I can't seem to find the answer when I searched, so if this is old news, just point me in tehe right direction. The 85 cougar has two plugs on the back of the instrument cluster for the base digital dash. I just found a nice looking cluster from an 88 V8 cougar with a full buttstuffog set up. The 88 cluster only has one connector. I didn't grab the connector for it and forgot they were different. Is it worth going back for the connector and trying to wire this in, or should I keep looking for an 85, possibly with a full digital dash? A good schematic for the 88 would help if someone has the EVTM and is willing to share. Thanks
I added cluster info for everyone
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/jcassity_bucket/
however, can anyone confirm where in the shop manual details about the buttstuffog cluster resides? My 87 shop manual / chassis electrical secion 33 is lacking in this area and I can not figure out why.
the buttstuffog cluster is covered briefly for pony/bird/coug/markvii but there seems to be no single cluster connector detail that i can see.
Are the 87/88 clusters the same? Maybe someone else has done this conversion to an 85 who may have more insight than I.
It has been a long time since I did this. But if I remember, it just involves switching some wires around, from both your plugs, into the plug on the right side, as your looking at the dash. You can still use the plug you have, and the other plug just gets stuffed up in the dash after you switch wires to the other plug. You also have to solder a resistor in between the two charging wires to get the altenator to work. Foxthundercats use to have charts for this swap, but the links don't seem to work anymore, maybe someone has them copied somewhere. :D
also,
here is the buttstuffog connector pin out
http://www.coolcats.net/tech/general/8588buttstuffog_v8.html
I had a reason why I posted the evtm for you but if you'd rather someone else help then thats fine as well. I suppose my little bit of posts on here and having been tinkering with all the wiring off and on still warrents you to question that I may have just simply out of no where provided you with dope information,,therefore you can just ignore it all,, lol. jk
I was just trying to get you a resource that shows you what you have,, and be able to compare to what you need / where you want to be.
good day.
no offense intended.
I appreciated the EVTM links, just wasn't sure about 87/88 wiring being identical or not. The old EVTM info doesn't give the connector part numbers that I have seen, and I didn't know if I should go back to the jy to retrieve the original connector or not.
I guess I've gotten used tio the GM wiring over the years. I can read the schematics quite well and feel confident about the swap but only so long as I have the information in front of me(getting too old to remember everything in my head anymore).
The more information that I have gathered, the quicker I will gain the motivation to proceed. Thanks for all the knowledge and info from your experience
your going to need that connector for sure as you already know.
its going to contain the clues by way of wire colors what condition or what function resides on what pin of the buttstuffog cluster.
from there, using the EVTM and other resouces to cypher your 85 car cluster connectors x2 and groom in the required wiring into your single connector.
I found the Single conn application within the shop manual but it lacked the detail i was going to scan.
I cant be sure about who has done this yet, i do know that using using the search function then select advanced search presented me with more hits.
when you go to advanced search, go over to the left and enter the phrase and then select within thread titles or thread titles only (this will allow you to see thread titles with this type of project. If you select within all posts or whatever the other one is,, you will get hits on threads that may contain one of the words which in respect to all the threads,, really has nothign to do with your project.
"buttstuffog"
"digital to buttstuffog"
"buttstuffog swap"
"buttstuffog cluster">>> yields the highest amount of threads associated with this topic
ect ect,, then you will see other threads.
I dont think there is a spoon fed diy write up that will simply tell you what you need to do step by step. Trust me,, if i needed to do this, it would get done without a write up.
your very best buttstuffog selection would be from a mustang because it had a jumper setting to select 4,6 or 8 cyl while the coug/birds did not . you would have to do the parallel 100k resistor mod or install a 50k high tolerance resistor to swap it in.
I think the mustang uses cable driven speedometers don't they? Luckily, this cluster I picked up is from a V8 vehicle so the tach should be correct
Yes, Mustang speedo's are cable, at least up till 93.
If you have a V8 Tbird/Cougar tach, you're golden.
Just run a wire for the tach from the coil to position 15 on the connector, if you haven't stumbled upon that yet..
ANY V8 buttstuffog cluster from 85 through '88 will work, it's ONLY a matter of repinning 4 or 5 wires in your car for the new cluster.
This ONLY applies if you have the Base digital cluster, the full digital cluster has a different fuel sender that will NOT work with an buttstuffog fuel gauge.
If I can do this, anyone can. Wiring is NOT my strong point... :rollin:
actually, the fuel sender will work. we worked on it for a while and its obvious the sender would just need to be wired backwards and at worse case,, a small calibration to the empty / full reading.
It's not that simple for the electronic cluster fuel gauge is it? Because mine reads backwards... Full reads empty and vice versa...
Yes, you are correct ;):D, and anything can be made to work given enough time or money lol. I was just meaning plug 'n' play ;)
i am still waiting for someone to send me a digi sender to mod,, either i or Dr D have it figured out ,,
I used to have one, a few years ago. Car got scapped, didn't think to save the fuel tank.
will the oil pressure/amp guage sender that is in use from a base cluster mate up correctly with an buttstuffog cluster? I know the base cluster only has an idiot light that comes on when pressure/amperage is too low, but I don't know if that is detirmined by the ecu or by the cluster, so does anyone else know?
A gauge sender is different than one for a light
FRACK!!! So what do I need to get? Go to autozone and tell them I need a oil pressure sednder and then it just screws in?
And what about the amp guage? Idk where to even begin to start there.
you actually need 2 things for the oil sender
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1964-73-FORD-OIL-PRESSURE-SENDING-EXTENSION-V8-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem335be413deQQitemZ220585006046QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
AND
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-87-Ford-Mustang-Oil-Pressure-Sensor-Sender-NEW-/110547141910?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19bd1f8516
Both can be bought cheaper than the ads shown
and these are compatible with the v6 jjust fine?
I think the extension piece is already on there
I have buttstuffog gauges,and wish I had the full digi gauges. I'm not going to freak myself out by trying to swap them though.I'd go mad trying to figure all that out.
almost all fords with a gauge take the big "bell" sender, and if the extension is there that is good, the sender is physically bigger and usually wont screw right into the motor .
this is what it looks like right now.
And does anyone know what I would need to do to get the amp guage to work properly?
Dude it's not as difficult as it seems! I think I have mastered instrument clusters!
When I did my Mustang cluster conversion all I did was buy the V8 oil pressure sender and screwed it right into the block. It works perfectly.
As far as the amp gauge goes, there is nothing you have to change. You just connect the same color wires into the right pin positions that is used for the amp light in the standard cluster. The gauge itself reads the voltage and processes the reading.
The amp gauges infrequently work, and at best are not all that accurate. They're slightly (if not at all) better than the idiot light. Get a piece of thin metal, ditch the dash cubby, and make your own gauge panel for that area. Throw in a water temp gauge, a volt gauge, and an oil pressure gauge, and call it good.
That's my plan after the interior is (mostly) back together..
but I dont have the money, time, or patience to pull that off:D
I wouldn't be able to take running all that tubing for the buttstuffogs!
On Eric's site, there are a couple of wires in my harness that do not match up. Obviously, the chart is a copy of the TC harness layout.
There are 2 in particular that concern me.
1. In position 7, where his says IVR in--light blue/pink, I have a tan wire that says "DO NOT CUT OR SPLICE", and a black wire pinned in with it. WTF is an IVR, why does my wire tell me not to touch it, why is it a different color, and where does the black wire go?
2. In postion 2, where his says Check Turbo--dark green, I have 2 brown wires pinned in the same hole. Obviously I do not have a turbo, so what does that go to in a v8 cluster?
I know a bunch of you have done this before, and I'm just trying to make sure I don't permanently ruin something by hooking this up. Thx in advance.