abes Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 After 3 weeks of trial and error I finally finished installing speedhut revolution gauges in my zx. The look of digital dash goes great with the car but the speedometer only reads to 85 mph and the tach is a p.o.s. I originally wanted to go with aftermarket digital gauges but I was only able to find them in blue or red, no green. Here's what it looked like before I wanted to keep them as stock looking and clean as possible so it took me some time to figure out how to mount them in my factory dash. I know a few members have installed the autometer gauges in the the analog dash dash but since my car came with a digital dash the layout is different . I had saved an analog dash to save me some time but the original holes for the speedometer and tach were too big. I also really liked the layout of the sensor lights and turn signals on the digital dash vs. the analog one so I opted to go with it. I started by taking it apart so I can see how much room I had without disturbing the the lighting and power for the sensor lights. It was actually a lot easier than i thought I gutted it out and cut the partitions that were in the way of the new gauge location with a dremal. I then took apart my shift light and cut it down to size and mounted it on the center. Next, I took the outside frame and made a template for the plexiglass where the gauges were going to be mounted on. I started out with a piece of masonite I had laying around and drew out all the points and centerline on it. From there I drew the holes for the gauges and shift light and cut them out. I then mounted all the gauges on it to make sure everything fit properly and looked even. Everything looked good (so I thought) so i took it apart and transferred the cut outs to a piece of plexiglass. Four complete plexiglass cutouts later (learned the hard way) and a few sips of my favorite sponser... It was painted, sanded, and re-painted and ready for install. I used SEM satin black and by the time I was done, (5 coats later) it looked kick ass. I really wanted to have that satin black look so it can offset the shine from the glass on the gauges and and make the brushed aluminum stand out. This is one of the 4 that were trashed but you can see what the color looks like. If you look closely at the shift light hole, you can see that it wasn't centered. It would have driven me crazy.. This pic was after the sanding getting ready for final paint on the final product. It's a good thing I bought 3 cans of paint. I had originally intended to use one, go figure.. It was dry in about half hour but I waited about two days to make sure the paint cured properly. I installed the gauges and spent about 3 hrs. making minor adjustments and making sure that I can put all the pieces (3 of them sandwiched and screwed) of the cluster back together. Here is the final product before the install.. And one with the home made removable harness. It's very important to make sure you can disconnect the harness from the actual wiring so you can remove the cluster without having to cut any wires in the future. Speedhut sends all the wiring and sensors you should need in labled individual bags. They also include a wiring kit that lets you group all the gauge wiring (12v-sw,lighting, grnd) and connect it to one source. NICE.... Here's what it looked like.. AAAAnd, Here's what it looks like installed and ready to be connected to the sensors. Wiring to the car was straight forward and fairly easy. I also did the 3 gauge cluster but it only took me 1 day to complete. Harness.. Here it is in the car. They look off center in the picture but they fit and look perfect. This is what it looks like all together. It was night time by the time I finished so it's kind of crappy. I have to say, I was ecstatic when I turned the key and all the sensor lights, turn signals and even the gauges worked.. Here are some pics of them it up at night.. I'll let you guys know how they perform in a few days. I'm only going to have the fuel, tach and volt gauges up because I'm hoping to swap in the rb soon. I rather wait and install the new sensors on the new motor. Let me know what you think... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stravi757 Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 That is very cool, nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zs30 Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Nice job. Looks good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalJack Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Looks awesome! Very clean, very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supra510 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abes Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 Thanks for all the great feedback. I'm really happy wit the results. i just need to drop in the RB so i can hook up the rest of the gauges. Nice work. Thanks..That's a bad ass dime you got there. I was actually reading up on it a few months back. I saw it on another web site while looking for some wheels. One of the baddest wagons i've seen and I'm sure is moves pretty nice..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Very nice!!! 1000% improvement, and very crafty too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfsburgedition Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 (edited) You did a really nice job. Excellent work Young Jedi. Too bad you are in Miami and not NY. Edited November 19, 2009 by RTz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckolander Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Looks amazing, great work.....nice sponsor also. I just went to the speedhut website and designed my own guages, now I just have to convince the wife that i really really need the $700 set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowCarbZ Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 That looks great! I never was a fan of the factory ZX dash setup. You gave it a nice, timeless look. Very well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abes Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 Looks amazing, great work.....nice sponsor also.I just went to the speedhut website and designed my own guages, now I just have to convince the wife that i really really need the $700 set. I had the same problem but I found a solution.. This was my m.o. towards the wife: I went into my shed and found all the stuff I had laying around that i wasn't going to use anymore (even those just in case items). I sold all of it and then vioala.... shed was cleaned out and made enough money to buy them. 2 birds-1 stone.. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunterzed Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 That looks great. I've been thinking of doing something similar with smoked guages. I wasn't sure if it was the way to go but now I'm ready to head into the auto shop and get some guages. Thanks for the write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T S30 H Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Those are good looking gauges and a very nice swap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feifongwong3 Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Gauges look great, but back to this whole explaining it to the wife thing. Can I get a write up on that? The easy part is putting everything together; convincing her is the hard part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82 turbo z Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 what size gauges did you go with b/c im sick of my digi gauge and i've almost got everything i need for the turbo motor im building and want to get some of these gauges. i guess i could go measure but can get a positive answer from someone who has done it thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse. Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 How much would you charge to create this masterpiece for me.? Its amazing.!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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