:flame: ... anyway, i have an 83 cougar 5.0 with the digital spedo, but it has nothing else other than the odometer... i want to have temp, battery and oil guages, but i want to try to keep it looking "stock".... can i interchange say and 87 cougar/t-bird full digital dash for mine, or will it need heavy modification in the plugs? (i know i will probably have to add leads for rpm and temp and stuff, just wondering about the harness and fit and such.... thanks!!!
alot of have said that the cluster wont fit in the older style dash, but noone really confirmed it. It would prolly just be easier to add aftermarket gauges, or maybe try to see if you can get it to fit. You could always mesure it and see if it will.
OR you could track down a very hard to find 83 84 tc cluster.
I wonder if he could swap in a dash from say an '85-'88?
Might have to change out the door panles too, but it'd be cool.
Or perhaps, a Mustang dash...?
They won't fit. I looked it over and it would be easier to swap in a later dash than to modify a cluster to fit in an early dash. I'd love to have a later TC cluster in my Cougar instead of the stock tach and speedo. I'm going aftermarket with everything eventually but right now it'd be nice to have more. I put in a water temp just to confirm my suspicion that my car was overheating.
Oh....what good would an 83 84 TC cluster be? It just adds a tach instead of the buttstuffog clock. It still lacks water temp, battery voltage, and oil pressure.
Oh, I did not know that.
i see your point.... i'm thinking of getting rid of the eec iii piece of i have and puting in a 5.0 ho from a 1989 cougar i saw yesterday... it's a lot of wires to have to replace, but my engine feels like i have 5.0 hamsters under the hood instead of 5.0 liters :)..... anyway, i hadn't thought of a full dash replacement, but i have to take it apart to run the new cpu wires and such through the firewall anyway.... i wonder if the wife would let me.....
All you need is an engine harness from an 86 Coug/Tbird. And the 89 Cougar didn't have a V8 option. Others here will suggest a Mustang HO 5.0 before a Cougar HO as well. The Cougar HO didn't make as much power when it was offered in the Cougar starting in 91.
i see now that the ho wasn't there in the cougar, but it does say an 89 and it has a ho in it, so how can i tell if the engine was swapped and whether it was replaced with a mustang ho or not.... is there a way to tell?
The 1991-93 intake is flatter (in height) and has the crooked air inlet elbow...that's the only factory 5.0 intake that will fit under the 1989-97 hood.
Back to your question...Chuck would probably be able to confirm this but I do believe the Fox chassis LTD/Marquis cluster interchanges. Not that that helps. ;) There is no "ultimate" plug-and-play swap for your dash.
1983 Cougars and T-Birds in general got the short end of the stick, as far as electronics. EEC-III is virtually useless for diagnosis, and the nice things we take for granted with EEC-IV aren't present. So, if you have a 5.0 it's MUCH easier to carb the motor and bypass the EEC-III system. The same principle applies to the gauges. All you want is to know what's going on with your fluids and battery. You don't want anything complicated getting in your way. Therefore...the easy solution is aftermarket gauges. You get the exact gauges you want, that display the information you need, in your own configuration, and it's much more accurate than any stock gauges would be anyhow.
The down side? Yeah, you would have to run some new wiring...not a major issue though. And it can be a little pricey at first glance. But think about this...a set of nice Auto Meter gauges for around $400 US. That's all it costs in the real world. Do some price comparisons at Summit Racing and you'll see...they're pretty affordable if you go with a lower line of gauges (Pro Comp, Sport Comp, etc.). I did mine up for under $400, and that was with a special new $190 speedo that calibrates for tire/gear combos. I think you have enough room for the 3-3/8" speedo and tach, and probably 2 of the 2-1/16" gauges around them. The others you can put below the radio, or in place of the clock, or take out a vent in the dash panel...you do have a lot of choices for the 1983-84 dash. Really, even though it's not as flexible as 1985-88 gauges, I like the looks of the older one better. It's nice and orderly and relatively symmetrical, so it appeals to the eye.
If you would like to attempt to make a custom panel, I can help assist you with that. I've already made a template for the 1985-88 dash and wouldn't mind having the older dash template too.
see what i get when i buy a 83 cougar instead of the 86 that the wife REALLY wanted...... oh well i guess that was just a good way for me to be able to get the wife to let me buy 2 cats..... the one we have now (which is secretly for me) and the 86 i need to get her to make up for the fact that i bought an 83 now.... tricky :bs: ..... anyway, the wife loves the 86 with the full digital dash.... i was kind of hoping to be able to do a simpler swap and still keep it digital (while getting more engine onfo than i have now'which is NONE').... anyway, i guess i'll be going the buttstuffog route...... do you think i could add guages to the origional digital dash without having to hang them from the pilliar or under the dash..... or should i just go all buttstuffog
Cyberdyne makes a universal digital panel...you configure to your car...very slick. If you want all digital gauges, there you go.
They also manufacture the T-800 and the T-1000, and soon they're planning on bringing the new SkyNet defense system online.....
Sorry.... thought I saw an opening for a funny!
:laughing:
I saw that coming.
i'm going to look like an idiot (not that i haven't already), but does the eec have anything to do with the way a signal is displayed on the digital dash or does the dash do all the figuring from a signal it receives from a sensor?
electronic understandings..... might as well be greek
For our cars...no. I am not sure if 1983's had a VSS but 1984-up did. That sends the speed signal to the EEC, and from 1985-up it also fed the signal to the speedo unit to drive it. You still have a cable-driven speedo, which is good for aftermarket gauges, but I'm not so sure if it's good for an electronic aftermarket speedo. I'm sure there's something that will display in digital but accept a cable for the signal.
Everything else is dependent upon signals fed in from sending units (water, oil, fuel, tach) or the 12v+ wiring itself (volts). They all need ignition-switched 12v+ power, and a ground, and also lights-on 12v+ wiring. That's all there is to them, though...nothing elaborate. You would need electrical gauges, not mechanical. And if you're worried about whether or not the fuel gauge will work, it's almost guaranteed that it will. I've never heard of anyone having problems with our cars.
IIRC, after looking at an EEC-III manual for my 83 Continental, the digital speedo has a built in VSS and gave speed information to the engine computer.
i'll keep all that in mind when i get new ones..... i haven't looked underneath much, but if i have a cable speedo for my electric dash, what's the plug on the back of my transmission for (it looks like a vss)
went to see the other dashes from late 80's cats and i see what you mean... i didn't realize my instrument panel was do square.... thanks for the info, i guess i'll have to make a cluster.... eric, did you say that i can get a cluster that will fit my dash that has all the buttstuffog guages, or will i have to gut my digital case and add new guages for that.... thanks again for all your help :)
Well, I don't see why just a custom cut piece of aluminum wouldn't work for your dash. That can be your entire mounting panel...no need to gut your stock digital one. Like for mine, I did sacrifice a rather beat-up TC cluster to use as a base, but you shouldn't have to go through all that. I don't know of any other buttstuffog cluster that drops right in to your car.
If you get me the dimesions of your stock cluster (length, width and depth) then I can probably draw up a template for you.
Also, see here for some ideas for your dash:
http://www.coolcats.net/stockmod/modified/gauges.html
what about the 85ish lincoln contenantals? They are full digital and look to be about the same size
and the 85 i saw had the same rectangular dash, but they were all buttstuffog with just the speed and fuel level (i think they might have had a temp gauge too but it still wasn't a full one).... tried car-part.com but they have none either.... i'll get that dash measured up and try to send it up to you tomorrow eric.... :)
The 84 TC gauges won't do much for you. I've got a 84 TC with the factory gauges. All you get is the speedo, tach, Gas. everything else is a idiot light. there has been talk that the 80-82 tbird cluster is the same as the 83-84. Its also been talked of a 83-86 crown vic's cluster working. Other than that you could swap the whole dash out of a 85-88 and use the sport or TC cluster.
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3260&d=1124034882
I did do a white face conversion for the 84 TC cluster though.
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4670&d=1133104906
oh, you wanted DEPTH too :(...... the cluster is still in the car and won't be getting out for a few weeks or so..... i'll have to get back to you on that one..... why do you need the depth? will i need to make it a box?
Just checking for depth due to the aftermarket gauges. I had to actually take chunks out the back of my dash to get them to fit. It's been many years since I've had a 1983-84 cluster out and I can't remember the dimensions offhand.
as soon as i get it out i'll send those specs to you... thanks for all the help
do what i did. i just mounted the oil volts and temp guages under the stereo where the switches and cig lighter were and mounted the tach on the steering collum. i still got to keep the diggi speedo and fuel and have gotten lots of comliments on how good it looks. and what was said about using electric guages i dont agree with. electric guages are more accurate but they are more expencive and dont respond as fast. i used sunpro mecanical guages and love them.
jeremy
as a matter of fact, i was just out there fiddling (at 3am no less :sleep:) and i was thinking just that (except for the tach on the column.... my wife won't go for that)... but i was just wondering to myself how hard it would be to put the guages there and relocate the power antenna and premium sound buttons to the center console where the power controls for the passenger seat should be..... you can fit 3 guages down there right?
yep i put 3 guages there and elliminated the antanna switch (i just leave it up anyway) and the premium sound switch (it doesnt do anything and i want a nes system anyway) and im going to move the lighter to the ash tray.