Camaro tach that everyone can love.

[konakustoms]

82-89 were the round gauges...In 1990 they went to half moon gauges with an electronic speedometer.

Sounds good to me......Never was a camaro fan but the guages look good...

Is the trip odometer reset button going to work or is it too short?

 

[xicor37]

The trip gauge button is long enough. You do have to drill a hole in the clear lens though. However, good luck finding a 82-89 Camaro speedo that the trip actually works. The odometers work fine but the trip meters break super easy.

~Tyler

 

[RetroC10Sport]

Trip works fine on my 145MPH speedo.

 

[xicor37]

Wiring time.

I'm not going to get too detailed with this because you should have at least a elementary understanding of basic auto wiring before you even attempt this. It's not hard but it is pretty easy to mix up wires.

First off I wired leads onto all my new gauges. Like here on the tach/oil pressure. It's pretty easy to trace the pcb and figure out what goes where. Just make sure you mark which wires are which at the ends, especially if you're using a lot of the same color wire like me (what I had laying around).

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Next pull the wires through the holes that used to have the pin clips for the old gauges. I used the seat belt light hole for the tach. Then you can bolt all the gauges down and put the lenses on.

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Next fisch the wires through the flexible pcb on the back and snap in all your lights. This can be a real pain in the ass if you have a 3 month old Blue Heeler "helping"...

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Then I ganged together all the 12v key on wires and the grounds then tied everything down.

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I terminated all the wires to an old GM stereo plug I had laying around so taking the gauges in and out would be easy.

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Now out in the truck terminate the other end of your plug to the truck harness.

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Bolt it all back together and you're good to go. I took it on a test drive and everything worked great... For about a mile... Then the tach shot to 7k...
So it looks like I'll be pulling it out and repairing it. Maybe I'll do a writeup on that. Oh well, what do you expect from quarter of a century old electronics.
Anyhow, here's an installed pic and pic showing the back lighting and high beam indicator.

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Hope you had fun!
~Tyler

 

[bucket]

The trip gauge button is long enough. You do have to drill a hole in the clear lens though. However, good luck finding a 82-89 Camaro speedo that the trip actually works. The odometers work fine but the trip meters break super easy.

~Tyler

Usually, they are easily repaired with a couple bread ties. The little flimsy legs that hold the numeral axle to the speedo are usually what fails.

Cool idea on using the radio plug for a connector!

 

[oneluckypops]

I am really liking this mod, but i got 1 more question.

Are you just using the butt connectors for a temporary fix? Or do you not solder your wires togather and use heat shrink tubing to protect your connections?

 

[xicor37]

Yep, I always use solder and heat shrink. But not until after I know it's going to work. I usually use wire nuts for testing but I'm all out of the size I needed

~Tyler

 

[bucket]

I am really liking this mod, but i got 1 more question.

Are you just using the butt connectors for a temporary fix? Or do you not solder your wires togather and use heat shrink tubing to protect your connections?

This is something I have never understood. How can butt connectors be any worse than those loose, floppy sliding terminal things in the stock cluster connector? You're not the first person to mention this, so there must be some good reason. I just don't understand why it's so important in the interior of a vehicle.

 

[oneluckypops]

This is something I have never understood. How can butt connectors be any worse than those loose, floppy sliding terminal things in the stock cluster connector? You're not the first person to mention this, so there must be some good reason. I just don't understand why it's so important in the interior of a vehicle.

Honestly in my experience i have NEVER had any luck with the butt connectors anywhere. It never fails i always end up getting a vehicle brought to me that has had a repair done by the owner or a "buddy" and 90 % of the time I trace the problem back to where they made the "repair" cut the connectors out slide some heat shrink over the wire, then solder it and shrink the tubing and Presto no more issues. They are ALMOST as bad as the quick splice clamps.

Hell I use to have to repair Uhaul trailers all the time, it didnt take long for me to realize that as soon as any of them came in the first thing that I did was grab my strippers and my butane soldering iron and replace ALL the connections with solder and shrink tubing. LOL I did so many of them I burned up 2 of the power probe soldering irons, 3rd one is still holding up decently now that i left that place.


EDIT: Oh the reason why they fail in the interior is the wire is not supported except for where its crimped at, after so long the vibrations of the truck will either loosen the crimp or break the wire right next to the crimp.

 

[RetroC10Sport]

Nicely done!

 

[konakustoms]

What did you use for lighting? Do the camaro have light's built into the guage ?

 

[xicor37]

What did you use for lighting? Do the camaro have light's built into the guage ?

The factory backlighting for the truck works just fine.

 

[konakustoms]

The factory backlighting for the truck works just fine.

Cool.....you got me looking now at all GM guages that may fit. Do you think you could have tied the wiring into the factory printed board and used the factory plug?

 

[xicor37]

Ok here's how to fix and or modify just about any GM tach from early 80' to mid 90's.

You can change a 4, 6, or 8 cyl tach to 4, 6, or 8 cyl operation.

The needle deflection is controlled by a cap/resistor pair. Changing either will change the total deflection. I chose to change the resistor because caps are not adjustable and pots are.

The resistor you need to alter is built into a film layer resistor pack. It's white with black markings and looks like a IC chip. The resistor in question goes between pins 4 and 10. Cut the traces to these pins and add in your pot wherever's clever.

Then plug i a laptop to monitor engine RPM and dial your pot til your tach matches.

I now have every one of my Camaro gauges working in the truck and it is cool!

Oh yeah here's a ****** pic, I'll try to grab some more later. I was in a hurry when I did this.

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~Tyler

 

[Emberblade]

Hi, sorry to be a nuisance. Would you mind sending me some of the pictures from the process? I'm in the middle of this modification myself and some reference would be super helpful. Trying to figure out how much plastic I need to remove from the gauges and some minor wiring gripes.