DIY gauge cluster with Maxigauge
 

Hi,

inspired by the "Don't need no stinkin gauges" thread I thought I try my long planned gauge cluster swap. I planned this swap for a long time because I was annoyed of all the missing values in the OEM cluster and all the gauges in my air-outlets.

In this thread you will be able to watch if my attempt is going to be win or fail...

These are just my first thoughts and preparations:

I got a spare 99-00 gauge cluster from a friends killed 10AE and dismantled it completely.

*insert pic here*

From a member of the German MX-5 board I got a DWG (CAD) file for the OEM gauge cluster including the backside.

Now the thread about the Maxigauges gave my idea a final push to start my own gauge cluster.

I ordered the Large-LCD version of the Maxigauge from Hakan.

http://www.maxigauges.com/images/p001_1_01.png

The gauge will show the following values:

Oil Pressure (oilP)
Oil Temp (oilT)
Coolant temp (Wts)
Rpm (Rpm)
Exhaust Temp (Egt)
Air-fuel wideband (Afr) zeitronix zt2
Boost-Vacuum (Map)
Volts (Batt)

and these alarms:

Mininum Oil pressure: red led and sound
Max Wts: red led and sound
Rpm: shiftlight blue led and sound
Max Egt: red led and sound
Lean afr alarm: red led and sound

Hakan is a great guy to deal with, he replies on mails very fast and is very helpful with every detail of the gauge. (You can get a lot of different custom settings, gauges etc.) I want to use OEM VDO sensors for oil pressure, oil temp and water temp - no problem!

- I made 2 designs on how my gauge cluster could look like.

Design Nr. 1 - I would have to swap the fuel level gauge to the right side and
the ODO LED

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1331295203

Nr. 2 - I could leave the fuel level gauge and maybe the ODO LED (but I don't know if it will fit together with the maxigauge)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1331295203

QUESTION:
I got 2 "spare" holes in design two - upper and right little gauge pod. What other gauges would you put in there?


Lets go on:

- I scanned the OEM gauge circuit

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1331295203

and I made a little drawing on what goes where:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1331295203

I ordered the VDO sensors and an adapter plate for the oil-temp sensor for the oil filter. When everything is arrived I will go on and keep you informed!

Greetings from Germany

Wow, that would be really nice. Is the display backlit?

Very nice, sir. I'm sure a lot of us, including myself, have been thinking about this while looking at that thread.

Looking forward to seeing it progress.

@djp0623 - yes it's backlit.

More parts rolling in:

Oil filter adapter plate, VDO oil and water temp sensors.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1331647750

I will have to do a double adapter plate - one for the sensors, one (with thermostat - already installed for my oil cooler). But I have found this already done and working.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1331647750

I think you are missing a tachometer. It would seem to me you should replace the speedo with a tach and just use the digital speed readout.

Good stuff though, I like this idea a lot!

It's the a digital one in the screen.

EDIT: Nevermind, I get what you are saying in that he is missing a mechanical gauge and not that he is missing a gauge all together.

This thread will be epic and should be a sticky if it is successful. I saw your drawing in the original thread and loved it. I have been thinking about putting one of these together. My vote would be for design #1. It looks much cleaner and not overly busy.

I agree, would've kept the mechanical tach personally. Speedo changes much slower rate than a tach, just personal pref.

This is AWESOME. Sub.

good

All I am trying to say is its better to keep the tach gauge over the speedo.

In this case he can simply reverse the two.

We could get into the ergonomics of a tach gauge vs. tach readout, but that stuff is probably boring. I will simply say its easier to get relevant information from a tach gauge than a tach digital readout.

I would also love to keep the mech. tach. Problem is - to keep the German TÜV happy I have to keep a OEM speedo. I will see with which I will be going once my Maxigauge arrived ( it's already on the way from Turkey)

I will be excited to see how this progresses. It is unfortunate that you cannot keep the stock tach and just use the digital speedo, but maybe if you used the second design you could put a very small tach in one of the two other locations? An actual needle for tach is very nice to have, though to be honest I actually don't look at it too often.

I might consider a small speedo.

More parts are coming in - LEDs for all the backlighting of the cluster.

Have to wait for the Maxigauge to arrive - was shipped on Monday, but might take another week. (Shipping from Turkey to Germany seems to take awfully long)

O.K. your hints about the tach got me thinking:

I think I am going to build myself a "little rpm gauge" where the OEM water temp gauge was sitting - looks like this when finished. (I will be going with the small tach, big speedo to keep the TÜV happy here - I also have a design for a small speedo though...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1332324337

As I don't have the Maxigauge yet I cannot so anymore work.

I like small speedos...at the beach!

I just got a great idea. Not sure how they check it, but leave the "Speedometer" dial face but swap it mechanically for the tach? Obviously if they function checked stuff that wouldn't work... Just a thought.

Hmmm,

How about a 4P2T switch/relay? That way you could select between Speedo and tach function. Just have to make sure the sin+/- and cos +/- are right.

That would be really cool. Kind of like how my grandmother's buick has a button to switch from MPH to KPH, but less buick-y.

After a whooping 46 days (!) from sending the package (thanks Hakan) to receiving it - my Maxigauges finally arrived. (I guess I could have sent someone to walk to Turkey and get the package for me - thanks Deutsche Post - your are really fast :loser: !)

This is what I got:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1335529400

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1335529400

Now, when I find the time I am going to get my install done!

Looking great so far! Looking forward to see how you build the encasing, since I'm doing a homemade LCD gauge myself, and am curious about this now!

Slow progress - I got some unforeseen space problems in the gauge cluster...

Making room:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336052294

With the first gauges and the Maxigauge in place:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336052294

With the cut and mounted bezel
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336052294

Now I have to make mounts for the Maxigauge and wire everything up.

Wow! I'm thorougly impressed!

I can't wait to see this complete!

Lets go on ...

Mounted the Maxigauge on standoffs at the correct height
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336141867

Made out of some old plastic leftovers, cut to length and threads into both sides
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336141867

Had to make some adjustments to the Maxigauge, and get a bit creative
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336141867

Mounted in place and first test of the gauge - powered by my Jimstim...
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336141867

(without flash)
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336141867

Attached my old RPM gauge to the small gauge face - and put it in place
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1336141867

Looking so awesome! I'm thoroughly jealous!

Look, can I ask you a favour? Since you have that NB cluster out of the car, can you take a photo of the back circuitry for me? I'm curious to know what is involved in making it compatible with an NA!

Whoa. Tiny tach!

This whole project is pretty damn cool.

Would you be interested in making these for other members? I would like to see the finished result, but so far it looks great!

Why small RPM/Big speedo, and not the other way around?

Because Street Car?

Edit: I just read post #14 - what's TUV?

TUV is like our state inspections.

As I stated in one of the earlier posts, I would have loved to make a big tach + small speedo, but the TÜV (Association for technical inspection) wants to see the car every 2 years to check for technical correctness.

@RyanLewo - Sorry but no, this is quite a handful of work, and I run a Engineering offce as a civil engineer, have two kids and so on...

@revlimiter - I have to give the credit to you, otherwise I wouldn't have known how to make the gauge face for the small tach...

A bit more wiring is done,
as I want this whole thing to be plug and play - this is a bit more complex...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1337156856

I relocated some of the signal lights - highbeam, abs, handbrake...
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1337156856

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1337156856

This is the wiring for the relocated tach gauge
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1337156856

It's easy to solder on the copper pads of the OEM circuit. Some of the old traces have to be cut...
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1337156856

the cluster is actually in the car, but I have to redo some of the wiring and change the gauge bezel...

Quick first vid in the car... (map is not attached to a vac line so nevermind)

awesome!
Almost makes me regret installing my S2000 cluster

All done and finished...

The finish of the surface of the cluster is not perfect, but it's o.k. for the moment (might redo this over the wintertime)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1338449126

The 3 indicators in the middle are handbrake (left), shiftlight (middle), warning from Maxigauge (right).

You can see the two buttons for switching through the menus of the Maxigauge on the left and right side of the cluster hood.

That is fantastic.

Insane, really!

Very nice work, however the lack of a properly-sized tacho is apparent. I understand the technical reason why you couldn't have one though.

Perhaps you're the best person I should ask this to. How are the signals for the RPM/Speed? Are they voltage based or PWM?

Very, very nice job.

:winner: Sweet, looks fantastic.

from an older thread:
Speedsensor:
IIRC the NB sensor is not hall effect is it a VR. It needs to be conditioned by the mc in the stock gauge cluster, that also converts it to a square-wave type (12V high).

tach
the tach in my case is driven by the MS tach output, which also puts out a square wave signal imho.

Very well done! I get all excited and sh!t when someone does a really awesome gauge set.

Thanks Zaphod!

Amazing work! I love that you kept OEM bits. If it wasnt such a radical change from what people are used to, that'd certainly look stock!

This is very good job !
congratulations

Unfortunately I still have the difference between the OEM water-temp gauge in TS and the VDO sensor in the Maxidisplay... I suppose it's due to overboarding use of thread sealant for the sensors in my coolant-reroute spacer...

Problem is - that I don't have the time at the moment to rinse all the coolant again to take the sensors out for a good clean...

awesome job.

Wow. Just now seeing this. I'm very very impressed. I wish I had electrical skills, or wasn't so scared to try something like that. It turned out very well. Good job!

thats CLASS...

Looks great.