Backlit Electronic Instrument Cluster
Imagine turning this...
Into this...
Completely backlit, exact matching typefaces as original, illuminated needles, vacuum fluorescent odometer/trip meter, in either US or Metric display. Lets even dim them with a rotatable trip reset shaft. No more fragile dimmer on the shifter plate, do whatever you want with it now.
But it doesn't end there...
Imagine eliminating the angle drive. Take it off and replace it with something like this...
Now you have a completely self-contained electronic speedometer and odometer. Your trip reset shaft now becomes a selection button to switch between a full 6 digit odometer (not a 5+.1!), trip meter, and even a realtime digital speed readout. Gone are the problems with a jumpy needle, lack of 100,000+ mile accounting, rusting cables, flaky lambda counter, and of course that pesky angle drive. 85mph, 140mph, or 240km/h? Take your pick.
What about the rest of the gauges? Many people tell you to refer to them as an approximation of what the car is doing. Well imaging being able to completely trust everything they tell you. True voltage, true engine RPM, true oil pressure, true engine temp. Imagine even getting a flashing warning light if your engine is overheating. How about an RPM gauge that returns and stays at 0 when the engine is off!
What about that fuel gauge and low fuel light? Never worked right? Well how about replacing it with a now drop-in generic unit? Like one of the ones from here - http://www.egauges.com/vdo_send.asp?...VDO_Adjustable, all while maintaining complete compatability with original senders, reproduction senders, and TankZillas. Sounds good? I think smart-dampened gauge pointing is even better. Instead of showing you the real time float position, lets average it over 30-60 seconds, and show you that value. Now accelerating uphill or stopping downhill will no longer have a dramatic affect on its accuracy. And how about a nice fluid motion through the whole empty-full range? Yes we can. Lets also trigger that low fuel light a little more smartly. No flickering once its getting low, just turn the darn thing on and leave it on for a minute (assuming its just barely flickering). Now you wont miss it and you should go get gas now.
What if you want an external device to trigger the LAMBDA light when needed? Well just plug in to the original LAMBDA counter plug. No need to worry about loosing your service counter, thats all handled electronically now.
While we're at it, lets also ditch that Mylar flex board with its copper contacts that are always lifting up and shorting out, every single time you pull out the binnacle/cluster. Gone they are!
All this, and maybe even more, are being worked on right now. I posted about possibly doing this back on the .com forum, so now that I actually am doing this, I figured I'd start a new thread about it. This will be a DROP IN REPLACEMENT unit for the whole instrument cluster. Remove binnacle, remove cluster, swap plastic lens, install new cluster into binnacle, replace binnacle. Remove angle drive, replace with new electronic sender. Hook up (possibly) two additional power and ground lines. Replace fuse #5, bypass stock dimmer, done. Optionally replace fuel sender, temp sender, and oil pressure sender as well.
I'm working towards a goal of having a complete unit for display at DCS'12. If enough testing is done at that point, perhaps also sell them there. This is something I've wanted to do since I bought my car 11 years ago. I am now making it happen.
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Originally Posted by Farrar
Dave M vin 03572
