

 

No problems whatsoever. It ran fine for the summers of 2002, 2003 and 2004 that way. Then this year I swapped in the serpentine belt assembly with newer CS130 alternator and with a simple 10W 50 ohm resistor in series wiht the gage wire and the alternator runs like a champ. Rock solid 13.4 volts whenever the revs get above 1000 RPM. I have to idle above 950 RPM to charge the battery though because of the underdrive pullies that I use.

 

That's good to know. When I do my warning light to factory gauge swap, I'll need to re-pin both the connectors for the cluster, swap out the oil pressure and water temp switches for the senders, and run a wire in to provide the ignition feed for the tach. I'm also going use my old speedo in the 85' rally gauge cluster. I'm assuming that the speedometers can be interchanged between the idiot light cluster and the gauges cluster considering they both are cable driven. The only difference is the gauges speedo has a trip odometer. I want to keep my original one so the mileage total will stay correct.

 

The mileage odometer is easily changed, if you know what you're doing!

I have changed all of mine, when I swapped gauges, to keep the true mileage correct to the vehicle.

Leon.

 

How many 82' to 85' Firebird owners have swapped out their idiot lights for full factory gauges? I'm trying to get all the loose ends covered before I try this exchange. I've seen no real tech procedure for this swap involving Firebirds, although it seems a lot of Camaro owners have swapped clusters on these boards.

 

glad my 82 is a t/a and full guages