82 vette center gauges

[topless82vette]

can a clock from a earlier vette be adapted to take the place of my oil temperature gauge or has anyone use dakota digital clusters that would be another choice ..... are these clusters hard to hook up ... are there any other companies that make digital clusters for the 78-82 vettes

 

[69MyWay]

A full gauge change can get a little complicated. I have just under $700 in my complete gauge swap and at least 4-5 hours fitting, planning, wiring.

When you change out you have to hook fresh power, light, ground, and signal wires to each gauge. The clock would be easy to hook up as it is only power, ground, and light.

I like the Autometer Pro-comp series. You can get them in black, silver, or white.

 

[Nut]

Bezel difference

The only other difference I know of besides what Chris mentioned is the bezel is different when you had the clock vs. the oil temp gauge. This is rarely covered in the aftermarket catalogs. I discovered it accidentally in Carlisle this summer when I was buying a new bezel for my '81 (with oil temp gauge).

.......... Nut

 

[c4ever]

Chris or anyone who wishes to chime in,
Do the direct replacement guages in the catalogs need mods to install. They're advertised as plug and play. I'm thinking of replacing my fuel guage in the 82 (gets a little squirrelly):crazy

 

[Nut]

I only had to swap gauges on my '72 and that was no problem (10 years ago). However... if you have a "squirrely" fuel gauge, I'd check the wiring before you make that purchase. Check ground wires at the sending unit and along the path. Surprisingly the problem may just be a loose wire.

Good luck.......... Nut

 

[c4ever]

I hear ya nut. The guage works but only goes to 1/2 then stays there. If you fill her up she reads full so I think it is in the guage not the sending unit or cable but I will check thoroughly before replacing. Maybe a nice tap:bang will do the trick. At least I'll never read empty

 

[topless82vette]

well I gave the clock idea alot of thought ...... and was quikly over-ruled by my wife she wants digital I guess the reading of needles is to hard for her ....so at any rate she loves the dakota digital setup ... has anyone used these before and being that it's now a convertible do there claims of being able to read the digital gauges in daylight seem to be true .... she wants the blue digital readout since the car will be blue .... geeeez what a suprise

 

[69MyWay]

Hi,

Chris installed Dakota Digital Gauges in the 36 Ford project car. He can let you know about the technical end. I will let you know that they were very easy to read in the daytime and looked neat also.

Nikki--69 MyWay's better 1/2