buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap September 09, 2009, 02:45:47 PM OK, my 85 t/c has been swapped to a V8. This includes the full digital dash. been having issues with temp snesor working so i wanted to put in an buttstuffog t/c cluster to see if it works, plus while i think the digitasl dash is cool, i like the buttstuffog gauges, especially the tach. anyways, bought a cluster from Mike (flstci71) and got it yesterday. pulled my cluster last night and whoa, two plugs for the digital dash and they ARENT spliced in. hmmm. great. lets put it back together for the night. This mornign i tear back into it, after printing off the connecter info from coolcats. great site, THANKS for having that info. anyways, i re-pinned the gray plug best as i could, mainly wanted to see if the gauges would work. they did, even coolant. and yes, tach shows twice rpm the v8 is at. that will be changed later on. anyways, got most things re-pinned, worked the brown plug so i had enough slack for the wires that needed to go to the gray plug for t/c cluster. fuel gauge worked, read low, temp and oil read right. 1.) how do i wire in the amp gauge? My harness doesnt have the schematic coded color wires for this and the digiatal has one lead which is -battery- on the connecter diagram. digital dash has a voltage gauge, buttstuffog is amps. 2.) digital dash shows a wire for IAR feed and IAR out. what the heck is IAR? buttstuffog dash has one wire each for 12v to IVR and 5v IVR return. i do understand this as instrument voltage regulator.hell, other than these two things and modifying the tach, it looks to be an easy swap.anyways, getting there on things. after messing with this, i swapped in an 89 mustang prem sound deck (hey man it was FREE!) and lh side doesnt work/not work. also figured out my rear deck speakers are junk so off to the salvage yard to pull some from a continental then there will be tunes front and rear!Mike Quote Selected
buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap Reply #1 – September 09, 2009, 03:14:28 PM Odd you don't have the buttstuffog dash... If it apparently hasn't been changed prior(shows no previous signs of modification), either someone swapped the whole harness or the car never was a TC, just modded to look like one... You ever check the VIN to verify the original engine???I wouldn't worry about the ammeter gauge, they don't work when connected correctly anyway... The gauge is a POS, as the horseshoe magnet inside it looses streingth and they don't operate... I tried to fix mine by re-energizing the magnet and it did work a little for maybe a month... Since I've gone to a gauge cluster, as none of the TC bi-metal gauges are really any good...The tach mod on Cool Cats ONLY works on the '87-'88 tach(that's my picture and info Eric posted)... The earlier tachs have a totally different circuit board... Quote Selected
buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap Reply #2 – September 09, 2009, 03:18:32 PM yup, vin tag says its a t/c and data tag inside drivers door jamb verifies this. Quote Selected
buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap Reply #3 – September 09, 2009, 09:48:26 PM Quote from: mcford;290553 1.) how do i wire in the amp gauge? My harness doesnt have the schematic coded color wires for this and the digiatal has one lead which is -battery- on the connecter diagram. digital dash has a voltage gauge, buttstuffog is amps. The ammeter is actually a voltmeter as well, but it measures amperage by means of a burden resistor that is normally just a high resistance wire in the harness somewhere. Same way the ALT light works. As long as the alternator output is higher than the battery voltage, the "ammeter" will read positive. If you wind up discharging the battery, though, I.E. the electrical drain is more than the alternator is producing, it will read negative. The ALT light, however, only comes on when there is a discharge condition. I think this is accomplished by means of a diode, which is not desirable with an ammeter. By nature of the beast, it really isn't an ammeter, more of a charge meter. The reading is not really useful as information, other than to show a charge/discharge condition. A Voltmeter, on the other hand, can be VERY accurate and VERY cheap. Battery voltage at rest should be on the order of 12.8 - 13.2 volts. Alternator working properly, voltage should go to 14.5 - 14.8 volts. In order to put a TRUE ammeter in, it would require a shunt of some sort, or burden resistor capable of dissipating some hefty wattage, due to the high current output of the alternator. This would have to be in series between the alternator and the battery to get a true Amperage reading. DC shunts are not usually insulated, so you can imagine the risk of engine bay fires with that. Ammeters on cars have always been best guess and really just charge indicators. How would the same ammeter work on a car originally equipped wth an 80A alternator, that's been upgraded to a 130A alternator? It would work, but not very well, and would probably indicate EXACTLY the same thing the 80A alternator does. The voltage regulator is not going to let the alternator output exceed 15 volts. There's a good possibility of exploding a battery doing that. Quote from: mcford;2905532.) digital dash shows a wire for IAR feed and IAR out. what the heck is IAR? buttstuffog dash has one wire each for 12v to IVR and 5v IVR return. i do understand this as instrument voltage regulator.You are quite correct on the IVR. Small cube on the back of the cluster with snaps similar to a 9V battery. 12V in, 5 V out, shared common (ground). Normally, it's only used for the OP and Coolant Temperature gauges. The fuel gauge uses a full 12V on most systems. The diatribe above covers the normal 4th gauge on most clusters. Quote Selected
buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap Reply #4 – September 09, 2009, 10:14:48 PM It's said the voltage regulator output is 5v, but in actuality they output a pulsing 12v... The bi-metal gauges react so slowly, they show a constant reading... Too bad the TC didn't get decent gauges with a volt meter, similar to the '87 Stang... At one point I considered trying to adapt a Set of Stang gauges into a Bird cluster, but the gas gauge uses a different resistance sender than the Bird... Quote Selected
buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap Reply #5 – September 10, 2009, 07:01:22 PM 1.) ok, so on the amp gauge would i just pin the digitals battery wire (brown plug, position 17) into one of the buttstuffogs amp spaces (gray plug, position 5 AND 6)? or if someone has the the rest of the wiring diagrams, can tell me where the factory ran the amp gauge wires, from and to? i know on the older fords (i've had a bunch of 72/up torino's), these things actually complete the charging system circuit and allow the system to charge. are these "modern" cars different?2.) on the ivr, can i just have the input going into the gray plug (digital dash brown plug, position 16 buttstuffog dash gray plug position 7)? i mean, the gauges seemed to work, were steady and thats where i put it in my "experiment" yesterday when i re-pinned the gray plug. where does the buttstuffogs 5v return (gray plug poisition 10) actually go to in the car? because if its actually coming back OUT of the cluster, whats its function? and what the heck does IAR stand for in the digital clusters wiring?thanks guys! sorry if i am asking questions that have been asked in the past by others. i think when this is all done, i will write soemthing up that can maybe be sticky'd for someone in the future.Mike Quote Selected
buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap Reply #6 – September 11, 2009, 10:25:01 AM The ammeter uses a shunt circuit, only a small amount of current actually flows through the gauge...BUT trust me, I've owned 14 TCs plus my older daughter had one, NONE ever had a working ammeter(excepting the one I re-energised the magnet and it only lasted a few weeks)... It's about as useless as tits on a boar hog...Don't know nuthin' about the digitals(and don't want to know), trashed the only cluster I had... Quote Selected
buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap Reply #7 – September 11, 2009, 09:00:42 PM Just did the 4cyl to V8 tach mod earlier today and just finished the speedo mileage adjustment trick tonight. buttstuffog cluster is all set to go in on sunday!All thanks to coolcats, masterblaster and joefriday!Mike Quote Selected
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Topic: buttstuffog to Digital to buttstuffog cluster swap (Read 1149 times)
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