R33 Tach and Speedometer into S30 Pods

[synthtk]

I also got mine from eBay, it was right around 100 with shipping.

 

I will post up more pics and info tonight when I get home

[ZXRockie]

ebay.

 

They show up from time to time on www.nicoclub.com. Generally they go for under $100.00.

 

I thought you went to Venus auto in Sac. I'm half hour away from sac and I'm building a RB z.

[Stealth-Z]

I thought you went to Venus auto in Sac. I'm half hour away from sac and I'm building a RB z.

 

Venus is a few miles up the road from me. Ronald likes to sell clusters with front clips. It has been a while since I have been there. He had R32 clusters at the time for $100.00 but did not have any R33's available.

[synthtk]

Ok so here we go...

 

Here is a shot of the rear of the R33 Speedo, the screws are the terminals we are interested in, the 4 terminals, clockwise from upper left, correspond to SIG (signal from VSS), ECU (signal to ECU), IGN (+12v), GND (-). You may want to double check your board, the SIG and GND should be easily readable but IGN and ECU were pretty well obscured if I recall correctly.

 

 

In order for the ECU to get the correct speed reading it has to pass through the speedo, the speedo handles the calibration and changes the signal quite a bit.

 

The tach is a bit easier to figure out as all of its connections are easily read from the board. Unfortunately I do not remember the order they go in, but you will have a SIG (from ECU), IGN (+12v) and GND (-).

 

 

In this picture you can see how I trimmed down the gauge and attached it to the inner ring of the stock Datsun pod. I just used superglue to glue the faces down to the ring and then I glued in the sections of gauge face for the L-R turn signals and hi-beam into the spot which normally would house the Skyline's stock boost gauge on the tach and then the e-brake on the speedo. The items covered in the copper looking metallic tape are pea bulbs which work pretty well to illuminate the needle and parts of the gauge face but I think I am going to switch to a ring of LEDs to get the lighting more consistent. The lower right shows the block that I made out of plastic to hold the 3 different pea lights for the L, R and hi-beam indicators. The plastic is roughly .5" thick and has a small through hole which the bulb fits in, which is then counter sunk to give the correct illumination size of the indicator then I painted that counter sunk area white to add additional reflectivity.

 

 

Here is a shot of the tach wired, all of the pealights and grounds were tired to the ground terminal on the board, various other wires were run for power for the L, R, hi-beam, illumination of needle and then the other signal wires were pulled out in a molex connector and the stock 4 pin connector. I kept IGN and I believe a GND in the stock connector.

 

 

This is what the completed tach looks like from the back, like I mentioned the new wires are pulled out from the molex connector and the stock 4 pin was used to provide IGN and GND. To get illumination to the pea bulbs I cut off the ends of the stock datsun bulbs and then wired them to their corresponding wire in the molex connector. + for L, R, illumination. +/- for hi-beam, ran a wire to the ecu for tach, ran a pigtail off the back for IGN to goto the speedo, and then tied some grounds to the dash mounting. I kept the 2 illumination bulbs from the stock tach, they help light up the face but it is pretty inconsistent.

 

 

The tach installed, with engine running, hazards on along with hi-beam.

 

 

Here is the speedo installed with its illumination on and the e-brake pulled. I ended up having to use the e-brake indicator from a z32 300zx because I scratched up the one on the Skyline cluster which I thought looked a lot nicer.

 

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the speedo wired up from the back, I will try to get some this weekend or coming week, but a molex was used for the wires and then a pigtail from the tach provided IGN. Illumination was pulled from cutting off the ends to one of the Datsun bulbs and then wiring it to the pea lights. +/- was proved to the pea light for the e-brake from cutting off the end of the e-brake bulb and wiring it in. I ran new wires from the VSSto the speedo and then from the speedo to the ECU.

 

Unfortunately, the speedo does not have its rear metal cover on it because the casing is smaller than the tach's overall and it hits the back of the PCB on the speedo, I will have to make some sort of custom enclosure I think, right now it is just kinda stuffed into the pod hole but sits there nicely and does not move.

 

I have not yet done the calibration to set the speedo in MPH but will be doing that soon.

 

 

Here are both gauges installed and being used. You can see how I trimmed out the stock Datusn pod on the speedo to allow use of the odometer reset, if you did not want this you could just cut that piece off and not have to trim the pod. I had to trim the clear plastic and the black outer cup for it to pass through and be usable.

 

If you guys have any questions ask away, I can try to get better pictures (esp of the speedo) if you want.

 

Here are some more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/rb240z/20071013SkylineGauges

 

Hope this helps

[Stealth-Z]

Excellent Work! They have the right off the factory assembly line look.

[Careless]

That looks great!

[jerryb]

for those considering the conversion...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-R33-Skyline-GAUGE-CLUSTER-SPEEDOMETER-RB25DET-240SX_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33678QQihZ007QQitemZ170171070996QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

[Bishopsrock]

Hi,

 

Does anyone have the rear pin out info for the other gauges - specifically oil pressure and temperature???

 

Thanks

 

Andy

[getoffmyinternet]

At first I was skeptical. But now, seeing them in the dash, awesome.

[1 tuff z]

very nice job indeed. yet another hbz innovation!

[Mike Rowe]

Stealth,

 

As you say the R32 uses a cable speedo and like you I am running a rb25 tranny so I have don't my speed currently (though I can guess from gear and rpms).

 

Matt

 

You can change your gearbox to manual cable drive - see thread on gauges in here

regards

[getoffmyinternet]

My build shows just that, as well as the thread on the discrepancy between cable and electronic senders.

 

Lathed off the head of the electronic unit and soldered on the head of my original s30 unit. Then welded the respective shaft ends together.

[Mike Rowe]

Here is 2 shortcuts to threads on the gauges :

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=136439

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=140355

 

I think the 2 best options are keeping your orig gauges and changing them to work with the RB, or changing to the GTR gauges into the orig pods as in this thread. Both are equally in line with the spirit/sentiment of the RB engine change in my opinion.