looking for gauges

[Mopar&vettedude]

I've been looking into new gauges for the doba and was wondering what size all the gauges are? I was planning on move the gas gauge and volt meter to one a have the tach next to the speedometer. Any suggestions on a different approach without having external gauges? Thanks

 

[MiradaMegacab]

2 1/16" and 3 3/8"

 

[kkritsilas]

There was a place called Speedhut that would create custom gauges. My own idea was to have the gas gauge as a secondary dial to the tach, which would be the main dial on the 3 3/8" position where the gas gauge is now. They also make a GPS speedometer, which would eliminate any need to change speedometer gears in the transmission when playing with rear end ratios. I think one of the members here had even figured out what the font was on the factory gauges, so they could be used with the Speedhut custom gauges.

Kostas

 

[Mopar&vettedude]

that's cool. Thanks for the help.

 

[R/T Mirada]

Well I am sure there are better ways, and more expensive ways. But My D.I.Y. way looks like this,

I started off by ripping off MiradaMegacab's basic Idea, which was awesome, and tried to improve upon it. I started off with the gas gauge since the fuel sender had gone out on my Mirada. I plugged in a new VDO Vision Series 301-020 fuel gauge since that was the closest in appearance to the stock gauges that I could find online. It also was the a match to the fuel sending unit. Then I started to get greedy and wanted a tach to fill up the old gas gauge pod. I went with VDO's 333-160 8000 RPM unit which seemed to fill the bill, but just didn't feel right next to the stock Speedo. So I cut off the VDO Bezel and cut the center out of the stock fuel gauge face to form a mounting ring to the stock location in the dash, then I could use the stock bezel and it blended in with the speedo except for the font. With the Speedo and the Tack Cluster bezel recessed, the new Oil, Temp & Fuel gauges just didn't seem right since I could see the edges of the new VDO gauges in the pod openings. Taking a cue from the Tach install I chopped off the Bezels of the Oil gauge, VDO 350-104 Temp gauge VDO 310-105 & Fuel gauges ground out the factory Voltmeter, oil press, and temp gauge faces to form mounting rings to hold all the new gauges in the stock locations using Black RTV to permanently join the new gauges to the old faces. Following a comment I read in an automotive electricians book I then RTVed plexiglass bezels to the newly modified gauges since supposedly electrical gauges will read inaccurately if they are left unsealed and exposed to air.

Its still a work in progress I have had it in and road tested it and all the gauges appeared to function correctly. Since then I have pulled it back out and have been working on how to light the cluster I have been using green LEDs and now have to come up with a clean way to wire it all up so the back of the cluster does not look like a rats nest, since I had to remove the plastic stock wiring "Whatchamacallit" from the back to make room for grinding out openings for the gauges to poke out the back of the cluster housing and I am considering installing connector plugs to allow removal and re-installation with out having to cut wires since I still have yet to reinstall the dash pad


Here are some of the pics from my Photobucket record of my Mirada Mods

http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster38_zps69d9eedc.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster37_zps46728d69.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster36_zpsba43343e.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster35_zps5ff3ccda.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster34_zps5204fe43.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster33_zps0f440792.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster31_zps4ccd1a1c.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster30_zpsa2a65e76.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster32_zpsb197d177.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster29_zps756ed647.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster24_zps80a484c2.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster21_zps22557c93.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster22_zpse8a16066.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt300/duster876/InstCluster27_zps153206e3.jpg

Eventually I will replace the Speedo to match the rest of the VDO gauges and may even add more gauges to fill in the bottom three holes but this should do fine for now

Recently picked up a 140Km Speedo not sure how usefull it will be, but it looks way cooler in the dash then the stock 85 Mph speedo

 

[kkritsilas]

That is a pretty nice setup, and the font mismatch is not bad at all. Please let us know what the costs were.

As for the Speedhut stuff, I have been poking around their site some. They make a GPS Dual Speedometer, in which the main dial is the speedomter, and the secondary dial is an 8000 RPM tach. That would work well, and require only the wiring up of the GPS Speedo and the signal for the tachometer, leaving all of the other gauges as standard. Other way to do it would be to get the GPS Dual Speedometer with a secondary fuel gauge dial, and then use a full 3 3/8" Tachometer in the place where the fuel gauge is now. Third idea is to get the first option (GPS Speedometer/Tach combination), and the Quad Gauge (Water Temp., Oil Press., Voltmeter, and Fuel level) setup in the factory Fuel gauage position, and then replace the current voltmeter and temperature gauges with something different (oil temp, tranny fluid temp, A/F ratio, etc.) Possibilities are open. And there is a possibility that the gauges could be setup to use the factory font to allow for easy integration with the rest of the dash. Cheapest would be the first option, as it only needs one dual gauge. If this were to be attempted, you would need to verify with Speedhut that they could do a dual dial 3 3/8" GPS Speedometer.

Kostas

 

[R/T Mirada]

Speedhut does have some nice stuff and their prices reflect that. After a quick look through their site The 4" Dual Gauge - 160mph GPS Speedometer / 8K Tachometer (w/ turn signal and high beam) at $564.99
would probably be the ones I would go with if I were to go that route. Leaving me with openings for 6 more gauges.

But I am cheap and I tend to go with a more traditional route. Price break down so far most everything I got came from E Bay

Gauges
Fuel .....................$44
oil.........................$ 31
water....................$40
Tach.....................$113
Used 140 Speedo .$15
Various Leds.........$31 (trial and error)
Oil sender.............$ 48
temp sender (already had on hand from previous project)
electrical connectors and wiring est $20

So I am in for about $350 so far but I only bought one gauge at a time so I didn't have to pay all at once

keep in mind the tachometer I used was a 4" Tach, a 3 3/8" GPS Speedometer might not look right in the speedo / fuel gauge openings

It all boils down to choice. Its your ride, if you got the budget and the Speedhut products are haunting your thoughts make it happen :icon_thumright:

 

[MiradaMegacab]

Right, the 2 1/16 and 3 3/8 sort of slide into the cluster.
For legal issues I left the stock speedometer in.

 

[Mopar&vettedude]

That looks really good. I was actually looking to try and keep the most of it stock if i could or just start small and work my way into matching gauges, Like what r/t mirada is doing. Thanks for the input

 

[NoCar340]

I figured I'd go thread-mining rather than start a new one regarding custom gauge installations...

The Imperial presents its own set of challenges, since despite appearances everything is different from the other J-cars in the dash panel, including cluster mounting points, etc. The usual J-car stuff just plain will not fit. I did in fact go with Speedhut gauges, and am very glad I did so. The quality is excellent, the senders are better than others' (mil-spec in some cases), and they offer a variety no one else has. They are somewhat expensive, but in the long run they're much less expensive than AutoMeter's G-Series, Cobalt, Sport-Comp II and other series that use stepper motors and illuminated needles. The gauges have programmable warning lights in some cases; in others the button is to program for whatever sender you're using (speedometer, fuel).

My layout required more gauges than average, and though I like VDO gauges they do not offer a full range of gauges in any of their designs. They also don't offer 270° sweep electricals and I'm not crazy about mechanical temp gauges since the tube is a liability. Another benefit to the Speedhut gauges was their mounting depth. The deepest gauge I have protrudes barely an inch behind the stiffener plate for my custom cluster. For a small extra fee, I was able to send them a font file that is pretty close to what Chrysler used at the time. Unfortunately, I wasn't specific enough with my demands. They're not quite perfect, but overall I'm happy with them. They're closer to "factory" in appearance than anything else offered. AutoMeter gauges would've cost several hundred more than I paid for this setup. It fits inside the stock bezel where the horrible digital cluster once sat, leaving all of the other controls stock and untouched.

This is as far as I got... I did this during a break from replacing the roof on my Challenger just to get the layout set:

 

[Darth-Car]

Flaps, CHECK! Rudder, CHECK! You will need a guy with two glow sticks just to guide you into your drive way. This actually is a very cool looking setup. I can not wait to see it in the car. You need some fake wood grain material to complete the look.

 

[NoCar340]

Flaps, CHECK! Rudder, CHECK! You will need a guy with two glow sticks just to guide you into your drive way. This actually is a very cool looking setup. I can not wait to see it in the car. You need some fake wood grain material to complete the look.

Yeah, there's a lot there to have to track, but that's why I love analog gauges. Once you're used to where the needles "should" point, you can monitor them with your peripheral vision rather than have to stare and comprehend. Plus, some of the gauges have warning lights so if they go out of the (programmable) safety range, I'll get an instant notification of an issue.

That panel is just the metal stiffener plate for the cluster; the final design will have that glued to a thin luaun faceplate covered with a genuine Cuban mahogany veneer. My plan (hope?) is to replace all the OE woodgrain with the real wood veneers. I have a luthier making Pistol Grip handles from solid Cuban mahogany to match.

 

[CUSEMIRADA83]

I need to do all of mine. I remember an article series in Mopar Muscle " Project Cordoba"( AKA Moby Doba) from 94-95 and one of the things they did was a analog gauge set just like R/T Mirada has. they did a bunch of cool stuff in that project, but I admired the gauge cluster the most.. Definitely On my list of projects.

 

[Joe12459]

I figured I'd go thread-mining rather than start a new one regarding custom gauge installations...

The Imperial presents its own set of challenges, since despite appearances everything is different from the other J-cars in the dash panel, including cluster mounting points, etc. The usual J-car stuff just plain will not fit. I did in fact go with Speedhut gauges, and am very glad I did so. The quality is excellent, the senders are better than others' (mil-spec in some cases), and they offer a variety no one else has. They are somewhat expensive, but in the long run they're much less expensive than AutoMeter's G-Series, Cobalt, Sport-Comp II and other series that use stepper motors and illuminated needles. The gauges have programmable warning lights in some cases; in others the button is to program for whatever sender you're using (speedometer, fuel).

My layout required more gauges than average, and though I like VDO gauges they do not offer a full range of gauges in any of their designs. They also don't offer 270° sweep electricals and I'm not crazy about mechanical temp gauges since the tube is a liability. Another benefit to the Speedhut gauges was their mounting depth. The deepest gauge I have protrudes barely an inch behind the stiffener plate for my custom cluster. For a small extra fee, I was able to send them a font file that is pretty close to what Chrysler used at the time. Unfortunately, I wasn't specific enough with my demands. They're not quite perfect, but overall I'm happy with them. They're closer to "factory" in appearance than anything else offered. AutoMeter gauges would've cost several hundred more than I paid for this setup. It fits inside the stock bezel where the horrible digital cluster once sat, leaving all of the other controls stock and untouched.

This is as far as I got... I did this during a break from replacing the roof on my Challenger just to get the layout set:
I use Speedhut gauges in all of my custom applications. Their product is great, and they have excellent customer service.

View attachment 12464

 

[Bryan M.]

View attachment 12464

I had started looking at a method for replacing the digi-dash in my Imperial. That's pretty intense...and the boost gauge is certainly raising an eyebrow over here. Couple of questions: What all did you have to mine out of the dash to fully clear out all of the old equipment, and have you tested backlighting functionality yet? That was an issue that killed me for years on a project Mirada I had.

 

[NoCar340]

I'm not finished dash-mining yet, but from what I can see clearing out the digital cluster itself and some of the white plastic immediately behind it will suffice. The Speedhut gauges are self-backlit (electroluminscent) and you can choose a myriad of faces and lighting colors. They're also incredibly light as well as thin, protruding only about an inch behind that plate. I'll feed the lighting via a relay from the factory dash lighting; I'm not sure if it requires PWM dimming but if it does it's an easy fix (and replaces the relay).

The boost gauge? Something's gotta tell me when I'm at 15PSI.