For those with aftermarket gauges in original cluster- pic inside

[LiLMike 42]

Finally got my newVintage gauges mounted. I think they look great!! I really don't like the way they mount but that is all they had. Should be a better way but I think they turned out great!

[chillininnh 21]

Those really look nice. Care to share what you didn't like about the manner in which they mount?

[LiLMike 42]

They don't actually fit in the bezel but get pressed up to the back. The mounting plates pull everything snug to where they don't move. Kind of like sandwiching the guages between the metal & the bezel and then using the crown looking plastic to press it all together. They are difficult to get aligned to where they look centered. It can be done but I had problems. I do have a small gap between the stock tubes and bezel. I need to figure out something to fill that gap, even if it is just some tape. Haven't crossed that bridge yet...LOL But overall, I am very pleased with them and the look is fantastic.

[mustangmike6996 34]

are you mounting them in the stock cluster housing? i was looking at their whole mount in setup that was like 1200 assembled just screw in and plug in...

[LiLMike 42]

They mount in the stock housing. You have your bezel, then the tubes. next you have to trim any places where they don't fit flush like any tabs and such. Then you screw on their bracket. The bracket sandwiches the gauges onto the tubes. Then you have to align the gauges...Get them straight & centered. That was the difficult part. Then tighten down the bracket and place their plastic housings over the back of the gauges so they will not spin while mounted. It just seems they could have come up with a better way but you can do it.

[Machspeed 219]

Mike, thanks for the note on these gauges. I am looking at a complete re-wire of my car, something I believe you did recently. In that, I have been looking intently at these gauges, but at $1,200, I just don't think so. Even $1,000 is a bit much to me. Anyway, thanks for commenting.

[LiLMike 42]

Machspeed, I think my gauges were $960 complete. You can probably get that down some since I added LED strip lights and the spun center hubs. I wanted a tach with all the gauges right there in front of me. I know there are other options but I liked this way best. Glad I could help. My wiring project isn't finished yet.

[Hendog 10]

anyone have any experience with dakota digital gauges? they look pretty sweet

[LiLMike 42]

I don't Hendog. I really didn't like digital gauges for my Mustang. Just a personal taste but some people do.

[Hendog 10]

Check out their new VHX system

[Dangstang 14]

Damm I wish I would have seen those before I purchased NV gauges Im thinking I would have liked these better.Maybe even a better price.

[Angel 24]

I was just about to post about Dakota digitals' new Vhx series. They are the first gauges from them that I actually like. I prefer analog gauges. Here's a link. Great price too.

 

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=791/category_id=671/home_id=-1/mode=prod/prd791.htm

[sixt9stang 36]

Wow. That is a decent price. I might have to order those when I am ready.

[rwcstang 201]

wow that is such a great price, might buy them next month.. lol

[MustangGT 11]

Saw them during the St. Louis stop of the Hot Rod Power Tour and the gauges are very impressive looking. Installation looks simple and gives you the added benefit of putting a tack in your dash along with the rest of gauges.

 

On my "someday" list -- of course the "someday" list has to wait until the "let's get the friggin' car back on the road day" has come and gone.

[rwcstang 201]

the only thing I don't see is the Turn Signal indicators, like the old ones.

[gsxrken 21]

Finally had some time and got the gauges wired up. Quite the project, actually. Identifying every one of the 17 wires into the printed board harness plug, and then cutting, soldering, and heat-shrinking each one was tedious and required focus. I went with the integrated turn signals and high beam indicator, changed over to electronic speed sensor from TKO, and it all works the first time. I'm always a little surprised with wiring when it works.

 

 

 

[blueblood 26]

Nice work gsrxken.

Mine have arrived but have not started the install yet.

Where did you run the wiring from the speedo sensor?

Did you have a wiring diagram or just use what came in the kit to work out which wires are which?

[gsxrken 21]

Thanks. I have a TKO600 which had a Ford magnetic speed sensor installed but never used. To use it, you need this $6 connector from Jegs- http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/KeywordSearchCmd?storeId=10001&catalogId=10002&langId=-1&Ntk=all&Jnar=0&Ne=1%2B2%2B3%2B13%2B1147708&searchTerm=555-60112

 

Then run two wires from there up to the two tan wires on the speedometer 4 pin plug.

 

If you are abandoning your speedo cable, you'll need to block off that cable hole with this:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SDA-555-7072

[gsxrken 21]

My notes of which wire does what on the harness plug from just recently doing this... and I caution you to trust but verify here. These cars often changed mid-year or where they were built, and tach/non-tach cars were different to. Different options like seat belt warnings etc might use some of the empty slots, so use this as a cheat sheet but do your own volt and continuity tests so nothing melts!!!

 

 

1. Empty

2. Green/white- Left hand turn signal

3. Empty

4. Red/white – coolant temp sensor

5. Yellow/white= fuel level sender

6. Purple- never figured out, was not hot in any scenario I could tell.

7. Red/orange- was hot with key on. I used this for some of the switched 12v needs on the new gauges

8. Black and Black (two wires into same pin) Instrument panel ground. I just grounded these to the body. Ran my own new grounds to body for the gauges

9. Empty

10. Empty

11. Purple and Black (two wires into same pin). Purple was hot with key on. I used this for some of the other switched 12v needs on the new gauges. Black was not hot, but must have gotten power from purple when the key was on. I did not reuse this black wire.

12. Blue/red- hot when headlight switch on. Dimmable as well from headlight switch. I used this to power my gauge lighting. Also runs over to light up the heater control face panel and the passenger clock pod.

13. White/blue- Right hand turn signal

14. White/red- Oil pressure sender

15. Green/black- headlight hi beam indicator

16. Yellow- always hot even without key. Did not use for gauges

17. Red- always hot even without key. Did not use for gauges

18. Empty

[mustangmike6996 34]

has anyone used the electronic speedo with a 4 speed? can it be converted? I may be running a tko 500/600 sometime in the future and dont want to have to buy a new speedo

[frosty8 10]

Did you fit issues when mounting it in the dash?

[Chris'69Mach 23]

I did ... I had to trim down the screw posts and did a LOT of mods to get my guages to fit and to be able to secure them to the guage pod.

 

Mine sure as heck was not a plug and play. I bought the 67 series and really like them, but NV's bracket system really needs to be looked at again. The holes didn't line up where they needed to be. And when you remove the old metal housing that holds the 2 larger guages in and use the large plastic bracket NV supplies, you loose the 2 anchor points where the guage pod mounts to the dash up by the windshield.

 

What I did was cut holes into the "old metal housing" for the speedo and tach so I did not loose those 2 anchor points.

 

There were other issues also .... I was so freaking pissed with all the mods I needed to do to make this "simple plug and play" system work. It took a couple days and a few dremel bits to make all the cuts I needed to make.

 

BTW, I also had to use pipe strap to hold down the 2 smaller guages because the guages were too deep and would hit the dash bracing behind them.

 

 

ARRRGGGG ..... I didn't want to post this when I finally got them installed back in August. But reading this post again got me all worked up.

[70mstang 11]

For my speedo, I went with an electronic. I had to swap out the sender NV sent as it was too long to fit in my transmission tunnel without busting and my T5. It works great, I had to run a 12v source directly to the sender versus how they had said to wire it.

 

I didn't have the gauge fitment issues Chris'69Mach had with the bracket.

 

Make sure you check your wires though, my gas & temp gauges were wired backwards meaning the wires for the gas were actually set up to receive temp and vice versa. It took me a while to figure it out because my gas & temp were always in the middle of the range when I was testing and didn't figure it out till I finally had a full tank of gas and thought the car was overheating LOL

 

NV didn't replace the gauge, since I had it figured out and working by the time they were open after the weekend I figured it out. I just told them to work on quality assurance.