Larisa "1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass 2-Door

[VicCrownVic]

I like it.
Where did you get this lighting gel? This is something that I may find useful for my own car.

As for the 89 TC cluster swap, do you know if that is a direct swap? I know the analog cluster for 89 TC uses a fuel level sender with 15-160 ohms like the 90+ stuff, but I don't know of the 89 TC digital cluster adopted the same sender. I think the 88 and older digital clusters used a sender with something like 10-220 ohms.

Even of it's not a direct swap I don't think it would be anywhere near as difficult as swapping from analog to digital.

[MattsLincoln]

I like it.
Where did you get this lighting gel? This is something that I may find useful for my own car.

As for the 89 TC cluster swap, do you know if that is a direct swap? I know the analog cluster for 89 TC uses a fuel level sender with 15-160 ohms like the 90+ stuff, but I don't know of the 89 TC digital cluster adopted the same sender. I think the 88 and older digital clusters used a sender with something like 10-220 ohms.

Even of it's not a direct swap I don't think it would be anywhere near as difficult as swapping from analog to digital.

The digital dash is the same from 1980-1989, they bolt the same the only difference is better resistors and capacitors are found on the 89 being the last year. Its a direct swap.


Lighting gel was found on ebay i used a lee filter lighting gel #026 which is bright red

[87gtVIC]

I like the look of that Matt. Seem fine to read through the photo.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

I think the concern is that the speedometer is quite a bit brighter than the other two panels. So if one is to dim the dash for a long-distance night-time drive, by the time the speedometer is dim enough to not bother the eyes the two side panels will be darn near pitch-black. Regardless, I do like the color change, red is very easy on the eyes after dark. Ironically blue is one of the worst colors for night-time eye fatigue, and guess what color gauges/lighting many of the newer models of large commercial vehicles come with? lol

[MattsLincoln]

I think the concern is that the speedometer is quite a bit brighter than the other two panels. So if one is to dim the dash for a long-distance night-time drive, by the time the speedometer is dim enough to not bother the eyes the two side panels will be darn near pitch-black. Regardless, I do like the color change, red is very easy on the eyes after dark. Ironically blue is one of the worst colors for night-time eye fatigue, and guess what color gauges/lighting many of the newer models of large commercial vehicles come with? lol

Night time driving it's perfectly readable no issues there, only daytime its hard to read the fuel gauge and the message center unless you lay your hand above the display to block light is it readable.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Ah, the sunlight reflection/saturation. Yeah that would be one reason I don't much like digital clusters. It's also the reason why I modded my wiring to where I can turn the dash lights on without firing up all the marker lights at the same time.

[Hearsesrock427]

That's pretty cool! The red digidash colors really go well with the red on the outside of the car, the red stitching on the seats, etc. Well done mang.

[Tiggie]

I like it. You should do a write up on how you did it. How did you get rid of the green/blue (assuming you did or it'd be purple right)?

[DerekTheGreat]

I like the red, looks nice and factory almost! There's a reason why serious night time stuff is done in red- It doesn't fatigue the eyes. That's why ship captains and stuff prefer red over every other color. Don't believe me? Wake up in the middle of the night and stare at your red digital alarm clock. Notice you don't feel the strain on your eye and can still see around. Try that with any other color clock. Why I kinda laugh at digital alarm clocks of any other color.

[MattsLincoln]

I like it. You should do a write up on how you did it. How did you get rid of the green/blue (assuming you did or it'd be purple right)?

I will do a write up when i have the time basically all that needs to be modified is the faceplate of the digital dash cluster, from the backside of the faceplate you can see cutouts of all the filters from the factory, using a multifunction tool with a circular mini saw blade attachment you can cut the filters out to the exact size of the opening on the faceplate, after that you measure your lighting gel sheet and apply it to the front of the cluster without it covering any indicators like turn signals but leave little bit of overlay this way you can use clear silicone adhesive to glue the lighting gel sheet to the front of the faceplate using the factory inserts as something to have the lighting gel to stick too.

[MattsLincoln]

I like it.
Where did you get this lighting gel? This is something that I may find useful for my own car.

As for the 89 TC cluster swap, do you know if that is a direct swap? I know the analog cluster for 89 TC uses a fuel level sender with 15-160 ohms like the 90+ stuff, but I don't know of the 89 TC digital cluster adopted the same sender. I think the 88 and older digital clusters used a sender with something like 10-220 ohms.

Even of it's not a direct swap I don't think it would be anywhere near as difficult as swapping from analog to digital.

Funny you mention that because im actually attempting to do the first analog to digital dash conversion for my friends town car. Its really not to bad once you understand the circuits and wiring for it.

[gadget73]

I looked at it and said "fuck that". The fuel gauge and speedo is a complete piece of cake. The message center wiring was just more than I wanted to deal with. It interfaces with all of the lighting and replaces most of the other instrumentation and idiot lighting. Honestly its the only part I'd even want. I don't care for the digital fuel gauge or speedo. I just wanted fuel economy readouts. Between the wiring and the failure prone electronics that I wasn't overly keen on fussing with, it became a lot easier to retain my perfectly functional original analog clock. Its one of the few original items in the car at this point.

[tjc78]

If Gadget isn't attempting it I would think twice!

Not a huge fan of red lighting, but nice job. I had no idea you could do that.

[gadget73]

If you have a donor car, it would be less difficult. There is a lot of wiring in that dashboard that changes though, and I just didn't want to deal with it. Basically the way to do it is pull the dashboard from both the digital donor and the analog victim and swap all of the parts needed. You can't get to it without stripping it out pretty far.

[MattsLincoln]

If you have a donor car, it would be less difficult. There is a lot of wiring in that dashboard that changes though, and I just didn't want to deal with it. Basically the way to do it is pull the dashboard from both the digital donor and the analog victim and swap all of the parts needed. You can't get to it without stripping it out pretty far.

I agree thain, it is a major pain in the ass due to all the wiring needs to be extended, at least this one is a little easier though i made the harness plug and play this way it can be removed and go back to analog without cutting factory wires, if i had to do this for another customer once i make sure this first attempt for the conversion works i would charge about $300 to do as its very labor and time intensive, i have studied for a whole week on the wiring for digital dash, the install im doing is basic digital dash without lamp out warning feature since that is the most pain in the ass part to do as it adds 20+ wires that need resistors to the 40 wires coming from the module pigtail, out of those 40 wires 14 wires are self contained for the keyboard leaving 26 wires that still need to be hooked up, 8 wires go to sensors while the rest go to the instrument cluster plug and the message center display. So far i got most of the wiring done, need to extend a few more wires then i can bench test to see if everything works that doesnt need to be hooked up in the car to work(stuff that only work when it is in the vehicle is dimmer(which my friend does not want, it does require a digital dash headlight switch) turn signals, vehicle speed sensor wiring, fuel flow wiring, high beam indicator, chime for when a button is pressed on the keyboard, and the sensors) the rest can be bench tested including seeing if all the keyboard functions work.