SubZero350
To boost or not to boost
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
click here to check it out: http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58150
87 Buick Park Avenue Digital Dash -- INSTALLED!
- Thread starter SubZero350
- Start date
SubZero350
To boost or not to boost
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
D
dconnor
Guest
How about giving a run down of what all was invovled to make this install work?!?!?
Doug C.
Doug C.
SubZero350
To boost or not to boost
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
Well, you asked for it so here it goes (BEWARE, LONG POST)
First, you will obviously need to locate a donar Park Avenue. Here is a list of things you will need from the Park Ave:
-Instrument Cluster
-PRNDL Module
-PRNDL Sensor (optional -- any GM FWD OD will work if it has the 4-wire output gear position type)
Here are the items you will need from any GM:
-Oil Pressure Sender (you can use a 60, 80, or 120 psi unit depending on what you want the scale to be)
-Coolant Temp sensor (can use one for a gauge or get one for the ECM -- both have same resistance)
-Yellow VSS 4-out Buffer box from a Grand Am or Firebird Pre-1990
-VSS pickup for the 2004r from a TTA, (older 125-C and 440T4 units will work but needs to be notched to sit into the trans further)
Modifications:
First, you will need to remove the guts from the Park Ave dash. You should end up with 2 circuit bread boards and a capictor hanging on 2 wires. The front tinted plastic cover will need to stay with the cluster to protect the display. The cover will need to be cut down on both sides at the pushbutton switches. Removal of the cover can only be done by unscrewing the circuit boards and laying them apart. There are wires attching the two boards that allows this to be done. The screws holding the faceplate to the display are inbetween the boards. I strongly suggest removing the faceplate before you try to cut it.
Wiring of this dash will be an issue. I did not use the housing or printed (flexible) circuit board from the park ave in the installation because it will not fit. I did, however, keep them around to aid in the wiring of the dash. You will need to obtain a connector pinout or wiring diagram for the digital dash. You will also need to be able to solder to very small connections on the breadboard. The park ave dash has 3 small internal connections that allow it to interface with the housing and printed circuit. This is where I made my connections. Using a cluster pinout, you can trace the circuit from the printed circuit to vehicle connector to the digital cluster breadboard(s). There is one large connector on top, two small on the bottom.
The top connector consists of 19 pins in an in-line arrangement. Looking at the top of the breadboards, while together, with the digital display facing you, here are the following pinouts (which are not numbered on the board itself) from left to right:
1-not used
2-not used
3-tach
4-oil pressure
5-ground
6-not used
7-PRNDL clock
8-PRNDL Serial Data
9-not used
10-not used
11-Battery Constant +
12-park lamps on brown wire
13-interior illum lamps input grey wire
14-fuel level sender
15-VSS 4000ppm input
16-not used
17-Ignition Power +
18-Temp gauge input
19-not used
On lower part of the circuit board, there are two smaller connectors; one has 7 pins in which 3 are tied together to ground and the other 3 are tied together for ignition B+; one pin in the center is not used. You can see this on the printed circuit board and easily trace them to the connector to see what is what.
There is another connector that has either 5 or 6 pins that pinout to control the cruise, seat belt, hi beam, and left and right turn indicators. This can also be easily traced using the printed circuit so I will not spend time describing it here.
You will need to either solder small wires directly to the bread board in these places, or visit a local electronics store and find some micro connectors that will plug right in and have some length of wire for you to play with. I just elected to solder to the board and use GM weatherpak connectors elsewhere. Make sure you leave enough wire to run out the back of your turbo buick's stock instrument cluster carcass to tie into your wiring harness. It is recommended that you use additional connectors here so you can pull the entire cluster out without having to seperate the digital guts to get to the connectors on the breadboards.
Now for the mods you will need to do to your stock turbo buick:
-->I strongly recommend you find an additional regal cluster to hack on and not use your factory unit in case you might want to sell the car someday.
No matter which cluster you are working with, you will need to remove the speedo head and any other electronics that occupy the space between the warning light cavities that flank the unit. There may or may not be some additional cavities that are located directly behind the speedo head or just below it that are for additional info/warning lamps. These will need to be removed or shaved down to within 1/8" of the back wall of the cluster housing (carcuss). Take care not to cut into the raised portion of the wall that houses the regal's electrical connector. Also, do not cut any portion of the regal's printed circuit board. Be sure to remove all light bulbs for illumination and warning lamps within the main cavity where the digital dash will be installed.
Now, with the park ave boards and faceplate assembled, it should sit into the cavity just flush or slightly behind the front of the flanking warning lights. However, it will not fit between them. You will need to mark on both warning light bezels where the circuit board contacts it in such a way that a slot can be cut about 1/16" deep in both sides so it will hold the digital guts in, firmly once the bezels are screwed back on. Cut these slots carefully so you don't go through the plastic into the light cavities or you will get some light coming out when the warning lights are on. You will need to eyeball your placement of the digital dash components in relation to the plane that the flanking warning light bezels sit for this to work right. Up and down placement it at your descretion as long as you stay within the confines of the cavity. Once you are satisfied with the digital cluster placement within the stock regal dash, you can use hot glue to secure that it will not move.
Now for the wiring:
You will leave the stock regal harness plug and wires where they are. You have a couple of choices when it comes to the oil pressure and temp lights. You can either remove the bulbs from the warning light cavities and tap into those wires behind the dash to save running wires out to the engine, or just run seperate wires to their respective sensors. You will need to leave the dash harness connector where it is and uncut.
You will also need to tap into the stock dash harness behind the connector for the info and power inputs of the digital cluster. You will need to send a few wires thru the back of the cluster that lead to the underside of the dash for use to hookup the PRNDL clock and data lines, battery power of the dash (if you don't have one), tach lead (if you don't have one), and VSS signal. All the other wires you will need for this install should go to the stock harness connector for the stock cluster with exception to the parking lamps on input. If you didn't have the atari digital dash stock, you will need to run a wire from the parking light switch.
For the speed sensor and buffer, follow respective wiring diagrams for those pieces and be sure to hook the speedo up to the buffer's 4000ppm out and the cruise module and ECM up to the 2000ppm out.
The PRNDL indicator is a little tricky. As stated before, this setup uses a 4-wire gear selector sensor switch which is transaxle mounted on the park ave. Most any GM unit will work as long as it has these 4 wires: BLK/WHT, YEL, WHT, GRY. You will also need to ground the black wire that should be on the prndl switch itself. These 4 wires lead to the PRNDL module, which is taped to the park ave's harness just above the area between the E-brake and brake pedals. It consists of a small, black box that measures approx 3"x2"x1" and has a white and blue static electricity warning label on it. Wiring diagrams for this unit can also be utilitzed for its hookup. Getting the PRNDL switch to mount to your shifter is no easy task. I can tell you that I utilized a series of levers in order to get the sensor to swing far ehough to read all gear positions. I mounted the switch directly to the floor shifter frame. The PRNDL switch and module are NOT REQUIRED for the digital dash to work correctly. The PRNDL indicator on the cluster will simply flash three times during power up to indicate there is no data and then will remain on steady without further annoyance. I can say that a PRNDL switch that mounts to the side of the late model 4L60-E's would work great if we could use it.
Once installed, you will notice that there is a small gap on the top and bottom of the digital display when you put your stock regal cluster cover back on. We simply used an adhesive backed non-slip plastic tape to "fill" in these areas. Plexiglas will later be utilized to offer a more "factory" look. But it works for now. Hope this is enuf info to get you going.
Darth Fiero
3800 Series II Turbo
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2003
VERY COOL. I LOVE DIGITAL DASHBOARDS. I MISS MY 88 RIVIERA!! PRESSURE SENSITIVE SCREEN. AND DIGITAL DASH.
Darth Fiero
3800 Series II Turbo
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2003
Looks very good!
