Ok, so Im in the process of putting in a custom gauge panel in my 91 RS. ive already got the panel made and am currently painting it at the moment. My problem is turn signals. I dont really care about the high beam indicator or all the dummy lights. I dont want to just throw in a couple of LED's for my turn signals like it seams everyone else is doing. It works, but i want something that looks more thought out. Ive been trying to find small LED's or a cover or something in the shape of a small arrow, but Ive come up with nothing. Any ideas?

 

Look into digikey or mouser or jameco or other electronic distributors. Jameco is more for hobby(cheaper prices for low quanties but less selection) and they are who I would recommend. Really small LEDs do exist, they are called surface mount LEDs, basically the sides of the LEDs have contacts on them that get soldered directly to the circuit board. Surface mount technology is whats inside cell phones.They would be a challege to solder for someone who doesn't have a background in electronics or a really good soldering iron.

Another and I think easier option would be rectangular LEDs. You could line them up to make the shape of an arrow.

 

I was thinking about carving the the turn indicators out of the original cluster and epoxy it behind a round hole in the new panel. Just a thought.

 

That thought crossed my mind a few times, but it seams rather difficult to make look good. I did however come across some leds at radio shack that actually would look good in my panel. Its not the same tiny led that everyone else throws in there, but its not a green blinking arrow, but i think it'll look good. Ill post/send some pics if anyone is interested/

 

I think I would just cut a triangle in the dash, put a piece of smoked plexi behind that and a led. my .02.

 

i thought about that one too, but cutting a small arrow in in some decently thick sheet metal isnt something i can really do in my garage with a dremel and make it look good.

 

We are interested in seeing pictures! What gauges did you go with?

 

ill take some later today after i get the bulbs in. i went with a complete set of autometer ultra light II's. im still in the process or wiring them in, so there not completely in the car yet.

 

ok so heres the pics of the panel and the gauges installed. i think the blinker/hibeam lights look pretty good.

 

Looks good. Speedometer is on the wrong side.

 

Yeah that looks really good I would love to do away with my stock gauges. How hard has it been to swap the wiring over?

 

i know the speedo is on the other side...i like it like that. the wiring isnt that difficult, but somewhat time consuming. im lucky enough to have a gm dealer service manual for the 3rd gens so i had detailed diagrams of all the wiring which made it alot easier. i just tapped into the panel illumination for the lighting, the ignition for a switched 12v source, the tach sensor wire and the fuel sender wire. the oil pressure, and water temp u hafta install the senders provided with ur gauge and run new wire for those. the speedo i just tapped into the ecu harness for the vss signal and ran a wire under the dash. the autometer electric speedos need a raw vss signal, so that seemed the best spot to get an unbuffered raw signal from.

 

I was just kidding. Like I tell my kids they put their tires on upside down.

Any chance you can hook the water and oil gauges up to the original senders and see how far they are off? I going back and forth between those exact gauges or cyberdyne digitals for my LT1 swap. Not sure about replacing senders with my PCM.

 

u cant hook the oil gauge to the stock sender at all, it just reads maxed out the whole time. the stock water temp sensor ran the new gauge, but after i swapped in the new sensor, i saw just how much it was off. ur better off with the senders that come with the gauges (mine came with the new water temp and oil pressure sender). on a side note, the oil pressure sender doesnt really fit in the oil galley port behind the intake and beside the distributor. i used a 45 degree elbow that i got from the napa down the street and it fits great with enough clearance to get the wiring done easily.

 

Thanks!

 

no problem. i snaped some pics of the gauges in the car. the quality sucks cuz im using my backup camera which isnt that great, but you can still see they look awesome.

 

Swapping the wiring over for the custom gauges isn't really a big deal unless you are changing the speedo from mechanical to electrical. Depending on what gauge you buy, you'll need a sender such as PN #5291 from autometer if you switch to the easier to install electrical. the fuel gauge hooks up to the stock sender. oil pressure and temp are a little bit different, i'm not totally sure if these can hook up to stock equipment but installing them with my transplant was as easy as just screwing them into the block and intake. The volt meter should just hook up to any 12V source.