Being that I can't seem to find a cluster anyway and I have this wacko notion that I want to change the dash land pods look.. I was wondering if anyone had the wiring schematics of the Cluster foil/backing? I can't seem to locate them in the service manual and I guessing that is so you can't figure out how to make another one. I'm working on what I want the new Dash and Pod to look like and will post a concept sketch for you guys/gals to rip to shreds as I am sure you will being that most of you appear to be purists at least in the manner of the interior of the vehicle.

 

Its in the wiring diagram
I wouldnt say that most of us are purists about the interior. The fact is, the 928 interior is very well designed. Why reinvent the wheel? If most of us were purists, Jager & Nicole wouldn't have any business offering interior bits to spicen them up....

 

Wow,

Was that a preemptive strike? I don't think most of the people here are purists. Look at all the attention that the LCD screen real-time computer (mfd?) has been getting. I think everyone has their own tastes and you'll be rated on yours. If it doesn't agree with mine of course, that clearly means yours is bad .

 

I didn't mean it in a negative way... In the Jag.. I want the factory look and feel.. I love the deep wood tones.. it definately reaches out of the camel colored leather and says.. GRANDMA MOBILE!... but that is what is supposed to feel like... Warm and inviting with a hint of snobbery...

From the interior shots of the 928's I have seen on here.. while the leather gets a new look and the stiching colors etc people are using it gives it a face lift.. and a sporty feel but at the same time your not really making any HUGE changes to the way that it look... mainly cosmetic in that your making the old.. look new again.. not these cars ever really get old.. Thats what I mean by Purist.. so maybe I chose the wrong word... perhaps Naturalist would have been better... and don't take that the wrong way please... the work and the look when you have them recovered/replaced is awsome and nothing short of beautiful, so please don't take that the wrong way... given a car that only needed some minor interior work.. I would go that route because I do find it appealing...

What I want to do is dramtically change the look.. move of of the guages towards the center of the vehicle.. make the Pod a bit smaller and more rounded... give the dash a bit of the McLaren treatment... a big job.. esp from someone who has about as much auto interior design experiance as the retired plumber next door. However, this is supposed to be a project... thats what I want.. and dang it that's what I am creating... I want My car... it should feel like I am crawling into a Jet Fighter.. only not as bubbly and ugly as a Koenigseg... The exterior of these cars is magnificent.. the motor is nothing short of brilliant even by todays standards... and there are things under the hood I want to clean up and change but seeing as I lack the lift etc.. I will stick to keeping the car on the ground and abusing the resources I have.

My background is Computer Engr... not design.. lucky for me I have 4 friends in the Design world and one of them is going to help with the mockup and construction... Looking at the Diagram above... most of the diaodes and control boxes are inside the back panel with the guages themselves seeing as I don't seen any of these items on the foil... which "should" make this easy... er... at least from the wiring prospective...

I've got crude mockups of the guages.. and once I hit a layout I think is neat.. I'll upload it.. again so you guys can give feedback... while I want it to be My deal... outside input w/ discussion hasn't failed me yet..

 

Should be interesting. You're talking about moving it to the center, like a Mini or a Saturn Ion? Since you're only doing this to your own car and not imposing it on car buyers I'll keep it civil, but we had a Saturn loaner for about a week that had the speedo in the center and every time I drove that car I felt a strong urge to rip the speedo out of the dash, hunt down the designer and give him/her a speedo suppository. I just don't get it.

The PCB is pretty simple, really it's nothing more than wiring. There are some variations, so I'd say don't finalize your wiring plans based on the diagram alone -- double-check against the actual PCB.

 

Well.. not exactly moving ALL the guages to the center.... the Tach and Speedo will still be Pod mount along with the Idiot Light, Ox and Turn lights... As far as *****/switches the Trip Odo Reset and Lights will also be Pod Mount... The rest of it will be Center mounted with a slight tilt towards the driver possibly... not planning on using the HUGE gauges that are currently in the cluster but replacing them with other VDO gauges making it more roundish... but who knows... plus because I feel like being a complete school boy in this I am going to add the big red START button...

And now that that is all typed out.. I see dangling wires everywhere and no true layout anymore.. LOL... funny how it sounds written down compared to the picture in your head... this isn't an overnight thing... I don't expect to have any kind of anything tangible for quite a while, if at all ever.. but half the fun is in the attempt...

 

Don't let me discourage you... What you do to your shark is of course up to you. I was stating my prejudices on the subject up front, though I would try to be as objective as possible when offering feedback. My 1st Gen Z-car had oil, temp, fuel, ampmeter & clock in a center-mounted tri-gauge cluster. The attached pic shows the general layout(not my car) which worked out fine.

 

BINGO!... Something very similar to that... don't worry about making me discouraged.. I am plenty good at that.. LOL... besides when woman #1 comes home one weekend I am sure to get an ear full from her about what the hell I am doing... at least woman #2 leaves me alone to work on the car by getting herself a weekend job..

Anyways... Something VERY similar what you have in that pic... obviously need to add the Hazard stuff on their but I am thinking the buttons on the Pod are going to be too big and perhaps a covered flip switch for the hazard... I dunno... Once I get the cluster layout done I will get a big enough block of foam to begin sculpting the layout...

Here are the layouts of the gauges I am thinking about... anything anyone would move around.. add.. delete?

 

I would add oil pressure, add the warning lights back in(low fuel, low o.p., low oil level, charge light, coolant level, high beam. I don't see the point of the fuel pressure gauge in a non-boosted shark.

 

SharkSkin you have your own Consult !

 

Having recently done a Pod-ectomy... and faced with having to probably do it again due to key tumbler problems... I was caught off guard when I dropped by a friends house and he was cleaning his wife's Murano... it has a pod type dash also, but the pod is really shallow when viewed from the side, but not when viewed by the driver...

Thought it was cool... can't imagine the nightmare of trying to retrofit something like this... maybe a good project for my EE221 circuits II class?

http://www.nissanusa.com/murano/gallery.html

 

 

Add oil pressure and oil temperature next to each other. For individual instrument placement, think about an instrument scan sequence. How will your eyes move in a logical track to get all the instrument information you need at that time. You don't want to have your eyes needing to dart around to get information. Some scans will be short duration, almost a glance at only critical instruments. This glance scan may be repeated often. This would be as if you are on the track and only have a split second to check oil pressure in a left turn. Some important warning lights could be in that scan too. Other scans will take a couple seconds and will take in most instruments as when you are on the straight and can spare a bit of eyes off the road ahead time. Those would be not immediately critical such as, fuel level, system voltage, etc. Setting up a good, logical, instrument scan pattern will reduce fatigue and distraction. Doesn't really matter if you intend to track your car or not.

 

Ok.. i had it mislabeled as Petrol Pressure.. it should have been Oil pressure... I am still trying to figure out the Warning light issue... perhaps on the center console down by the where my clock SHOULD be... but it is missing..

 

Guess it really depends on the "look" you are seeking. If you want the "classic" 60's/70's aircraft cockpit feel, then the more gauges the better.

You could also go with avionics pieces that will monitor 4-8-12 parameters (or more!) in one rather smallish ~4" diameter gauge.

These things are programmable to give you idiot light style warnings, and pop up the appropo digital bar gauge if any of the signals go outside your desired parameters. Look through the Aircraft Spruce catalog for some inspiration. Granted, a bit more coin, but you can see far more data for less $.

Or, you can just go with any one of a number of auto digital dash products that are off the shelf around the $1000 mark - and be able to select data to view "on-the-fly" and have the benefit of "idiot light" features if something that is not currently being monitored gets out of range.

Glass cockpits are basic exercises in spec'ing an interface, selecting some sensors and then locking your favorite code warrior in his/her room until they crank out the coding and a gui.
The interface is the (semi) expensive part of the deal - depending on how spiffy you want to go they could push $400 each. Unless, of course, you hack them out of someone else's product...

IF you don't start making this crap complicated by having it do something other than readouts (or adding frou-frou CANBUS or Bluetooth capabilites) it is hardly rocket science - or even an EFI ecu.

(Remember, never abuse your code warrior. Always provide unlimited quantities of Skittles, Mountain Dew, Doritos, and smokes {if required} through the cutout in the door...)


Greg