C6_Racer_X

I have one I'm about to do a little finishing work on. Not a Corvette. Older (than a C1) sedan with a LS/4L60E swap, mostly finished. I haven't seen the car yet. The owner isn't much of a car guy, he's a owner/chauffeur. The major mechanical stuff has been done. He just had someone (almost) complete a modern disc brake upgrade (they left out a pressure switch for the brake lights).

His biggest concern/complaint is the gauges don't work. He needs a functional gas gauge and a functional speedometer. Engine coolant temp gauge would be nice as well.

I'm not 100% sure which PCM he has in it, whether it's a GM 0411, a Holley system or something else. I'll check that today or tomorrow when I look at the car. I'll also get measurements on the stock gauges and openings in the stock dash. I'm prepared if I have to fab up a new front panel for the dash on this one.

For those who have LS engines in their C1/C2, what gauge cluster solutions did you use? Would you recommend or avoid the one you actually used? Any experience you can relay to me about this?

andrew1182

I went with these, albeit I'm not LS swapped but they should work for your application as well.

https://www.dakotadigital.com/index....od/prd1249.htm

Factoid

Not in a C1/C2, but I installed an LS (L99 from a 2012 Camaro) with 6L80 in my 1988 LR Defender. There are many aftermarket gauges that plug right in. Here is what I used in the stock LR dash with direct connections to the L99 ECU for speedo, tach, water temp, etc.

BOB WINSKI

I have a 60 restomod with An ls3 ,,motor.,I put the Dakota anolog cluster in .Have been trouble free I like them very much

sfrenchy51

X2 on the Dakota Digital. Mine (LS1) have been on order for nearly 2 months......

Beach Dude

I went with Autometer gauges and sold the originals.

C6_Racer_X

Thanks everyone. I looked at this car yesterday afternoon. New client with a lot of potential work, but also a very unusual priority structure and an eclectic collection of cars. Gauges are way down on the list of priorities. He has a limo service with a few modern limos and this car is one of his collection of "wedding cars."

The car has a pair of "Dolphin" gauges in it, but the fuel gauge and the speedometer don't work. He doesn't really care because none of his "wedding cars" have working fuel gauges or working speedometers. Speedometer is on the "might be nice to have" list, but not first priority right now. There is no fuel gauge sender in the tank right now, so fuel gauge is going to be a later on thing. He's not opposed to getting a working speedometer, and maybe replicating that onto his other wedding cars. I'll give the Dolphin set up a go, but if it doesn't work, I'll go with either the Dakota or the Autometer solutions, or possibly the Autometer "GPS adapter" which from what I can see uses a GPS receiver to generate a pulse train that looks like the VSS in the transmission and feeds an electronic speedo (of nearly any origin).

The car is a 1947 DeSoto Custom Sedan. It's got a LS1 swap, with a "Corvette" LS1 in it (some mods, including 102mm throttle body and a short runner all aluminum powdercoated black/dark gray intake manifold of unknown origin). First priority is brake lights and possibly some tweaking/adjusting on the upgraded brakes. The guy who put the modern disk brakes from some unspecified Mopar/Dodge application didn't put a brake light switch in it, and the guys who wired the car up from scratch for the resto-mod project (and ran out of money and/or talent) only have the stop/tail/turn lights wired for running lights and turn signals. First on the list is a switch for the brake lights, and wiring that into whatever turn signal switch is in the column, or getting a "universal" (old GM) switch for it. It needs a hydro-boost setup as well, but that may have to wait for a week.

Also on the top priority list on the DeSoto is shock absorbers all around, and a concern that I have is a strange noise coming from the accessory area at the front of the engine when you first start it cold. Owner says it's intake noise, but it sounds serpentine belt related to me. I really need to check the harmonic balancer area and the belt and tensioners for wear and for any accessories on the serpentine belt that are offset off the plane of the belt. The noise goes away (mostly) after 20 or 30 seconds.

Other interesting "wedding cars" in the fleet are two Chevy powered Rolls Royces, one with an S series 4.3L Vortec V6/4L60E and the other has an old Chevy 250 straight six and a manual transmission that I didn't really look at. That one with the straight 6 needs more power and an engine swap is in the plans. Maybe a crate motor, maybe a junkyard pick. That may happen over the winter when I might get a almost two whole weeks to do a swap in it, instead of needing it done in just 4 or maybe 5 days.