GTA Dash Swap
 

I have a 87 Firebird, Formula. What would be involved in a 87-88 Gta dash conversion. I think the dig dash looks great, just wondering what I would get into.

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

Underhood harness, dash harness, full interior harness. There are several things that are different between the digi dash and analog.

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

Basically everything from the firewall back needs to change, including the heater box. It's all different. The dash pad and the speakers are about all that stays the same. Under the hood, in addition to things mentioned above, you'll need all of the various sensors that the digital dash uses to monitor things like coolant level, light failures, etc. In some cases, those sensors require different parts (washer reservoir comes to mind) to accomodate them.

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

I have a complete digital dash car (88 GTA auto w/ power windows and ac) if you need any or all of the pieces to do the swap. Thanks. John

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

I have a slightly different take on the difficulty of this swap. This spring I successfully removed my digital dash from my '88 GTA and replaced it with a 140/8k analog dash from an '89. For me the swap was reasonably simple; reasonably being that I did hours of research before going ahead to make sure that this was even possible. When it came time to do the actual swap I already had the analog setup on my workbench and had taken the time to trace each guage on the cluster through the printed circuit board to the connector socket to make sure that I knew which pin matched with which guage. I also had identified the wiring for the digital dash connector pin to guage. Armed with that info I wrote up a cross-reference sheet and then started cutting wires (THE FUN PART! ! !). Total swap time was about 3 hours, I missed one ground and had to troubleshoot that for a little while, after that it worked like a charm.

Going the opposite way, to me, sounds slightly harder, but I don't think that you are going to need to re-wire from bumper-to-bumper, replacing sensors as you go. As long as the sensor type is the same (speed for instance, the speedometer in the digi requires a sending unit...not a mechanical) there should be no real problems. The DIC (Driver Information Center) will require some new wiring, but as long as you are clever about it you shouldn't need to devote much time or $$ to it...for the doors you could likely run them off of the switch that activcates the interior light (with the incorporation of a relay).

If you want I could email you the notes that I have as well as the links that I used when researching my swap.

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

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Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

Well I am finishing mine up now. The swap I simple actually. You will aprreciat have the complete wireing from the donor car. The lighting wires that go the DIC are matched resistance. This means the computer uses A resistnce change to activate the light INOP function. I am using the instruments from 1988,to a 1989 T/A. The windows/power locks/pwr mirrors and power trunk all can stay. They are on a seperate circuit. They have NOTHING to do with the swap. The A/C is totally different!!!!, but really easy to retrofit. The only thing that really bites, is the relatively few dashes available, and the fact many odometers are showing well over 100k miles. I have a 35,xxx mile car, so it looks like is will have to stick a drill on my speed sensor till it comes all the way back around. Likely to take all night LOL. Oh lastly, getting a shop manualfor both car is priceless. Matching the wires up on paper is much easier than trying to chase them in the harness!
goos luck, shawn

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

Not all GTAs got the digital dash. You could get a GTA with the digital dash. I like the analogs in my GTA better. Personal choice.

I wouldn't have even considered my GTA, if they had had the digital dash.

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

im about to buy a gta and it has an analog dash and i was thinkin about this swap, sounds like a pretty tedious job though. How much $ is this swap running you guys that did it or are in the process of doin it?

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

+/- 300 bucks. Not bad as far as work. You could do it in a weekend. The whole interior will need to come out, and the 5-7 fastners on the dash an it comes out. 6 connectors/cannon plugs.
shawn

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

oh so its not nearly as bad as some ppl are making it out to be. What about all the extra sensors?

Re: GTA Dash Swap
 

doesn't sound like its worth all the trouble to switch unless it really means somthing special to you.