When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I haven't forgotten about this. I just ran into a sudden, unexpected and severe financial crisis that I'm having to recover from that put a major damper into my plans. So I had to alter them a bit. I am going to do the steering wheel and steering wheel controls, but it will probably be among the later things I do, probably along a second phase as I need to get the car back in 1 piece and operational as its been down for nearly 5 months now.
So here's what's going on. I returned the eBay dashboard and they were kind enough to refund me without any hassle. With that money plus $200 more I purchased a GM dashboard which arrived and was installed last week flawlessly without any issue. I installed the leather armrest and e-brake boot. My gauges are also done and they are going to be shipped to me within the next few days.
Now whats left besides the steering wheel is the accessory wiring and new alarm system.
The Alarm I intend to purchase will have remote start, GPS tracking and a GPS/Cellular remote fuel shut-off. This enables me to shut the car down regardless of where it is in the country even while it's during mid-drive..it will just shut down.. I found the necessary parts I will need to accomplish this. Here...
For the fuel pump shutoff, GPS tracking and other remote / cellular activity with the car, it's called a Coban GPS GPRS SMS -- Model: TK103A for $35 on Amazon.
For the Remote Start and Alarm:
Viper Value 1-Way Security + Remote Start System
---------
I still haven't figured out 100% how I'm going to wire it up but I have an idea..if anyone would like to chime input though I'm all ears.
Anyway, for my progress:
Last edited by Need4Camaro; 07-26-2017 at 09:37 PM.
man that thing is gorgeous! I had no idea you were the "OTHER GUY" he was building one for.
now that I am seeing it....... I may need to reach out as I had been debating doing a different gauge setup anyway...but that that is just beautiful
Hehe. He's amazing at what he does. Alot of thought went into the actual design which was really conceived last year. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with Orange or Black and I was afraid of how the Orange would look with the illumination. Plus choosing a gradient orange too and there was just alot of "I wonder's, what if's" until I finally said.. lets go with this design and it turned out much better than I expected. Makes it look like the thing needs an LS3 or something - which..may be my next project...
After seeing it, it makes me feel bad that I'm not quite ready to do the steering wheel. I'm accumulating the small / harder to get parts, but I probably won't be ready to tackle that until summer some time.
It actually makes me think of the GTO cluster a lot with the rings and colors. since that was an option to have varying gauge colors with them. It updates the interior a lot considering the gauge cluster is one of the items that still dates the car even after wrapping the interior and can completely change how the car looks on the inside with a different wheel and gauges. All the little add ons that you can accomplish with it though is the most impressive thing. I know it wont become a common mod or anything. those double Oled screens would be a tuners dream with wideband and fuel trim outputs shown on the gauge face........
It actually makes me think of the GTO cluster a lot with the rings and colors. since that was an option to have varying gauge colors with them. It updates the interior a lot considering the gauge cluster is one of the items that still dates the car even after wrapping the interior and can completely change how the car looks on the inside with a different wheel and gauges. All the little add ons that you can accomplish with it though is the most impressive thing. I know it wont become a common mod or anything. those double Oled screens would be a tuners dream with wideband and fuel trim outputs shown on the gauge face........
stellar stuff
Originally Posted by Need4Camaro
Hehe. He's amazing at what he does. Alot of thought went into the actual design which was really conceived last year. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with Orange or Black and I was afraid of how the Orange would look with the illumination. Plus choosing a gradient orange too and there was just alot of "I wonder's, what if's" until I finally said.. lets go with this design and it turned out much better than I expected. Makes it look like the thing needs an LS3 or something - which..may be my next project...
After seeing it, it makes me feel bad that I'm not quite ready to do the steering wheel. I'm accumulating the small / harder to get parts, but I probably won't be ready to tackle that until summer some time.
Man does he do this cluster work for other cars, I like to frequent other forums looking at mods gathering info and ideas for things to do. And I would definitely like one of these overlays but my car is a 86 Nissan 300zx
Man does he do this cluster work for other cars, I like to frequent other forums looking at mods gathering info and ideas for things to do. And I would definitely like one of these overlays but my car is a 86 Nissan 300zx
Honestly I'm not sure. I know he's also a very busy person as well. Send him a PM though and he should be able to let you know what he can do.
===============================================
So I received and installed my cluster (will have pics later, I was kind of in a rush) as well as my HVAC controls and headlights. I havent had time to install the OLED Computers. I also have an Viper Alarm and GSM remote kill device coming. I need to know how I should supply power for these devices.
The Alarm needs constant power AND IGN power
The GSM device needs constant power AND IGN power
The Dash Computer and OLED computer needs IGN power
The LED's in the cluster and Eventually LED bars need IGN power
The 2 USB Hubs needs IGN power
Meaning I have 6 devices that need IGN power and 2 of those devices also need constant power. The accessory wires in the fusebox (Power, ACC, IGN) each handle 15 amps a piece.. I don't know if thats enough for all of these devices or if I need to run a separate power cable from my battery and add a relay to it for all devices needing IGN only power...
So I have my cluster, dash computer, and PLX devices OBD computer installed... I am using power from the spare Accessory power terminals in the fusebox. The cluster illumination, dash computer and OBD PLX device use a combined 2 AMPs tops. I also wired up my USB hub power sources to a 12v to 5v step down box.
Received my GPS / GSM module (allows me to shut the whole car down with my phone if it were to ever be stolen, even while its in mid drive)
Received my Viper 5607 Alarm / Keyless / Remote Start system.
Those are the last two devices that will be installed on Phase 1 of the interior upgrades. I'm going to tackle the steering wheel on Phase 2.
so im trying to understand how this thing connects. does it draw all its info from the obd2 port or is it wired into the OE gauge connecter behind the cluster?
The plx gauge is 2 fold. It plugs into the Aldl port to get scan tool data and engine codes, then there are multiple sensor inputs that daisy chain add ons like temp sensor inputs like oil, water, trans, air etc, ability of 2 wide band 02's, egt, boost/vacuum. All the add ons are small modules you purchase separately and daily chain with the main module. You can display the scan tool data, or 1, 2 or 4 sensor inputs on screen. The sensor inputs can be displayed digitally, bar graph form or as a traditional looking dial gauge in us or metric.
What a read, this is some awesome stuff here. Keep it up man I would love to see the finished phase 1.
1 question I got is the orange of the seats seems vastly different then the orange of the e-brake boot and center arm rest. Are they 2 different orange colors or does it just appear that way on the pictures?
The plx gauge is 2 fold. It plugs into the Aldl port to get scan tool data and engine codes, then there are multiple sensor inputs that daisy chain add ons like temp sensor inputs like oil, water, trans, air etc, ability of 2 wide band 02's, egt, boost/vacuum. All the add ons are small modules you purchase separately and daily chain with the main module. You can display the scan tool data, or 1, 2 or 4 sensor inputs on screen. The sensor inputs can be displayed digitally, bar graph form or as a traditional looking dial gauge in us or metric.
hmm okay so all the warning lights are pulled through the obd portion, I was more confused about how the guages and warning lights pull data vs how the oled screens function since you and I had talked about those before acutally I think that was Oliver I talked to. My car is using a standalone harness that bypasses the bcm and a lot of the OE wireing and im running a set of stewart warner gauges currently. I had been toying with the idea of doing something more modern looking and was gonna use an all in one cluster from stewart again and just retro fit it, but I rather like thelayout and design you and oliver have come up with. The customize able portion of it is even more impressive. My issue is how much of it will I actually be able to use on your cluster. I already have stand alone water temp/oil pressure sending units, stand alone fan control relay but as far as the OE functionality of the warning lights I believe most of that is disabled in my. My harness has its own OBD2 port that gives me ecm paramters (98) the bcm and the rest of the wiring for the car is sitll present and untampered with but is essentially a stand alone.
sorry Need4 didnt mean to derail your awesome setup!
What a read, this is some awesome stuff here. Keep it up man I would love to see the finished phase 1.
1 question I got is the orange of the seats seems vastly different then the orange of the e-brake boot and center arm rest. Are they 2 different orange colors or does it just appear that way on the pictures?
Yeah, they're two different oranges unfortunately. I got them from two different vendors. The seats came from "Princess" at Lethal Interiors and honestly I wanted her to just do my whole car but she said she only had the time to make the seat covers so I was forced to go with Redline Goods for the other leather stuff (shift boot, ebrake boot, armrest) which still is fairly consistent..still looks 10x better than it did stock. It's almost like this isnt even the same car anymore...everything is different, from the lighting to the color scheme to the cluster and all the electronics.. it actually is beginning to feel more modern than my 2017 V6 Camaro.
Originally Posted by blackbyrd
hmm okay so all the warning lights are pulled through the obd portion, I was more confused about how the guages and warning lights pull data vs how the oled screens function since you and I had talked about those before acutally I think that was Oliver I talked to. My car is using a standalone harness that bypasses the bcm and a lot of the OE wireing and im running a set of stewart warner gauges currently. I had been toying with the idea of doing something more modern looking and was gonna use an all in one cluster from stewart again and just retro fit it, but I rather like thelayout and design you and oliver have come up with. The customize able portion of it is even more impressive. My issue is how much of it will I actually be able to use on your cluster. I already have stand alone water temp/oil pressure sending units, stand alone fan control relay but as far as the OE functionality of the warning lights I believe most of that is disabled in my. My harness has its own OBD2 port that gives me ecm paramters (98) the bcm and the rest of the wiring for the car is sitll present and untampered with but is essentially a stand alone.
sorry Need4 didnt mean to derail your awesome setup!
No problem. Here's how everything works
The warning indicators / illuminator and STOCK gauges (coolent temp, oil pressure, voltage, fuel level, speedometer and tachomoter) will function as they always did regardless of the OBD input (PLX Devices Computer, the red device). The only thing different is their orientation, however; they still receive their input from the same sources as a stock F-Body.
The OLED on the RIGHT is dependent on the Dash Computer which handles speedometer, outside temperature readings, odometer / tripometer, in the future inside temperature readings, other creature comforts...
The OLED on the LEFT is dependent on the PLX Devices OBD scanner which plugs into your OBD port and reports all the car's engine / mechanic functions. A/F Ratio, Coolant Temp, IAT Temp. Like LT4Vert said, you can hook up additional gauges and addons to it for more readings like Boost, Trans Temp, Oil Temp, ect.. It's quite an amazing tool.
So for your setup, even with the stand alone harness, since you have OBDII the PLX Device and the left OLED will function just as mine did. The OLED on the right should also function pretty normally, only you'll need to track down a VSS input between 2000 and 4000 pulses (meaning you can't connect it directly to the transmission, for mine I'm just going to use the VSS input from the radio harness, all F-Bodies should have this wire, it's green/white.. for yours I don't know if it has a signal going to it or not since alot of your wiring seems to have been changed. If your cluster is still directly plug and play to the FACTORY HARNESS (large rectangular connector behind the cluster) then it should work fine.. If not, you'll need a way to pin out all your inputs to that connector behind the cluster so the regular speedometer, tachometer, other gauges will work.
Last edited by Need4Camaro; 04-26-2017 at 03:03 PM.
So..I managed to screw up...
I undertook some of the wiring myself. (I know you're all probably slapping your face or jaws dropping) I don't feel confident enough to touch the Viper Alarm but Im capable of wiring the GSM Fuel Cutoff. I didn't really like the idea of having my power coming from the fuse panel as it would be too easy to detect and disarm on an alarm system so what I did was this...
I ran the following wires from the engine bay into the cabin right under the kick panel:
--Battery Power (Always Hot)
--Ignition Power (Hot when Ignition engaged)
--Ground
--Fuel Pump Relay (Apart of my GSM/GPS. Allows me to disable the fuel pump by phone if car was stolen)
--Siren
--Outside Temperature Sensor (For the dash computer)
So after getting these wires all tidy tucked away and pretty I decided to try everything out.
I have my GSM device, dash computer and PLX devices OBD computer on the same circuit. (this circuit can easily handle 30 amps and the devices I mentioned probably draw at best a combined 5 amps). The PLX devices OBD computer was also plugged into the OBD scanner. Here's what happened...
The issue began when I activated the positive terminals but I did NOT ground the negative cable. I heard the Dash Computer come online and this baffled me because I knew it wasn't grounded.. so I went in the car and checked, and sure enough ALL of the accessories I just wired up were ONLINE, yet my negative cable was NOT grounded. I soldered and heatshrinked all my splices on top of which wrapped each cable for its entire length with electrical tap before bundling them together so there was no way I had a short anywhere. I checked the ground cable from the dash to the battery and could find NO shorts.. so I began unplugging devices.. Here's where things got weird.
I unplugged my USB hubs. No effect.
I unplugged my GSM module. No effect.
I then unplugged my illumination relay (I fabbed this to control the gauge cluster lights brightness when the headlights are on) - My lights on my cluster went off, but the dash comptuer stayed on.
I then unplugged my PLX OBD Computer and everything went off... meaning somehow the PLX device was grounding my devices. I checked and rechecked wiring and couldnt figure it out. I plugged the PLX devices back in and sure enough all my wired devices came back on.. NOTHING WAS GROUNDED... No shorts in any of my wiring.. and then..POW!!! the PLX computer POPS and smokes and dies killing the PLX monitoring... Just my f*ckin luck. THE REST of the devices are still alive though. Unplug the PLX and they die..replug it back in and they live.. then I went to the OBD port and unplugged the PLX from the OBD port..and the devices die... ...The devices were using the OBD port as a ground and grounding THROUGH the PLX devices module..killing it... I tried to bring it back but to no avail..Its going to cost me $140 to replace it..really ticks me off.
So here's what happened. Since my main ground was connected to the PLX devices OBD scanner, and it was connected to my OBD port, even though I didnt connect the ground at the battery, the devices were able to literally go THROUGH the PLX devices OBD scanner and INTO my OBD Port and used that as a ground killing my PLX computer...
The resolution, the PLX computer must use a separate / isolated ground than any other vehicular system..or the accessories or load will use the PLX to ground through the OBD port... damn.
Last edited by Need4Camaro; 05-03-2017 at 09:35 PM.
Im curious why didnt you hook up all the grounds first? You cant have a separate ground for circuits, as they all end on the chassis of the car anyway. So whether they are on same bolt or not it still goes to chassis.
Sucks this happened to you. Open up that PLX and see what burned up. You may get a local electronics repair person to desolder and put in what burned up.
Im curious why didnt you hook up all the grounds first? You cant have a separate ground for circuits, as they all end on the chassis of the car anyway. So whether they are on same bolt or not it still goes to chassis.
Sucks this happened to you. Open up that PLX and see what burned up. You may get a local electronics repair person to desolder and put in what burned up.
Didn't hook up the grounds immediately because I was baffled as to how the devices came online when I did not ground them and was trying to trace for a possible short.
While you're right that all the grounds do end up in the chassis, the issue is the other devices were using my PLX to go through the OBD Port using it as a ground. Problem with this is, even if the my cable was grounded, it could have still chosen my PLX as the ground since they were locally connected to the same grounding cable. If you separate the cable (grounding the PLX on a different cable than any other device, or the chassis or something) then the remaining accessories will not be able to use the PLX device as a ground as they will find themselves terminated at the chassis first. - I put the PLX on a different ground on the chassis and that killed the other devices so they were definitely using it as a ground.
With regard to the remote fuel shut-off - wouldn't that put your car in risk of being damaged if they're stuck in the middle of an expressway? I'd rather just have the GPS allow me to locate the vehicle once it's parked.
04-19-2017, 12:20 AM
