Well I better get to work then! Finally have part of a day tomorrow. Those gauges are KILLER man. I'm gonna pull mine out and look at them tonight.

Did a great job on the gauges. You must be running a center console or some other location.

I missed something though, is that stock Subaru gauge lighting? I am 1/4 awake and blind with out my glasses. Time for me to get wrenching, I am still on the tear down part of my project.

Goals today:
Finish indexing wheel on rotisserie.
Finish cutting up my front tub section, got the sheet metal I needed.
Pull the SVX engine and parts

Man I need to get off your post and get to work!!!!!!!

Kent keep up the great CSOB work, I love it.

Thanks for all the praise Guy's but I just fell in a bucket of and came out smelling like a Rose. And Stephen, no stock 914 lighting. You use two 914 Tach cans and re-use the stock lighting. All of it + 1 ck eng lite.

I said I would post the results of my 2nd attempt to support the gages if successful. First time I laminated 3 layers of poly carbonate (safety glass) successfully duplicating the curvature of the panel however when cutting the large diameter holes the fly cutter created enough heat to warp the small span areas. A few hours trashed there. Take a look at the next pic to see if you can guess where this is headed.

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Think you know. I thought about glass to build up the back or even cardboard soaked in resin. But I settled on the $4 method. A can of this stuff. It is semi flexible which served me well as it is easy to manipulate for fitting and doesn't break off when bent. Yet it is sandable.

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So I squirted out a nice layer around everything and let it dry.

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These are the gages being taped firmly against panel prior to rotating for urethane foam.

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Here it is after curing and first trim. That was done with a hack saw blade held flush with the gage backs. In this pic the first gage has been pushed out and you can see the remnants of tape, wax paper, and even some oozing of foam from the thick area. If you push with your thumbs while reaching around to the front lip with your fingers you can wiggle the gage a few times and it will release from the mold.

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A few more as it is trimmed.

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You've already seen what the gages look like installed so I won't bore you with that but if you don't want to go thru all of that you can take the rubber ring's that are tossed and install them from the rear with the lip firmly against the rear of the panel; then tighten the clamp. . Downside is you would have to install the panel/gages as a modular unit but damnnnnnnnnnnnn it's so easu to install that way.

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I checked out the SVX gauge cluster and realized it was cracked at the base so I took it apart to see what the guts looked like. The problem with the tach and speedo is they aren't round. You could put some warning lights from the strip on the bottom to round it off.

FYI...prior to about 2005ish the backgrounds for the gauges themselves on most models are tinted green. If you don't like that you'd have to put some sort of backing on it.

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There are no wires at all since the power is run on the back side of the cluster and connected with the screws that secure the gauges

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The warning light system is surprisingly simple...just a regular light underneath the corresponding warning symbol. Easy to recreate.

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This is the Impreza pod I have... If you like this style go for the WRX one instead with the larger tach in the center instead of the larger speedo. 2006 model (white background)

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Maybe we should start a gauge thread...

What is the diameter of the SVX gage. And yes you could fill in the flat area. What are the diameters on the Impreza gages. Shoot me a close up of the back of those SVX gages. I want to see where the screws go. Are you talking about posts that slip inside the back of the gage when you say screws. Maybe 4 post per gage? If so you have to pull them from the circuit board with a pair of pliers or side cutters. I don't know if we need to start another thread on gages. It's Suby stuff and there is just a few of us. You can put it in your thread or Dougs thread or even Stephans tread. We could just add our Suby gage info to one if Pat Garvey's threads since he is feeling better.

Chris, I did the same thing you did, pulled my extra AT WRX cluster apart.
I wanted to see if the Suby cluster could be cut down, to just the face and circuit board, if it would fit within the 914 form.
It is tight but I see possibilities.

Kent, you had some dark areas on your gauge faces. Are you utilizing the clear polycarbonate prism looking part that channels the back light to the gauge numbers?
That may give you uniform light even if you have to drill holes in it.

Here is a photo of the post.

Wow weird. On the SVX pod there are no such posts. When you unscrew the gauges this is what you see:

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Just plastic. The "wiring" is a flat copper piece that runs on the back of the pod. I guess the screws actually complete the connection because I can't see anything else connected to them.

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The SVX gauges are pretty big, about 4.5". The Impreza middle gauge circle (either speedo or tach, whichever you get) is about 100MM, just shy of 4". The smaller ones are about 3.6", 91mm-ish. The plastic silver surround is an overlay so you can take that out and cut the circular piece out without having to use that silver part.

4.5" is about 114.3 mm which is fine for the large can and the Impreza middle gage is almost perfect. The smaller Impreza gages would need some buildup but easy to do. Those studs would be easy to attach power. If you go the Impreza route just pull those pins out of the circuit board and solder to wire leads. I'm not sure about the compatibility between the Impreza gages and the 6's though. I'll be looking for some Suby posts from you and Ross, now.

And the loser of the filler neck bake off and therefore on the way to Kent's house is.......

The Honda filler!!! I really like the compact size of this one. It was close but the thing that makes this perfect for you and not me is that the "down tube" is angled. It's like it was made for the front trunk. I needed one to go straight down. By the way I was wrong on the inlet sizes, looks like they are 1" on both types but I was able to very easily stretch the 7/8 on to both fillers by setting the end in fairly hot (out of the tap) water for a few minutes. No problem at all, slid right on.

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BTW I wish I lived closer. Would have come over and pressed my $@#*ing roll pin out of the pedal cluster. Used a punch and the damn thing snapped off in there. Now I can't seem to find a drill bit that will actually drill the punch since it's such a hard metal. Pain in my arse. I remember installing that thing and thinking it was pretty hard to get in there, but hey I figured it was the last time I'd have to do that!

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You won't believe what a perfect angle that is for my install. Perfect and thanks again, Chris. Be sure your punch is not a nail set. Those are pointed and will flare out the roll pin and cause it to grip even tighter. You can use a 6mm bolt for a drive pin/punch in a squeeze on that size roll pin. Be sure that the piece is on something heavy and solid when you strike it.

Yeah that's exactly what I did. Grabbed the wrong punch and the tip snapped off inside the center of the pin too so now it's really going well. BEEEYOTCH! I'll leave it for a day and try the bolt trick after I attempt to tap the punch piece out of the center.

You should get that filler in 3 days or so. Then it'll be about time to start that thing! BTW I think the cap pressure rating is 1.1 (16 lbs I think) which is higher than most stock subaru cap ratings of .9. Makes it even more perfect since you are running two fillers. Just make sure you use a .9 cap (13 lbs) on the rear one and that way if it ever overheats the pressure will release on the rear one first. Not saying the front one won't pop too but logically it would have to be VERY hot to get the secondary one to open when the system was already open and blowing steam.

That's not gonna happen anyway because it will be super cool all the time and never overheat.

A big thanks for that. That was along my line of thinking with the caps of different ratings. I'll mail that Mapp 1/2 cylinder off to you in a couple of days, too. Pretty busy w/ work this week.

No rush brother. I got plenty to do. Decided I need to pull my headers and get them jet-hot ceramic coated. They are practically touching the engine mounts. Gonna melt them for sure if I don't.

Well as the title says, I may have Shit in my Mess Kit but if I did I had fun and they will make nice ornaments. The Wtr Temp gage is good however tonite I began to search the Suby manual so I would know which wire went where from the Tach and Speedo. They 4 wires from each gage are COS+, COS-, SIN+ and SIN-. This part of the manual isn't clear but I think those wires go to a processor. ???? I'm stumped. Any ideas or suggestions??

Well the tach should connect to the ECU, or at least that's the way the SVX's works. Only one wire though. The speedo connects to the sensor on the trans but there are not 4 wires there either. Seems like that "circuit board" you pulled the pins out of was something you might need to use still. You can probably still use the gauges, just have to take a look at what that board does and maybe leave the gauges connected to it and solder a couple of wires for the speed sensor and tach wire. Also follow the wiring from that board back to the ECU and see if there is anything else in between. If not you can have the SVX gauges. I definitely won't use those.

There is a micro processor in the instrument cluster which drives the tach,speedometer and low fuel light.

Yea, I thought so. I guess if you don't have an easy solution I'm screwed. I did give a quick look at the circuit board but that is way above a plumbers pay scale. Those are incredibly small lines to follow; I don't think I could solder anything to the board successfully; and if I could I wouldn't know which ones to use or not use. I'm not sure if those SVX gages would work, Chris. I'll probably go with Dakota if this can't be resolved, easily.

You could extend the leads from the instrument panel to the gauges, and hid the
instrument panel under the dash.

On my conversion I used the stock 914 gauges, for the tach I added a adapter to convert the 5 volt pulse to a HV pulse to drive the tack. The speedometer uses the
stock 914 transmission drive cable. If you are using a stock gas tank you use the
stock gas gauge sender to drive the gas gauge, In my case I added a circuit to
drive the ecu (for emission testing) an to drive the stock gas gauge with a low
fuel indicator.

Yes, I've read (somewhere) about your tach conversion and will have to dig that up. And yes, I am using the stock fuel sender and gage, also. I'm running the Suby trans so I may end up with some magnetic pick up system (hall effect?).

COS, SIN? ... are you going off on a TANGENT?

Where's my slide rule?

I think you are looking at the wrong sender for the speedo, it works off the VSS
sending unit mounted to the trans and is a 5 volt pulse. It is normally has three wires.

That is the direction I was thinking about. Off set the circuit board, extend the lights and and gauges in a new bezel.

The 914 sending unit should operate the Subaru fuel gauge if you wire it up to the
instrument cluster. They both use 0-90 ohm senders.

Think I'm starting to migrate back towards the original direction of Speedhut gauges. I want something a little newer looking and those are so easy to set up. I'm not as good with small electrical stuff as you all are.

Kent I have the same Impreza gauge pod (manual trans so no PRND321 on it) and a tach adapt to change the tach to 6 cylinder readout. The speedo should connect to the vss on your trans. Probably would let them go for less than I paid (which is not much) if you decide you want to go that way.

Don't feel obligated, just telling you so you don't go buy 'em somewhere else for more. I think I got the gauge for ~$40 and the tach adapt for $65.

This is what confuses me. I have a single lead from the ECU (smallcar harness) that is tagged for the tachto but the tach is the same set up as the speedo with 4 wires as shown below. Also a pic of the circ board they came from. Any idea which post are used and which are not?

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Shit, me too, Chris. I don't have a problem with cutting my losses. I checked my circuit board and it is cracked in a few places so that door is closed. If it weren't I'd take SVO's advice and hide the board. All I need is a speedo and tach so I may go the Speedhut or Dakota route. I'll keep your adp in mind if I go that route.

Check out the Speedhut stuff. The tach is totally programmable for most any engine and the speedo is gps. By the time you spend money on the senders you're half way there. A 4.5 inch tach and a 4" speedo revolution series is what I'm looking at. Brand new gauges, plug and play. The tach instructions are on the site too and show how to set it up on a bunch of different engine configurations. I'll go quad gauge too I think.

SpeedHuts are very shallow install depths. I like them, they also do a nice quad quad gauge if your looking for one of them. To be honest By the time you get done doing all the work, it is way cheaper to go this route. I just did them because I like to and it keeps me off the streets at night! But at some point in time if it is keeping you off the streets, it has a larger cost damage than the benefit of being a CSOB.

Right because you end up buying 6 different kinds of gauges to try with the CSOB method. Hence my collection of VDO and Denso swag.

I have drawers full, and $$$$ in these things. Evn for me I can make almost any gauge combination I want. I keep going back to speed hut and building a set of gauges.

I like them, they come with the sending units, GPS speedo, tachs that can do almost any signal, and customizable with graphics, etc....

For me the biggest issues with gauges is getting the faces to come out correctly. The lines, the fonts, the overall look and feel. Its about quality.

I love building things, but as I get older I have started to realize I will pay for some else's experience. I love being a CSOB, but look at things I have done recently and being CSOB, has not been paying off.

My rotisserie for example. Doug had one for $450, does everything mine does. Oh sure, I could hook up a motor to it ,and rotate it all day long with almost zero friction. I should use it for my next whole hog project! But in the end to get it where and the way I wanted it, I have spent way more than the $450. But I will say it was all kinds of fun.

I was going to build my flares, looking at the Metal Surgeon Threads I realized, I did not have the skills, to shape metal that well. But I really like the idea of a mostly body filler free car. So I hired a guy to make me a few flares. I don't expect him to be able to configure Cisco, HP, Aruba, PaloAlto networks and Firewalls. I don't expect him to know the details on how VMWare, or Hyper-V work. And I sure as heck would not have him do custom IP sub netting or IPV6 work. But build me parts, he is one of the best out there.

I will be welding in the flares, and spending a lot of time with a hammer and dolly, and easy grind wire. But it is a balancing act.

I could have built my cradle, I have the skills to do that, in the end, I would have purchased more in tools to do the project. Ian made it easy. Same thing with the shifter, I haven't even opened the box yet. I am sure it will be great looking time, much nicer than I could do!

Now, I did my own sway bars. They roll in roller bearings have no binding and no rotational friction. I built all these mounts and sourced my parts, used NASCAR bits, and bearings and retainers from TSC. Less than $100 I have a better system than I could buy. CSOB was worth it!

You win some you loose some. Some times you do it just because the mountain was there.

Now lets get back to building this car and getting it on the road. I need to live vicariously through you, Chris, and Doug! My conversion is at least a year out! Okay two, my boss says I'm to optimistic.

Your right, Stephen. I have no problem with getting back on the horse. And I'm certainly no stranger to failure. My craziness comes from wanting to try it myself which is an open invitation to failure. About 20 yr's ago I built an airplane. After that I pretty much got over having to do things 2,3 and 4 times (or more). Some journeys are longer and some are more difficult. It's the journey missed that I fear.

You must supply power and grounds to the instrument panel for it to work, the gas gauge gets its power from the cluster and must be wired to the 914 gas gauge W
lead and ground lead.

I love my speedhut guages! I highly recommend them with suby conversions. Look good & they come setup to work. A little info from you & they are ready out of the box. Of course setting them up was even easier for me

Look at SPEK gauges, the best out there. Kind of costly

Bob

Hey Bob Robert, how ere ya? They look nice but they're too big. They're 5" and I'm maxed out on the 4.5" hole. On another note I thought I would tinker with the Suby gages. If I put 1.5v, 3v or 4.5v (I didn't want to exceed 5v) to COS+ & COS- the needle jumps to about 40mph indicated and stays there. And if I do the same to SIN+ & SIN- it does the same thing; 40mph indicated. However, if you hit a very quick tap of power to the gage the needle will jump to the other side where it wants to remain. That is until I energize S+ & S-. Now the SIN side pulls the needle back to 0. Negative influence that previously was positive. I think these 2 work in harmony with some dampening effect upon each other. Whatever, I don't think or know for that matter, if the sender from the Suby trans will work with the gage in it's present condition. So, I believe those Suby gages shall become lamps. I'll re-use the 914 tach with an adapter (thx ChrisH) and order a Speedhut Speedometer. On that note, do you guys think the Swiss Font looks more stock or the Euro Font? To me the Swiss Font seems closer.

Hey 15% off sale at speedhut this weekend!!!! Woooot! That settles it. BTW Kent I got your paypal. Will send that tach adapt out to you tomorrow.

I personally like the eurostile font but that style really matches the later Porsche gauge font. Hold the tach up to the screen and see what works best.

Great tip on that sale, Chris. Ordered my GPS Speedo tonite!

Pretty cool. Which one fits the standard 914 hole, the 4.5"? click here

That depends. The small gage is 100mm and the large gage is 115mm. Your hole size may be slightly larger if you use the OEM rubber ring. No wrenching for me this weekend. I wrenched my back a bit so I'll give it a rest this weekend.

Yeah I was just measuring that myself....looks like 4" is the diameter of the smaller gauges (speedo, combo). I had heard 3 3/8 before. Hey Kent, just FYI in case you ordered 3 3/8!

Bummer about your back! Take it easy!

Nope, 4.5". Check post #347. I ended up with 2 large and one small opening after my gage follies. Heck of a deal, thank you. $260 shipped.

Oh right, duh...you stayed with the modified opening.

Just measured the inside of the speedo's rubber ring. 4" looks to be right diameter for a stock 914 dash panel

Font Style: Century

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I missed that Mark but I did read the 4.25" gage size before ordering. With my panel I'm good.

I ordered a 4"-er for the 'BB'.

When I get it, I think I'm gonna black out the extra 'ticks' so it will look more like a stock VDO speedo. Also went with the 'Century' font ...

Will look like this when modified:

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Mark speedhut MIGHT take those tick marks out or print a face without them for you for cheap. They do a lot of custom stuff. I know Chris (my928s4) added a redline on his tach.

Finally bought mine!

4" quad

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4.5" tach

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4" speedo

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Eurostile font, blue night lighting.

$602 with shipping. Can't beat that since the quad gauge comes with temp and pressure senders, speedo is GPS, tach can be set up with any engine you might use going forward. The GPS converter I needed for the 911 speedo I was going to use was like $15 less than the gauge.

Thanks for the suggestion, Chris. I just sent them an e-mail and attached the pic

I'll let y'all know what they say

(I also blacked out the Speedhut made in USA lettering)

Well, I'm 10 days from a gage but I decided to keep moving. What started off as a quick modification to the fuel filter location led to, testing which meant adding gas which led to this. No fried wires, yet.
I give up, here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg9OiDWLab4...eature=youtu.be

Sounds great! Awesome!!!! FYI the magic smoke usually happens pretty quickly so you should be fine.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg9OiDWLab4


Ah there we go...a 9 kept sneaking on to the end of the embed code.