I read a post in the mall about someone wanting a digital cluster from a Cavalier Z24 and started wondering what other digital clusters could be used. I found this...

Chevy Monte Carlo SS Dakota Digital Dash Cluster



and started wondering what other gauges could be used and how much work it would be to transplant?

93/94 s10/bravada fit nicely I'm still trying to figure out wiring though.

Here's another one...

Corvette C4 digital dash instrument cluster 84-89



Being oblivious to the work that would be involoved, I'm only looking at those that seem like they would seem to fit into the current cluster space...

or 1986 Camaro Berlinetta Digital Instrument Cluster



1990 1991 1992 1993 Buick Riviera Digital Dash Cluster

[This message has been edited by F-I-E-R-O (edited 02-21-2007).]

I don't have a clue what it would take to make those digital clusters work in a Fiero...but if I were to guess I would say that most any cluster from that era were designed to work with the same analog senders that our cars have. In other words, I think it should be simple to use a digital cluster from the 80s.

I would be hesitant to look at one from the 90s as they started getting digital and they would not be easy at all to adapt to the analog senders.

If you are looking at clusters that will fit - the only choice is the one from the Cavalier. All the others are wider. They may not look like it, but they are. They are also fairly deep - so you would also have to rework the area behind the 'pod'.

You also have to be careful with the Corvette ones: there are differences in the years depending of the type of sensors used (84 cluster will not work in a 85 Vette, etc - so there may be some problems with getting it to work with the Fiero sensors), also hard to find a decent one that is not 'sun burnt'. However, these are the nicest looking ones in my opinion.

You 'might' be able to get the 87-89 TransAm GTA digital cluster to fit. I looks big, but each display is separate from the others (the others are all connected to each other through a circuit board(s) that are as large as the housing). The T/A's displays are all independant displays: small circuit boards - they are connected together via the plastic circuit board mounted to the back of the clusters housing similar in design to the one on the Fiero's cluster. This can be eliminated by 'hard wiring' the displays together. The only display you would have to worry about is the oil/temp/volt gage board as it is long, but if positioned right, it could be made to fit. Of course this means building a new housing. I know they will fit as I started messing around with this ideal a few years back, but this was never completed due to the fact that I did the old Firebird dash swap. Sorry I can't find the pictures anymore and I have since dismantled it - I probably still have the 'Fiero' face plate.

BTW: I repair digital clusters as a side job for some local auto wreckers, so I have seen an assortment of different type of clusters and know how they are put together inside - and I also compared what will fit and what will not. Actually they all can be made to fit with dash modifications - but the Cavalier one is the only one that is the closest - it also needs the housing modified a bit, but it uses similar plugs as the Fiero, so the pin can be easily swapped vs having to splice in a new plug.

I've had my eye on the one out of the regatta, er, reatta for quite awhile now. Any insights on how it interfaces with the car?

so say you do a digital dash swap... do you have to put in new sensors as well? i know the vss went from analog to digital.. (85 or 86 i think) id love to toy with one of these sometime..

quote Originally posted by Mickey_Moose: You 'might' be able to get the 87-89 Trans Am GTA digital cluster to fit. I looks big, but each display is separate from the others (the others are all connected to each other through a circuit board(s) that are as large as the housing). The T/A's displays are all independent displays: small circuit boards - they are connected together via the plastic circuit board mounted to the back of the clusters housing similar in design to the one on the Fieros cluster. This can be eliminated by 'hard wiring' the displays together. The only display you would have to worry about is the oil/temp/volt gage board as it is long, but if positioned right, it could be made to fit. Of course this means building a new housing. I know they will fit as I started messing around with this ideal a few years back, but this was never completed due to the fact that I did the old Firebird dash swap. Sorry I can't find the pictures anymore and I have since dismantled it - I probably still have the 'Fiero' face plate.

Since the car has the GT aux gauges, I'm not worried about the oil/temp/volt being in the dash, so maybe that would help to combine the sections into the allotted space. I would like to be consistent with the digitals and have the oil/temp/volt digitized in the aux gauge pod.

quote Originally posted by BobadooFunk: i know the vss went from analog to digital.. (85 or 86 i think) ...

Huh? The VSS in the Fiero never went digital.

quote Originally posted by jscott1: Huh? The VSS in the Fiero never went digital.

o.. ok well it changed or something ah nevermind... its early i wake up round 2 on wednesdays usually

This is the gauge cluster that I have in my Astro van. I must say I hate it. I will never go digital again. I'm considering buying all autometer gauges for it. The fuel gauge which was correct before the swap is way off now. Every now and then my speedometer just disappears for no apparent reason and won't come back on till I restart the van, and my temp gauge reads 30 degrees cooler than it actually is. I had them replace it under warranty once and about six months later it all started going south again. It's is way too much of a pain to change out and I won't do it again. Next time it come out it stays out.

Tom Sweet over in the mall makes a really nice drop in unit for the fiero.

------------------
Glenn Lintemuth
A&P Mechanic
Colorado Springs, CO
88' Convertible "BeyondGT"
88' GT, white 5speed
89' K-5 Blazer on 44's
04' Silverado Ext Z71 on 33's

f you are thinking about digital gauges, try driving a car with them first. I thought it might be a cool mod, but my father's 96 Crown Vic had digital gauges, and I couldn't STAND them! I much prefer analog.

------------------

1984 Fiero SE

quote Originally posted by RWDPLZ: I thought it might be a cool mod, but my father's 96 Crown Vic had digital gauges, and I couldn't STAND them! I much prefer analog.

I didn't want to say anything, but there is a reason digital gauges went away. They were universally hated and people begged for analog to come back. In 84 Pontiac was congratulated for going with analog gauges in the Fiero.

I would swap a reatta cluster in heartbeat if i could find one around here. But it looks like ill be doing a cavy swap due to the availability of information and the large amount of these cars in the junkyard "where they belong". I like them all, i love feeling like im sitting in a space craft!

The KITT one above is just gaudy IMHO. It's what I would call 'ricer' - even though it does not fit the general definition of ricer, but in may books it's gone overboard in excessive (much like a ricer car).

Personally, I kind of like the digital gauges, BUT would ONLY consider using the Corvette or T/A GTA one. Those ones still have the 'analog' look to them with the sweeping displays. I also like the multiple colors on the displays. Plus these are backlit LCD displays, which basically means you can see them with the sun shining directly on them (which is not the case with those after market LED ones - and actually the factory vacuum fluorescent ones could also be a problem).

The all green looking ones do nothing for me.

Here is sort of a picture of the T/A one (poor quality) - the Corvette one is posted above:


BobadooFunk: any of the 'spares' that I have are not working and can not be repaired as the parts that they need are not available (so they are used for parts)

[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 02-22-2007).]

go and see that

http://www.azoteliquide.com.../digital_cluster.htm

quote Originally posted by Mickey_Moose: any of the 'spares' that I have are not working and can not be repaired as the parts that they need are not available (so they are used for parts)

This is another reason the digital dashes went away...reliability. I would bet that better than 90% of the digital dashes in the junk yard are non-functional.

quote Originally posted by jscott1: This is another reason the digital dashes went away...reliability. I would bet that better than 90% of the digital dashes in the junk yard are non-functional.

The Corvette ones are very realiable in terms to the electronics, it's the displays that suffer due to the Vette ones always parking them in the direct sunlight with the top off the car. The sun heats up the liquid in the displays and causes it to boil and thus breaking the little passages in them and the fluid leaks out. As a result the gage always looks like it is on even with the key off (back lit displays - goes clear to 'turn on' the segment). Dispays can still be bought, but at a premium price.

TransAm : have yet to the see the above Vette problem with these, these however usually suffer from the select buttons oxidizing and not working. There is also another problem where the odometer display turns off (randomly) - have yet to figure that one out.

A big problem with the above 2, is STUPID people using Armour All on the dash. They seem to think that stuff is 'so cool' and splash it on by the buckets full. It destroys an foam padding around the displays/bezel and when it gets in behind the glass it has a habit of peeling the paint off the plastic color insert (provides the different colors to each gauge) - with the paint gone, you see the bulb when the display 'lights' up.

All the other displays mostly suffer from: cold solder joints and power supply problems. Vacuum fluorescent displays require the 12v supplied by the battery/alternator to be stepped up to usually 30v+ (depends onthe display). This is achieved using a high speed mosfet to increase the voltage. This mosfet is usually the suspect along with the electrolic capacitors as they dry up and change value.

The parts that you can no longer get are the display drivers for the vacuum fluorescent ones as they were custom built for GM and are no longer available. I only have a couple of dashes were these processors are no good. The rest are because some moron hit and cracked the display or something got dumped into it and fried the boards.

An easy 97% are repairable.

quote Originally posted by Mickey_Moose: The sun heats up the liquid in the displays and causes it to boil and thus breaking the little passages in them and the fluid leaks out. As a result the gage always looks like it is on even with the key off (back lit displays - goes clear to 'turn on' the segment). Dispays can still be bought, but at a premium price. however usually suffer from the select buttons oxidizing and not working. There is also another problem where the odometer display turns off (randomly) - have yet to figure that one out. All the other displays mostly suffer from: cold solder joints and power supply problems. An easy 97% are repairable.

Tim, I don't disagree with anything you said, but I still think that most if not all of the 20 something year old digital displays that you might find in the junk yard are non-functional at this point.

quote Originally posted by jeffndebrus:

Now that I would be alright with!!!!

quote Originally posted by jscott1: Tim, I don't disagree with anything you said, but I still think that most if not all of the 20 something year old digital displays that you might find in the junk yard are non-functional at this point.

Agreed - but most can probably be repaired (sorry if my previous post seemed otherwise).

What gets me, is all these people that do these swaps have no ideal if the gauges actually work before they begin the project. It's harder to figure out what the problem is if you have no ideal what is good. If they don't work and you have modified them to fit, the junk yard will not take them back.

For the most part it is a simple test to power them on (all gauges will either zero or max out depending on the input - all except the voltage one, as it should read the power supply voltage). But in my experience, you are better off rebuilding the power supplies on the Cavalier ones before you install them. Sure it may work right now, but may not next week (or a month down the road).

As Jonathan said, they are 20 something years old

[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 02-25-2007).]