NB: customized JDM 6-speed gauge cluster
07-19-2014, 06:17 PM
#1
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NB: customized JDM 6-speed gauge cluster
Up for sale is my Japanese market NB 6-speed gauge cluster. I've extensively modified it to work properly in a USDM Miata, and I guarantee this is the only one like it in the world 
It has 6 o'clock needle rest positions, a higher redline, "6-Speed" text, a much cleaner speedometer layout, and red needles.
The 6-speed clusters aren't hugely uncommon in Japan, but theres a bunch of problems with using them on a US-market car
-No dimmer for gauge illumination
-No CEL (JDM cars arent OBD compliant)
-No cruise control light (No cruise control on RHD cars)
These are somewhat challenging to fix, but I cannibalized a USDM NB cluster and made some other modifications to get them all to work.
What was impossible was:
-Speedometer does not report speed correctly when used with a USDM odometer unit
Essentially, if you want to keep your car's odometer, the speedometer won't work properly. If you try to use it, will read incorrectly due to the mismatched scales on the gauge. This annoyed me so much that I taught myself enough electronics to design a custom circuit board to change the scale on the gauge.
I present to you, the Sweep-O-Tron:
This board mounts to the back of the gauge without modifying the stock cluster at all and allows you to arbitrarily change the scale of the speedometer or tachometer reading. You pull power off of one of the other gauges and use the speedo or tach signal from the cluster using a T tap.
It took three revisions and dozens of hours of design, testing, and debugging to get it right, but it works great.
I set the cluster up so that instead of reading kph, it reads actual mph. It's now a 180mph speedometer. It reads slightly high (2-3mph) up to about 60mph, but the scale is dead-on. I tested with a GPS, and it's actually more accurate than the stock speedometer.
The CEL has been relocated to the formerly blank spot (or IMMO light on an NB2) on the top right, which now reads "HOLD" as in "HOLD up your **** is broke"
The dimmer also works now, and the gauge looks great in the dark
I've also linearized the temp gauge using the mazda-speed method, so it's got a much faster response time and accurate readout:
It works on both an NB1 or NB2 without permanent modification to the vehicle or the wiring harness. It's totally plug and play after swapping in your odometer.
It includes all of the bulbs, the T tap for the harness, and no odometer (use your own!). If the buyer wants, I can also reprogram the board so that it reads kph rather than mph.
I have no idea what this is worth, but I've seen unmodified JDM clusters sell for $100+ on their own. So how about $200 OBO and we'll see if there's any interest.
I spent a simply unbelievable amount of effort on this thing, and I hope someone else will enjoy it as much as I have.
It has 6 o'clock needle rest positions, a higher redline, "6-Speed" text, a much cleaner speedometer layout, and red needles.
The 6-speed clusters aren't hugely uncommon in Japan, but theres a bunch of problems with using them on a US-market car
-No dimmer for gauge illumination
-No CEL (JDM cars arent OBD compliant)
-No cruise control light (No cruise control on RHD cars)
These are somewhat challenging to fix, but I cannibalized a USDM NB cluster and made some other modifications to get them all to work.
What was impossible was:
-Speedometer does not report speed correctly when used with a USDM odometer unit
Essentially, if you want to keep your car's odometer, the speedometer won't work properly. If you try to use it, will read incorrectly due to the mismatched scales on the gauge. This annoyed me so much that I taught myself enough electronics to design a custom circuit board to change the scale on the gauge.
I present to you, the Sweep-O-Tron:
This board mounts to the back of the gauge without modifying the stock cluster at all and allows you to arbitrarily change the scale of the speedometer or tachometer reading. You pull power off of one of the other gauges and use the speedo or tach signal from the cluster using a T tap.
It took three revisions and dozens of hours of design, testing, and debugging to get it right, but it works great.
I set the cluster up so that instead of reading kph, it reads actual mph. It's now a 180mph speedometer. It reads slightly high (2-3mph) up to about 60mph, but the scale is dead-on. I tested with a GPS, and it's actually more accurate than the stock speedometer.
The CEL has been relocated to the formerly blank spot (or IMMO light on an NB2) on the top right, which now reads "HOLD" as in "HOLD up your **** is broke"
The dimmer also works now, and the gauge looks great in the dark
I've also linearized the temp gauge using the mazda-speed method, so it's got a much faster response time and accurate readout:
It works on both an NB1 or NB2 without permanent modification to the vehicle or the wiring harness. It's totally plug and play after swapping in your odometer.
It includes all of the bulbs, the T tap for the harness, and no odometer (use your own!). If the buyer wants, I can also reprogram the board so that it reads kph rather than mph.
I have no idea what this is worth, but I've seen unmodified JDM clusters sell for $100+ on their own. So how about $200 OBO and we'll see if there's any interest.
I spent a simply unbelievable amount of effort on this thing, and I hope someone else will enjoy it as much as I have.
Last edited by scenturion; 07-25-2014 at 05:12 PM.
1
07-20-2014, 11:47 AM
#3
I am not gonna lie. I really want this. Question on the linearized the temp gauge: Did you think about marking the gauge face for actual temperatures or verify what temperatures reflect different needle points? I may break down and send you a PM here soon.
0
07-20-2014, 12:33 PM
#4
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Nope, I didn't, but as is common with Miata owners, someone else did 
See post 20 (and others) in this thread.
See post 20 (and others) in this thread.
Last edited by scenturion; 07-20-2014 at 12:53 PM.
0
07-20-2014, 08:17 PM
#5
Just wondering
If you used the microcomputer from the US car this is destined for, surely the Speedo and Odometer would work just fine without the Sweep-o-tron. The swap is two screws and two connectors. Or am I missing something?
If you used the microcomputer from the US car this is destined for, surely the Speedo and Odometer would work just fine without the Sweep-o-tron. The swap is two screws and two connectors. Or am I missing something?
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07-20-2014, 08:38 PM
#6
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The speedometer doesn't show the right speed, though.
The JDM speedometer has about 190kph across 270 degrees, but the US speedo has 260kph across 270 degrees. The odo unit drives the gauge by angle, so at around 54mph the odo will drive the gauge to 90 degrees, which is shown as around 70kph on the JDM cluster (54mph = 87kph).
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07-21-2014, 12:23 PM
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Yeah, the NB2 cluster is even rarer than this one:
I really like the way it looks because it doesn't have the dark round spots at the bottom like the US NB2 cluster. I could probably source one of these and modify it in the same way if you were really interested. PM me.
I really like the way it looks because it doesn't have the dark round spots at the bottom like the US NB2 cluster. I could probably source one of these and modify it in the same way if you were really interested. PM me.
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07-21-2014, 07:51 PM
#9
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Got a couple messages but no buyers
How about $220 shipped OBO
Also, one person asked if they could supply their own cluster and I could make them a board. I can definitely make more boards, I've gotten pretty good at surface mount soldering. PM me and we'll figure something out.
How about $220 shipped OBO
Also, one person asked if they could supply their own cluster and I could make them a board. I can definitely make more boards, I've gotten pretty good at surface mount soldering. PM me and we'll figure something out.
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