So I got a package from Gary Meier today.....

I sent him a Z28 cluster (thanks Glenn) and a bunch of connectors off of JY clusters. He gives you credit for each pair you can provide him. Ended up to be pretty cost effective for me.

Installed it tonight. Look longer than I thought it would , but doesn't it always. Had to cut a bit more of the dash than I wanted to, but she is in now. Have to finish putting her together tomorrow, but it looks good so far. Had the cruise option added but not the PRND321 as I have the floor shifter and other future plans. Might try to switch the indicators to white. I will see if the orange grows on me.

Will try to post pics tomorrow or later in the week.

PICS - Or it didnt happen LOL

As soon as she is presentable...........

Got some quirks in it. Trip-o-meter does not work, Left signal lights up the seat belt warning light and a bulb seems to be out by the odometer. I am sure Gary will help me straighten this out.

oh no we need it now!!! is it alot harder to do on the roady than a caprice?

trip meter some thing is probably not lined up when he set your milage. and the turn signal lighting up the seat belt light is that the car knows it will be leaning and wants you to be safe. can you still use the car with problems? my ford lightning if cluster was out the charging system would not work

It was time consuming but not a real difficult install. Just cutting and cutting. I use a razor knife and heat it to cut the plastic.

I am waiting for Gary to get back to me. I hope he takes care or shows me how to take care of it. Meanwhile the day stays apart!!!

tim its funny you posted this i just got a cluster yesterday

For the next guy to try this, do yourself a favour and pick up a Dremel style tool. Cheap at Harbor Freight. Takes about two minutes to trim the dash.

Spoke to Gary tonight. He has had little issues with the MANY he has sent out. I got lucky I guess. Nice enough guy.

He is sending me out a Odometer/Trip Odometer for me to change over. And I need to cut a piece of solder to separate the seat-belt and turn lights. Will take some pictures when I extract and re-install. Should be Saturday. Might give a try at highlighting the needles as well to make them POP the way they should.

Tim

UMMMM.........................Updates? Pics??

Got it back together. I messed with the needles and now my temp is off by 40*. Going to trto take it out once more and fix it. I should have left well enough alone

Pics? Please??

81X11 wrote:

Pics? Please??

yeah swinkster...we know where you live!

Uncle............





Night pictures when it is dark!!!!

Looking good Tim

I'm loving it!! Have not got mine in yet, still torn about adding a PRNDL. I put a kid in the middle up front too often to think about adding a floor shift, so my shifter will stay where it is.

Is everything working now?

I am curious to see how it looks lit up at night compared to the climate control and radio. If you can, please post a pic of the entire dash with the lights on.

Such fun!

-Mike

150 mph speedometer makes it a Hot Rod Tim!No ifs,ands or buts about it Mr Swink!I like it a bunch by the way.
Jim

81X11 wrote:

I'm loving it!! Have not got mine in yet, still torn about adding a PRNDL. I put a kid in the middle up front too often to think about adding a floor shift, so my shifter will stay where it is.

Is everything working now?

Everything is working great. You would put your PRNDL on the column in clear plastic. That way if you change to a floor shift you would remove it easily.

81X11 wrote:

I am curious to see how it looks lit up at night compared to the climate control and radio. If you can, please post a pic of the entire dash with the lights on.

Such fun!

-Mike

The bulbs in the camaro are to dull. I first replaced them with the PC194 but now I replaced (all but one) with the PC194B (blue) which seems to "green up" the white and make it match a little better. Still working on pictures.

Flasheroo wrote:

150 mph speedometer makes it a Hot Rod Tim!No ifs,ands or buts about it Mr Swink!I like it a bunch by the way.
Jim

It would only peg the speedometer with a tail wind!!!

Mike,

BTW Gary gave me credit for extra connectors I could get for him from the junk yard. It really took the sting out of the price tag.

tim it looks good

Wow Tim, that looks great. Glad you were able to get it together so quickly.

Looks good!

Thanks for posting. Was curious what it was going to look like.

81X11 wrote:

Looks good!

Thanks for posting. Was curious what it was going to look like.

So do you move forward or not your taste. I did it for the extra gauges.

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

81X11 wrote:

Looks good!

Thanks for posting. Was curious what it was going to look like.

So do you move forward or not your taste. I did it for the extra gauges.

Oh I'll be putting mine in soon! How hard was it to get to the oil sending unit? Could you give a quick walk-through on changing that out?

Piece of cake for the sending unit.

I used a 1/4" ratchet with an 3/8" and 1/2" adapters to a deep well socket. Removed old one. Screwed new one in and back she went.

Took all of 2 minutes! It took longer to find the new one than the change it. I put some teflon tape on the threads.

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

Piece of cake for the sending unit.

I used a 1/4" ratchet with an 3/8" and 1/2" adapters to a deep well socket. Removed old one. Screwed new one in and back she went.

Took all of 2 minutes! It took longer to find the new one than the change it. I put some teflon tape on the threads.

I'm worried a little about reaching mine. It's under the EGR correct? Since I put the Vette fuel rail covers on and relocated the wiring harness it may be a pain to get back there. Changing the EGR was a pain...

No. It is on the driverside behind th intake on the block. If you reach your hand behind the throttle cable (to the right of them) and reach down toward the top of the tranny your hand will run into it. Pretty there should be an elbow with pipe threads so it allows you to swing it up or down a little to get a socket on it.

If you want to call me just PM me and I will send you my number.

Tim

Thanks Tim!

Tim I found this pic of a Vette/Camaro engine, and I see the oil pressure senser there under the EGR. Is this the same way they are set up on the Roady?

I hope so. Pic makes a lot of sense....will know what I'm aiming for!

That is the way if "feels".

Just an FYI, my Z28 cluster is going to Gary for the PRNDL mod and also for white gauge needles. I don't plan to ever make my car a floor shift, have kids in the front center too often, and really don't care for the look of the stick-on plastic PRNDL on the column. Figure if I'm going to all this trouble, I want it to look "stock".

Here's the mockup with the Roady PRNDL installed in the lower left corner. I like it!


And here is a pic with the white gauge needles in place. I would not bother but it's a cheap mod and he'll have it apart anyway.


Will post pics once I have it back. Such fun!

-Mike

Here's a Caprice with the Z28 cluster and the stick-on PRNDL on the column. It looks ok, but I'd rather have it in the cluster itself. It's worth it to me to have Gary add it to mine.



Such fun!

-Mike

it would be pretty trick if the "tail gate ajar" was cut out of the original, wired and pasted in over top of something like the 'low trac light,
Nick

Anyone care to dispel a rumor for me?

Was told I have to make sure to “fix” the tach output from the PCM on ’96 models....that the tach output on a 96 PCM outputs 4 cylinder, while the Z28 cluster expects 8 cylinder. If not fixed the idle will show about 1000rpm too high.

Ever heard such a thing?? Of course it did not say how to "fix" it. Hahaha...

-Mike

Found that Tach info on the ISSF forum, in this thread: http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=244602

What I got from it is that the PCM for OBDII sends out a 4cyl signal. Only the '96 models are OBDII. This is not an issue on the 94-95 models.

Specifically it says in the thread:

"either the Z28's Gauge cluster will have to be modified to use the 4 cylinder tach signal that the 96 Impala SS outputs OR you will have to reprogram the computer with a Camaro / Firebird automatic transmission PCM calibration. When making the Impala SS cluster GM used 4 cylinder tachometers, I'm not sure if I want to know the reason for that"

My car is a 1996 Roadmaster. Have always wanted to do this swap, just want to be sure everything will be “right”. Is it possible the 4cyl issue only applies to the Impala SS because of the tach GM used in them for ’96? Maybe my Roady will read fine….?

Anyone know?

-Mike

Gary Meier was nice enough to get right back to me with this reply:

The factory tach signal output of the '96 Roadmaster is an 8-cyl output from the PCM. The '96 Impala SS is the odd-ball with the 4-cyl tach output from its PCM.

I have seen two issues over 10+ years of building Z28 Clusters regarding tach signal output from PCMs.

The 3rd Z28 Cluster I ever built and installed went into a '96 caprice 9C1. It should have had an 8-cyl tach output (being a non-'96 Impala SS). We found the PCM in this '96 9C1 had its PCM reprogrammed (improperly) sometime earlier using the base code from a '96 Impala SS (resulting in a 4-cyl tach output from the PCM…and the Z28 Cluster's tach needle looking way off). We had the PCM programmer correct the tach output back to 8-cyl.

I did have one recent occurrence of this in a '96 Roadmaster, and that was also due to his PCM programmer using the '96 Impala SS base code. He elected to install a tach divider to solve his issue (that was way cheaper than paying his programmer another $250 to reprogram his tach output).

Gary