Aftermarket gauge set ups??

**spikester7878** · 07-14-2016, 02:53 PM

Before having my engine rebuilt that none of my factory gauges are accurate. So I am thinking about doing an aftermarket set up rather than trying to fight with the original ones. Anyone do something similar to the pic? got any advice?

***Fastbird*** · 07-14-2016, 03:12 PM

I believe @JPack did this.

**zooguy** · 07-14-2016, 06:14 PM

i am going carb and have ditched the wiring harness ... so i will be doing something like this

**spikester7878** · 07-14-2016, 06:18 PM

From what I have been reading there is not much clearance so the gauges have to be pretty shallow, not sure on the exact measurements though. I was thinking about gutting a factory housing and going from there to see what happens.

***popo8*** · 07-14-2016, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by spikester7878

Before having my engine rebuilt that none of my factory gauges are accurate. So I am thinking about doing an aftermarket set up rather than trying to fight with the original ones. Anyone do something similar to the pic? got any advice?

That looks amazing!

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
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**spikester7878** · 07-14-2016, 06:55 PM

Yea, they should look way better than the stock set up (Not that its bad, just aged a bit), and be accurate haha. I figure a set up like this and my LT1 scanmaster will give me all the info I need.

**JPack** · 07-14-2016, 07:01 PM

Yeah I did it in my Z with autometer cobalts. Not an easy task that is for sure. Cannot answer for the birds but it will be easier to pull the cluster. I gutted the stock cluster and dremeled out the surround and did a carbon fiber face. I had a tough time with the plastics behingd the cluster and had to modify to fit and heat and reshape the heating duct. Was not a big deal to me doing that as I never use the heat and ac is long gone. All the gauges in stock cluster are analog so wiring was pretty straight forward. I highly suggest doing a weather pack connection for ease of removal if you have to yank it instead of a hard wire. The Z was limited space for spacing and gauge sizing. I do not have a tach in tthe cluster, I have a digital one in pod with progressive shift light and playback so I didn't fit one in. I will say it is pricy for good set up. I had just under 1k in gauges and that was with my discounts I get from my connections. 6le sells a blank panel if you want to go that route. Zero instruction and you still have to fab up. I was not happy with that piece for what I wanted to do, so I used it as a template. Here are some pics of finished product.

**spikester7878** · 07-14-2016, 07:12 PM

Yea I had a feeling it would be a big undertaking. I'm not worried about heat being in florida, but AC is a must haha. Do you know how deep those gauges are?

**Cathead** · 07-15-2016, 04:26 AM

I converted over to autometer guages in my 94 Z28. It's wasn't easy but I have no problems with clearance in the back. I tried working with the plastic first but had no success. I built my own cluster out of 18 guage steel.

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**spikester7878** · 07-15-2016, 12:13 PM

Yea I was thinking about using steel to make it easier, since I could adjust where it is mounted and stuff. If I go through with it I will do a write up