Is this all I need to go from an idiot light panel to a gauges panel?

1. Instrument panel cover
2. Instrument panel
3. Sensors, like the oil pressure & water temp

I found a gauge panel, not sure if I want a gauges dash, but I had better buy it before I think about it. Every other time I "think about" getting a junkyard part, it winds up missing when I go back for it. What's great is, it's out of an '86 2.8, so it'll have the mechanical speedometer, and the tach will be calibrated for a V6!

 

Yea i think so but you might as whell grap the hole dash if you can You might need some thing out of it.

 

Tom, are you sure it will be mechanical? My full-gauge 86 speedo/VSS is digital - has the sender in the tailshaft. I think we went through the Helm book awhile back and discovered that the full cluster had a digital speedo and the "Idiot Light" cluster was mechanical.

Could be wrong tho. I tried searching for the old topic but its gone.

Switching to the digi version should not be too bad. A new/used sender (AutoZone has 'em), driven gear and wiring should do it. Unfortunately, the tailshaft MAY have to be switched - not too bad with an auto tranny. I'm not sure about the tailshaft, I've never seen a cable driven 700R4.

Dale

 

Dale, thanks for the tip. I think I will go and get that cluster, if for nothing else than to satisfy my curiousity! I'm not positive at all about the mechanical speedo. Hm. I'll crawl under the back and see if there's a VSS in the tailshaft. Aw damn, I hope the trans is still under there. And you know, I think I do remember that conversation. I was looking at my GM book late last night, and remember seeing "VSS input" labeled on the panel connectors for the gauges cluster, and VSS output for the idiot light cluster. I thought it was a mistake... that the gauges panel should've read "output". Hm.

Okay, so I'll add:

4. Vehicle Speed Sensor & gears

I hope I don't need the tailshaft, too. I don't think the Helms will have anything about it. Do you know if I can pull the gears out of the tailshaft, or are they part of the VSS, or are they stuck deep inside the tail? (Never had to change mine)

Thanks!

 

Hell yeah! I found it! You're right Dale, we even have page #s! Thanks buddy, good memory!

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...edo+mechanical

 

Hey, no Prob!

To get a good view of the speedo gear setup try page 700-R4-32. It looks as though the digi style will be a direct fit. The gear should work too but, if not they are only a couple bucks at a dealer. There is a handy-dandy chart on page 7A-7 for the correct color. Mine had a Yellow (41 tooth) driven gear stock. Attached is one pic of the VSS. It is about 2" in diameter. The gear is about the same size or a little smaller.

BTW: If you can't find a VSS, let me know and you can have this one (free shipping thru work). Its a bit banged up but it does work. I don't have the gear anymore tho.

Dale

 

Here is another.

 

Well, I picked it up yesterday- and got it for free!!! Hell yeah! :lala: (Oh damn I hate how that dancing thing looks!)

The dash was an easy pull, but I noticed one thing wrong with it- the previous bozo (aka "owner") drilled two holes between where the hatch lid release would be, and the extreme right of the dash. Not a big deal, though. The car had 144,000-odd miles on it! (Didn't realize these electric speedo's had the 6th digit on 'em, mine right now says 37,000-odd miles instead of 237,000.)

The VSS was a bitch! Someone took the right front wheel, and the car was leaning very close to the ground. I did manage to wiggle under there, and happily found a trunk mat from another car to lie on. (Some weird stuff growing under that car, not to mention the broken glass). So I reach up, remove the VSS retainer bolt, and ring, and wiggle the VSS out. Stupid me, not thinking, and as it pops out, I get a bath of trans fluid. (oops) So there I was, stuck under the car, trying to quickly move out of the way- that was funny! I felt like a turtle on my back! I wound up just getting my arm wet. I shoved my convienence store "carry dirty parts in" bag into the VSS hole to stop the thing from soaking the ground, because I wasn't done under there.

I also took the wires leading to the VSS tailshaft sensor. This was a pain; couldn't slide under the car to see where they went. Finally I had a hunch, I dug out the TCC wiring from the engine compartment, and looked at the wires- yep, there was a yellow wire and purple wire "added" to the TCC wire loom. So I clipped those wires, climbed back under the car, and gave the VSS harness a tug- nothing. I climbed back out, looked some more, and figured that GM taped (or intertwined) the two harnesses. So I cut all the TCC wires too, unclipped the TCC, got back under the car, and (thankfully) the whole TCC/VSS harness pulled out towards me. My Helms showed the VSS wires as coming up over the passenger side of the trans, and the TCC wires come up over the driver's side. Apparently either the Helms is wrong, or someone re-did that car's trans, because they were combined as one harness, over the driver's side of the trans. (Just giving this info for anyone else that goes to a junkyard and is unfamiliar with the electric speedo setup!)

I grabbed the VSS buffer, too. For those, like me, that never saw it before, this is a yellow module that's piggybacked onto the ECM's plastic mounting bracket. I cut the harness (keeping the connectors), and took the buffer out. (My mechanical speedo has the VSS buffer on the back of the dash.)

I also got the coolant sensor- and again, not thinking, I removed it from the head and "glug glug glug"- the whole coolant system started dumping out. I found another scrap of bag, and wedged it in there to stop the engine from dumping onto the ground.

I tried to take the oil pressure sensor but it was stuck tight, and the yard was closing- screw it, I'll buy one if I have to.

So, not frickin' bad for $0! He originally told me $10. I gotta buy that guy a case of beer or something; I love this yard! I'll see if I can get pictures of it all tonight. The VSS looks just like your picture, too, Dale. The gear came out with it; it looks like a white plastic that got yellow'd over time? I'll check out that page, but yeah, it does look like it'll fit into my same tailshaft. That's good, because I don't want another trans bath. I'll get a pic of it all tonight. The wiring for the VSS speed buffer doesn't look bad, either. One small connector goes to the VSS sensor (two wires, yellow & purple). The other one branches off to the cruise control, ecm, speedo, power, ground, etc... so if I put this cluster in my car, I'll just leave the cruise control wire unhooked.

Speaking of which- there was a black box, centered above the passenger's feet, with "AC" stamped on it. Is that the cruise control module?

And I think that thing had it's trans done recently; the fluid was bright red. Either that or the trans died and he tried to change the fluid to get it going again, it was still dead, and he junked the car. It had Accel u-groove plugs in it so he must've cared somewhat about the car.

 

Yup. I've grabbed about 5 of those from the junkyard. They are like $200+ new and pretty much all GMs have 'em.


Dale

 

$200/new? Shoot, shoulda grabbed it.