non-panther digi cluster retrofit (Raser is the man)

[raser13]

hey guys, i'm new here and need some info. i've gotten an '84 crown vicky from my late grandmothers estate and i'm hoping to keep the car mostly original with a few minor upgrades. the vicky was originaly bought in jan. '84 by my grandfather out of the showroom floor with the tow package on it and then drove from st. louis, mo down to florida pulling a small motorboat. after that it was parked while my grandparents traveled the country working. unfortunately my grandfather passed on while on this trip. after this my grandmother used this car only as a back-up and was kept in a garage all it's life. every year my grand mother had it tuned up in the spring wether it nedded it or not, it now has 66,xxx milies on it and i'm hoping to do it justice. ok now that i'm done with the rant. here's the basics it's an '84 vic with a 5.0L with a throttlebody,white exterior and a blue interior. it has power drivers seat, windows,and locks. and those little window in the font window like you would normaly find on old trucks. i am however not impressed with the lack of guages in the dash,having only the speedo and the gas guage. i'm am used to alot more guages as my last car was an '84 t-bird that i changed over to the '87 digital guage cluster. this was a lot of modification to the dash and the cluster and i'm hoping to avoid this with the vicky so is ther a digital cluster made for these cars that hopfully has a lot more guages(tach,water temp,alt.) or at least an anolog that has those guages. i also intend to add the tripminder to the car. any help would be great thanks.:morons:

[FatNasty]

Sounds like an awesome car As far as i know there were never any more intruments available in 84's (tach, water, etc.), they all need to be added seperately. A tripminder can be added though, with some time and patience, heres a link on how to.http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=6506

[raser13]

what about later years? something close to the size of the '84 cluster that could be modified to fit the dash? i could put the one from he '87 digi cluster from the cougar/t-bird but it won't look quite like it belongs. the dash in my '84 t-bird was close to the one in the vicky and the digital cluster just didn't mach up time look wise.

[raser13]

as for the tripminder, with my t-bird i used to go to coolcats.net so i know how to install it. by the way there's a wiring clip on the wiring harness down in the dash that just plug into it

[85crownHPP]

How much time do you have to modify??

I created this but fried it in one of the last few steps... plus I had to loose the odometer to make this work, and I later found out you have to have one for state inspection, so I put this project on a backshelf for now.

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=2364




The tripminder is a pretty easy install, you are right about the plugs - if you get the whole harness for it you can plug it all right in, in most cases.

[FatNasty]

I love the fact that there isn't inspections here, i dont know if any of my cars would have passed. I want to try to hook up the digi speedo in a marquis cluster, not sure how to go about it yet though. I dont think any pre '86 panthers had the harness for the tripminder with the fuel flow line unless he tripminder originally came with it.

[gadget73]

Unfortunately the only direct swap cluster options you have are for one that looks the same but has a 140 mph speedo in it. No box panther came stock with real guages in the instrument panel. The police cars had an optional guage cluster above the glove box, but it was essentially a 3 guage cluster thing hacked into the trim panel above the glovebox. I actually have one that I was planning to install in my Lincoln but due to the design of that panel I don't think I can make it fit properly.

[raser13]

:poop2: well i'll just have to rig up the cougar cluster and make it work. i like the idea of the tinted plexi.i might have to do that to keep it looking stock. the cougar digi cluster has spedo,tach,fuel level,water temp,alt,and all the fuel economy stuff that the tripminder does. so is all i have to do is add the sensors to the car, mock up a housing, and do a major rewire of the entire dash, no biggie:hacksaw: :chainsaw: :cutit: :led: :yell: :welder: .oh yeah, i also changed the lights to led from autozone so instead of the usual ford green they're now a bright blue(can be changed to any color). but ill make shure to post pics and do a wright up for it. by the way anyone here know what wires do what on the cluster and what pins they're on. that info will speed up the process quite alot. thanks rog

[moneypit]

One idea I have had rolling in my mind is to modify an analog cluster from a late '80s/early '90s mark VII. They are roughly the same shape and I really like the look of the mark cluster- it has all the essentials, too- speedo, tach, O.P., temp, amp, fuel...

[raser13]

the guage clusters really aren't all that hard to change. that is if you don't mind mocking up the housings to fit in the new hole that they weren't designed to go into.that is usually the hardest part because when you get done you want it to look good. the biggest things ive ran into is finding a way to make the old housing from your car to hold onto the new guages be it by screws, glue, or some sort of brackets.or getting the new housing to bolt to your car.and the worst thing to do is get all that to happen and get i to be centered. it's not hard, you just don't want to hurry, take your time and do it right. you also want to keep in mind that the guages take different sending units than idiot lights so you'll have to change them and in some cases run a few extra wires. so if you have any questions please ask.

[gadget73]

Mark clusters use an electronic speedo, the Panthers use a mechanical. I had the idea to swap the speedo movement and the tach into the Townie cluster but the electronic speedo held me up. If you want to fool with it, I do have the 120 mph Mark VII cluster I'm perfectly willing to sell.

[raser13]

sorry it took so long to reply put my internet server has been going froot loop. i already have started modding the cougar set into the dash thanks any way. but if you still want to put those in your car the way you go about changing them is to look on the car that you got them off of originaly. if that one is not available anymore find one with a digi cluster any ford one will work(areostars,cougars,tbirds,mark's,and continentals) on the tranny where the speedo cable normally plugs into the tranny there will be an elecrical plug in it's place.this plug just converts the anolog turning gear to a digital pulse signal. ther will be two wires coming from the wiring clip one goes to ground the other will go to the speed signal wire on the back of the digi cluster whatever pin that may be on this particular cluster.

[85crownHPP]

why thank you for this info are the odometers usually part of the speedo part of these newer digi clusters?

[raser13]

i know that the ones out of the cougars and the areostars do i havn' messed with the ones out of the other cars, but knowing ford they set them all up the same. i would also think that would be the easyest way for the computer guys to set them up. hope that answers your question easyest way to find out is to wire it up and try it.

[FatNasty]

i was going to begin modding my cluster to have at least some digital parts, mainly speedo. I got a digi cluster out of a '85 TC, and want to get another GM cluster so i dont mess up my other one, especially since it is a daily driver. Anyways, i had a question about the TC cluster. Is the "message center" what would display warnings like an engine light, or temp light would in a GM? Also does anyone have the info on what each wire in the harnesses on the back of the digi cluster is, i have figured out what about half of them are but it still leaves quite a few. Also, info on what each of the wires in a GM are would be very helpful.