What are some relatively straight-forward digital instrument cluster swap options that won't cost an arm and a leg? My speedometer gauge unit is no bueno, so I figured might as well consider a cool upgrade. The S10 digital dash looks like it would be pretty cool, but I don't know how much wiring and sensors have to be changed. Tom's Digital looks pretty cool, but not particularly cheap. Perhaps I could just do the speedo and tach. Intellitronix looks similar. I'm also considering building something of my own using an arduino or similar. Reading the VSS input seems simple enough, but building a display that captures that '80s retro-futuristic vacuum fluorescent look would be tricky. The coolest swap would be S2000, but going from Honda to GM sounds like more work than I'm trying to dedicate to this car.
[This message has been edited by statue4 (edited 12-21-2020).]
That looks awesome! I'll keep my eye out at the local junkyards for one.
Side note: The closest yard to me is LKQ in Wilmington, CA and I don't like it nearly as much as some of the yards back in Denver. If anyone has salvage yards they like to go to in the LA area, let me know. I've been meaning to swing by one in Oceanside that supposedly has a Fiero, but it has been there since October so I'm afraid the parts I need will have already been picked off. Oh well.
Just make sure that whatever route you choose, the cluster has all of the same warning lights as the Fiero......mainly the "check engine" light. You know all to well about California smog
Just make sure that whatever route you choose, the cluster has all of the same warning lights as the Fiero......mainly the "check engine" light. You know all to well about California smog
Haha true! If all goes as planned, I'll register it out of state and swap the engine by the time my next smog test is due (but we know things never go as planned). While more lenient on swaps, I'd guess some other states will still want a working CEL.
I went to a junkyard today and picked up a few things. Primarily went to get a set of sun visors, but also picked up a center console, original radio and original speedo from a Fiero. I also grabbed the digital dash cluster from a 1994 Oldsmobile Bravado. The image is just a reference image: I have not applied power to mine yet, so it might not even work. I did not think to grab the VSS or anything from the Bravado.
If you want to build your own and make it 100% custom, there is a FB group that talks about DIY raspberry Pi and has some cool designs (including touch screen versions): https://www.facebook.com/gr...unerstudiodashboards
So I'm working on the digital Bravada (same as Blazer, S-10, Jimmy) dash install and it is going well so far. I re-flowed the power supply solder points before even trying to fire it up, because it is a common point of failure on these things. I added spade connectors to the Bravada harness pigtail and connected it up to the Fiero harness with T-connectors, retaining the original Fiero connectors so I can switch back to the Fiero dash if I want to. Video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/M1FVFSDV9H9LPYq7A Next I have to cut some of the white plastic to get the Bravada cluster to fit in the Fiero "pod." I compiled the Fiero and Blazer wiring diagrams into this quick connector pinout diagram: Incase it gets compressed and hard to view: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cmMPRR4QBou5yW9D7 I have two questions about the wiring: 1. The digital dash has a pin for "Lights on signal." What do I do with this? I'm guessing it reduces the brightness when the headlights are on? Even though I connected the grey dimmer wires, all that happens when I turn the dimmer control down is that the display starts to flicker. 2. How do I connect the VSS? The Fiero diagram shows three important (sounding) connections: speed-sensor low, speed-sensor-high, and speed output to computer & cruise control. The digital dash only has one speed sensor input connection. How should I tackle this? I actually haven't even looked into if the Bravada/Blazer/etc used a 4000 pulse per mile VSS like the Fiero or a different number of pulses per mile.
Got the wiring done. Now all I need to do is get a nice looking semi-transparent plastic faceplate. For those questions I had: 1. The dimming works fine. I connected that "lights on signal" wire to the brown wire from the headlight switch. 2. I think I got the speedometer hooked up okay. I connected the speed sensor hi from the C1 speedometer connector to the Bravada light blue and black speed sensor wire. I hooked the speed sensor lo from the C1 connector to ground. Still have nothing going to the speed signal to ECM, but I have been driving the car for months wiithout a working VSS anyways, so no difference there. Because I still need the plastic VSS gear I can't test the accuracy of the speedometer, but if I take the VSS and spin it with my hand the speedometer will show change. How important is it for the ECM to know the vehicle speed? Would it run better? I guess I wont have cruise control unless I figure that out either. It will look alot better once I get a faceplate figured out.
So the digital oil pressure always reads at 80 psi when the engine is on, but the stock one is still installed. I'm guessing I will have to replace the oil pressure sending unit with one from a S-10/Blazer/Bravada/etc. for it to work properly. I've been looking into the speedometer and it looks like the ECM & cruise control input is actually 2000 ppm instead of the speedo's 4000. So the stock speedo would receive the 4000 signal from the VSS and then output a 2000 signal to the ECM. I think for this to work properly I will have to send the VSS signal to the digital dash AND to a stock Fiero speedometer so it can step it down to 2000. The stock Fiero speedometer would have to be hidden under the dash somewhere and would only be there so it can output the proper signal to the ECM and cruise control. I wonder if I could disassemble the stock speedometer assembly a bit to only include the necessary components for this. For now it does not matter, since I still need a plastic VSS gear. Does anyone know what the ECM does with the speed info? I've driven it for months without, but perhaps it will run better once I get that sorted. Gas gauge: I know people usually run out of gas when their gauge says 1/4, but mine has been a bit different. Perhaps because I used a generic sender from Summit. With the stock cluster a full tank of gas would read as about 2/3 on the gauge and empty would be way underneath zero on the gauge. With the new digital dash it is accurate at full and zero! Sweet! But I think the float gets stuck in the down position because after I fill up it will not change the reading on the gauge until I hit a pothole or bump. I still need to get some Lexan or something as a faceplate. I don't really see where I will be able to attach it but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.
if you find a 88 speedo there is a post somewhere on here about putting a firebird gauge cluster in a fiero. It has all the points on the board you would need to get the speedo from the ecm to the fiero speedo board then output 4000ppm to the digital cluster but if you turn on cruise or the like the ecm still thinks it is using the fiero speedo as a display so it provides th correct output back to the ecm. I did this with my syclone setup. The oil pressure gauge has to do with the sensor and you might have to put a different sensor on the engine and run a wire all the way to the gauge cluster to work correctly
if you find a 88 speedo there is a post somewhere on here about putting a firebird gauge cluster in a fiero. It has all the points on the board you would need to get the speedo from the ecm to the fiero speedo board then output 4000ppm to the digital cluster but if you turn on cruise or the like the ecm still thinks it is using the fiero speedo as a display so it provides th correct output back to the ecm. I did this with my syclone setup. The oil pressure gauge has to do with the sensor and you might have to put a different sensor on the engine and run a wire all the way to the gauge cluster to work correctly
Does it need to be a speedo from an 88 to get the correct input for the ECM? I've got a speedo from a '84 and an '88, but I had planned on putting the '88 speedo on Ebay since it is 120mph.
The oil pressure gauge started working fine once I disconnected the original oil pressure gauge. I guess the two were confusing each other.
Grab a DRAC module from an S-10 or similar to handle all of the VSS divisions and distribution. Plenty of programming info out there, it's all hardware.
yes has to be from an 88 there is a function on that board that the earlier boards did not have. it has to do with the map computer they were planning in later years.
Well that's a clever wayto do it with a potentiometer and a voltage comparitor.
If you are working with the raw wires, then look at the drawing that I have A/C controls connector, (labeled A thru N).
What you are looking for is scattered all over the drawing but here is is neatly
A - Black -Ground B - not used C - not used D - Tan - Mode door defrost open E - Gray - recirc door open F- Purple - mode door partially open (bi-level) G - not used H - not used I - not used J - Light Blue - Mode door outlet open defrost closed (normal) K - not used L - Yellow- recir door closed M - Red - Mode door outlet open N - Brown - power
As for the speedometer board (84 non cruise, 85-88):
A - not used B - not used
C - not used D - not used E - not used F - not used
G - not used H - not used J - not used
K - not used L - not used M - 4000 pulse per mile buffered VSS (88 only)
N - 4000 pulse per mile buffered VSS (86-87) ?? per Gary W P - black/white - ground R - puple/white - from the VSS (low) S - Yellow - from the VSS (high)
T - yellow/black - Ignition power to cluster U - Dark green/white - 2000 pulse per mile Vehicle speed sensor signal to ECM and Cruise
i left this board in the dash and just sent pin m to the speedo. that way the fiero just thinks your using the stock gauges. makes it way simplier. fyi i did a syclone gauge cluster install.
I finally got the faceplate finished up. I got a piece of Lexan at Home Depot and cut it using razor blade and Dremel. I just used the original faceplate as a guide. I cut the protective plastic layer around the areas where the instrument displays are. I left the plastic over those areas and removed the rest and sprayed it black. I got some thin blue tinted plastic at an art supply store and stuck it on the back with 3M VHB. The Bravada(or Blazer or S-10 or whatever) dash originally has blue tinted plastic over the instrument displays and green over the speedo/odo. I liked the blue so that's what I was trying to mimic. I couldn't just reuse those original pieces of tinted plastic because they were pretty scratched up from me not being careful with them. I have no idea how well it would work if somebody wanted to go for an orange or red tint. The main thing holding it in place is the screw on the left of the three buttons. I also put a few screws in around the perimeter. They don't look perfect, but at the end of the day it is still just a Fiero I got for a couple grand, so I don't mind. I think it looks pretty good. I would prefer if it wasn't quite as shiny, as nothing else in the car is, but oh well. And, for anyone who noticed my warning lights, I did not somehow install ABS. I hooked the ABS light up for door ajar. Excuse the missing interior parts. I'm in the process of making them red.
I still do not have a working speedometer. My VSS gear is damaged. I made a 3d model of the red 29 tooth VSS gear to 3d print. Before I got around to printing it I found a local junkyard with a Fiero and it happened to also be a manual. It was a 4 speed instead of a 5 speed so the VSS gear was blue. I got it anyways just to see if my speedo would work at all. Nothing. It got damaged just like the VSS gear I had before. Dang. This isn't just because it was from the wrong transmission, right? I had thought that the VSS gear from a different transmission would still work, but show inaccurate speeds. The transmission just chews them up. To my knowledge, I have to remove and disassemble the transmission to address this. I don't have a decent spot to remove the drivetrain from the car so will just put this off. Within a year I will probably live elsewhere and might be able to remove the transmission (and throw a different engine in while I'm at it). My clutch slips sometimes, so hopefully it lasts until then. I'm considering trying to build something that gets speed from GPS and outputs the pulses that the VSS normally would using an Arduino or something, but haven't done much research on it yet. Of course there would be delay and stuff, but it would be better than nothing.
So, I was able to get the speedometer and odometer to work. In a previous post I mentioned making something with an Arduino to get GPS signal and output a sine wave to the cluster. Instead of spending time tinkering on such a project, I just bought a commercially available unit. I ordered Intellitronix S9020 from Summit. Install was super easy. The hardest part was routing the antenna wires through the front firewall (is it called a firewall? The wall between the cabin and frunk). The unit consists of a main board and an external GPS antenna. Only three wires to be connected: ignition power, VSS signal, and, of course, ground. The unit I got works with both 4000 pulse per mile (ppm), 8000ppm and 16000ppm, and has a wire for each signal. For my install the 8000ppm and 16000ppm wires are not used. The antenna must be within view of the sky. I mounted it on the windshield wiper cowl. The unit exceeds my expectations. I was thinking it would have noticeable lag, like when a smartphone navigation app displays your speed in the corner. There is no noticeable lag. It behaves just like a regular speedometer. Sometimes, albeit rarely, it will take a few minutes to acquire the GPS signal when starting up. If you are out of view of the sky for a short time, like a large freeway underpass, it will be a little inaccurate until you get back "outside." If you are out of view for a long time, like a tunnel, it will eventually just show zero until you are "outside" again. Clouds have no affect on GPS signal.
Oddly, I was getting speedometer reading, but my odometer was not counting up, even though there is only one VSS wire into the cluster for both speedo and odo. It doesn't really make sense that one would work and the other wouldn't. To test, I took the VSS out of the transmission and mounted the shaft in an electric drill chuck. With the key in the on-position and the drill spinning, the speedometer AND the odometer counted up. I thought perhaps something about the cluster electronics didn't like the signal it got from the GPS unit... The odometer started working, however, once I disconnected the electrical connector from the old VSS. Previously I had had BOTH the GPS unit and the VSS going to the instrument cluster, figuring it wouldn't matter since the VSS drive gear is broken anyways. I guess even though it wasn't rotating and wasn't producing a signal, the cluster didn't like having both of them connected. With only the GPS unit connected to the instrument cluster, both the speedometer and the odometer work accurately.
I would recommend a GPS speedometer sender to anyone who is thinking about it. They don't need calibration and are independent of transmission, final drive ratio, and tire size. Including taxes and shipping it was like $130, which really isn't that bad.
_1.jpg)
