Custom built C4 analog gauge cluster
 

So I am in the process of switching to analog gauges in my 84. Spent all day wiring today, still have to polish the aluminum plate and finishing mounting brackets. Thought I would put a picture of the dash so far before I started polishing the aluminum, I am going to post more pics as I get farther along
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/pict...ictureid=53917

Looks great. You even set up the tach and speedo on the sides I prefer :)

Too cool....I wish there was a reliable company that made panels for our cars...:smash:

Looks good, now maybe paint it black instead of polishing it, and change speedo to 200(just in case)
IMO

I'm about to start the same project. Hope mine ends up looking as good as yours.:thumbs:

That looks sick. Don't paint it. Don't polish it either I think it looks sweet like it is

Is it called burnishing when one takes a drill with a wire brush and makes uniform overlapping circular patterns in metal?

I guess one would have to clear coat it aftwerwards to keep the little grooves from filling up with dust etc over time though.

But I do agree that it looks good even before he polishes it. :thumbs:

Looks great! I designed and built several dash units for special vehicles and you have done great work!

:thumbs:

Nice! I'm working on that too!

:thumbs::thumbs::cheers:

I think that when they did that back in the 80s they used to call it "machine turned" if I recall they did that a lot on trans ams:thumbs:

Very nice!

Ditto :thumbs::thumbs:

it's called 'engine turning'...commonly done a hundred years ago on thin aluminum in belief that fatigue/spider cracking could be reduced...coarse sandpaper clamped to a wooden hub was first method used...back then any collection of parts that operated together was called an 'engine', i.e. an armed ship was an 'engine of war'...look for pics of Lindberg's foolish ride (the Spirit of St Louis aeroplane) for 'engine turned' shroud over motor.

"engine turned" or "machine turned". It has a vintage look to it. It's like Cali-chrome. Either you love it or you hate it!

What, no odometer?:lol:

GJ :thumbs:

member(jerkyboy) has that look on his intake IIRC.

looking good......!

looks beautiful. great work. wouldnt polishing it blind you when the sun hits it??

The lack of analog gauges has always been one of my two gripes about my C4...the other being that steering wheel that looks like it came out of grandma's Buick ....LOL...I have a 94 coupe

I would think it would be a real bear rewiring everything behind the dash....it would be nice if an aftermaket company could come up with an analog panel that was "plug & play" To keep it looking more OEM...perhaps they could use C6 gauges.....just a thought..

I like my analog guages as well
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/IMG00091.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/IMG00089.jpg

I went that route myself. Very happy with the results. Nice job Quickvette84.

There is I got my harness from them. Made my dash though.
http://vettaid.com/

How much was it for just the harness?

Looks like they have a 90-96 unit in the works.

http://vettaid.com/images/userimages...1996vettes.jpg

:cool:

I think I paid 75 bucks for the harness but man was it an easy swap I spent more time making the dash and mounting the gauges well thats probably cause I am anal:cool:

If you get one can I Borrow it when ur not using it?:rofl:

:smiliedrool:

1984-1996 LCD Dash Replacements
 

Corvette America has them Very costly though.
These dashes are precision-cut and powder coated for an excellent fit and finish. They are then fitted with Auto Meter gauges - wired to be fully functional as a true plug and play component. Comes with instructions on how to remove and replace your existing dash.


The Auto Meter Gauges are fully electronic, but with a classic, analog look and feel. Programing and syncing is simple, and explained in the instructions. You can choose either a six or eight gauge dash fitted with Phantom (white face) or Sport-Comp (black face) Auto Meter gauges.

:thumbs::thumbs::cheers:

Polishing is taking a while, I might go to a textured black powdercoat, I can get whatever I want powdercoated at my work for free. I have the dash all drilled and ready. I am having a c4 emblem engraved into the dash between the speedo and tach. should look pretty sharp. More pics to come. I saved the CNC file I plasma cut it with.

Wow, these are some beautiful dashes. If the guages themselves didn't add up so fast $$$ I'd be all over this. I can fab a panel and do the wiring (without a kit). :smash:

What size guages are some of you using 3.5", 5" ?

Well here is a pic of the gauge pod after engraving the corvette emblem on a CNC mill at my work, still have some wet sanding and polishing to do. I went with 3.5" for speedo and tach and 2 1/6" for rest of gauges, blue LED for high beam and green LED's for turn signals really clean look. Should be installed in the car by this weekend.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/pict...ictureid=54305

3 3/8 speedo and tach and 2 1/8 for the other gauges

thats sweet wish I had access to a CNC

Very cool!!

But now they offer them at
Corvette Central and Midamerica

http://www.corvetteamerica.com/cf/di...ord%3A%2050145

Jesus.........I just ordered one............:willy:

Well I have it installed now, I have to still clean it up but here is a pic of it in the car
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/pict...ictureid=54990

Looks awesome great job. :thumbs:

sharp looking

so, you going to make a run of parts for the older C4 guys?

Looks great, man!

That looks good. Would have looked better without the c4 emblem in the middle though.

Have considered making templates for this?
It seems like there is a lot of interest, and like you do quality work. :thumbs:

This is what I did a few weeks ago:

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1804/gauges.jpg


I am going to try and find away to adapt the sending unit for the trans temp gauge to my ZF.

Also, the Oil pressure gauge is pegged because I hadn't added the correct sending unit yet.

do you have the plans on your computer on how you did your wiring for the new gauges

I know this thread is a little old but can you but JUST the dash panel without the gauges? It doesn't seem like it, i haven't found one yet. Anybody seen one? I don't want to gauges too, just the panel...

call and email vettaid 100 times a day. thats what i did till he sold me one. heres my setup.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1670191_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1731543_n.jpg

How much did he charge you for it?

Here's mine installed....

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/pict...ictureid=57060


having problems at low speeds with it though.....speedometer wants to jump around at speeds below 45-50mph......hi beam light is extremely bright.....light for the water temperature does not work......Jody from Vett Aid has been very good about responding to these issues, though......seems like a class act......

How much did he charge you for it?

somewhere around 80-100 bucks i think. its been a while. ..

ok thanks

So what do you lose with this?

Ave MPG, Inst MPG, yes.

Cruise control?

Odometer... that seems very problematic.

Anything else?

Looks damn good though!

since its a ground up rebuild, ls1 swap im not worried about mpg, avg, cruise, or even odometer. :thumbs:

Wish I was there with you, haha.

What does the rocker switch do?

me? the smaller one on the top left by headlights is the foglight switch. the one to the right where the info cluster was(actually theres 2 side by side and a gauge over there) is for the front air ride.

I like the idea of analog gauges. The instrument panels in the C4's..especially the later models...was a BIG step backwards in my opinion.

However..what I would like to see...is someone offer a analog conversion for the C4 panel...using C5 or C6 instrument in place of the after market type instruments. I think it would look more like...stock from the factory...plus having a more finished look. As anyone tried this idea? :smash:

Ah got it, thanks! :cheers:

I would be real curious to see the wiring. How difficult is it? How did you mate up the harness to your gauges?

Front Air Ride do explain? :D

Interesting, anymore issues with this or did it get taken care of? Total cost?

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...pstlqpsy2a.jpg>

Love your new dash. Any opinion on whether moving to an analog dash devalues the car? Vette Aid dashes look great to me.

Wow........I remember this thread.......:thumbs:

I still have the dash in the car and overall, it's great and I would never go back to the 1980's Atari dash; it doesn't fit the car anymore and the tach alone is worth the change.......Especially since I chose the white face Phantom Autometers and my car is white with a blue stripe and I plan to change out the interior to blue/white soon.

Having said that, I have had a couple issues with bulbs burning out (not in the gauges) but the high beam light (originally was WAY too bright), and my water temp. gauge light also went out.....the speedo has an erratic needle and low speeds (below 40mph) before it levels out;

I have heard it is a grounding issue on ALL the accounts above and the speedo needs a buffer as it is possibly getting an interference on the pulse counts at low speeds......

on my bucket list to fix when I do the interior.......it's a project car....one thing at a time! :thumbs:


Vette Aid I must say has been good to work with; Jody always is there to speak with, but I am not sure these things were ready to come out of the oven when they did back a few years ago.....He even sent me a new speedo but to no avail; same thing. Just decided I have had it this long, I will fix it (like other things on a 30 year old car).

As far as value on a C4; my car is much better in all respects than when I bought in 2001; I would pay more for this modified 85 with upgrades parts/performance than I would for a stock 85 any day....

I would rather have a 6 speed/400hp 85 than a 230 hp 4 speed car all day long........:cheers:

Wish I knew how to make new gauges

Me too. You wanna start over??

The early C-4 is the easy one to make the custom gauge cluster for Its a matter of bending a piece of Aluminum and cutting the holes. I am working on two C-4's right now and plan to do custom for both of them. I'm planning something a little trick so I'll just monitor this thread and see what pops up. That is what is nice about C-4's their cheap and parts are easy to get.

it's proper name, and it's a very old term, is "engine turned"