Gauge cluster question

[Farrell5.0]

Hi all,

I’ve tried searching on this topic for a while now and nothing seems to come up. Every picture I’ve ever seen of a gauge cluster in a grand national, has the digital display for rpm’s and boost at the lower right corner.

My question is, did all clusters come this way in a grand national? My ‘87 only has a speedo and fuel level, that’s it (and even they hardly work). I’m curious if the cluster has been swapped. It has the factory installed sunroof (verified with cf5 code), so it would be odd if the tach and boost were an option and didn’t have it.

Thanks

 

[rag231]

GN's only had 3 factory dash options. The GNX has your round needle dial type, digital - blue display( which you can not swap without changing the fuel sender, as far as I know) and your more common with the needle that sweeps across the panel past the useless 85mph on the right hand side that has the boost and rpm gauge in the lower right corner. If yours doesnt have that boost/rpm in the corner it probably has been swapped with a regular Regal. I would question the mileage on the car then. My astro roof car has the digital gauge set up in it. I think that all of the astro roof cars that I have ever seen had the digital dash in it. I have been wrong before tho. Hey take a pic and post it.

 

[Farrell5.0]

Thank you for the reply! I can take a picture when I get home, but it looks just like the second picture you posted, yet without the tach and boost readout. I figured it had been swapped but unsure of the reason why, as the mileage even on this cluster is high at 140,000 and doesn’t function properly.

 

[davelostmissing]

All astroroof cars did not come with digital gauges.

Are we really sure this car started life as a GN?

 

[TurboTGuy]

Mike presents a very valid question, I would hope for you that it's just a swapped gauge cluster.

Never have I seen an 86/87 Turbo Regal that didn't come stock with the tach/boost gauge(s) in one form or another in the cluster, but an expert, I am not..

 

[Farrell5.0]

I do know it’s a true gn, I knew the original owner. He passed away about 3 years ago and his dad gifted the car to my grandpa who unexpectedly passed away early this year and my grandma gave it to me. I have a bunch of documentation for the car as well.

 

[Farrell5.0]

I was of course wrong about the mileage on the cluster, I forgot it doesn’t read six digits and I only assumed it had rolled over. As you can see, it has the regal text where the readouts are on other clusters.

 

[Hotfoot]

do you have a pic of the rpo tag on the inside of the trunk deck

 

[dank GN]

Yea that’s just a stock regal gauge cluster . All the t types and Grand national came with the Boost gauge and rpm tach at least that’s my understanding .

 

[Farrell5.0]

do you have a pic of the rpo tag on the inside of the trunk deck

I can take one today after work.

 

[Farrell5.0]

Here’s a picture of the tag in the trunk.

 

[toofastforyou]

There's also a fourth option…the Canadian metric dash (pictured below) on which you can read mph's off the kmh scale when using the correct reducer.

Claude.

 

[WH1]

I’ll bet it had a faulty digital dash that was swapped.

 

[Hotfoot]

Here’s a picture of the tag in the trunk.

U12 Speedometer, Dual Scale With Kilo Odometer, it's a real gn

 

[turbo39151]

Interesting. Appears to be a swap.
However, there's been lots of oddball things come out off the assembly line before. Maybe they ran out of the correct one and raided the parts bin? Not likely, but possible I suppose.

 

[Nick Micale]

I’ll bet it had a faulty digital dash that was swapped.

To swap a factory analog to a factory digital dash or vise/versa, requires the entire dash harness be changed, The major wire connectors which plugs into the dash are different to begin.

Other connections to the dashes are also different.

The least complicated aftermarket dash with various gauge options to install is a Dakota Digital using an adapter harness from Casper's Electronics.

 

[TurboTGuy]

There's also a fourth option…the Canadian metric dash (pictured below) on which you can read mph's off the kmh scale when using the correct reducer.

Claude.
View attachment 312320

Yessiree,

When my car was in build stage, I purchased and then integrated a Canadian speedo into my car.

It was "refaced" and re-calibrated and original mileage matched by Dick's Speed-O-Tach in Phoenix, AZ in 2011. It's exactly 5% off to the slow side since I went from 275 to 295 MT DR's.

I love it and I get many compliments from "those that know". The pics are taken with a flash, so they show the black vinyl covering KPH's much more than is actually seen by the naked eye.

Dick's finally shut their doors a little while back (June 2017) after over 60 years in business. Analog is dead....... and it may have killed their business....

Well, that and an ungrateful son that had higher "aspirations" than just running the business his dad built and raised him in what I am sure what was relatively a comfortable childhood, .....

 

[Farrell5.0]

Thanks for all the reply’s, guys. Much appreciated.

Since this cluster is essentially useless, what do you think my best option for finding a used functioning cluster is? As much as I’d like to get the vdo style clusters and what-not, it’s just not in the budget for me. Even just a functioning gn cluster would be nice.