Electric Speedometer conversion for AD trucks

[chuckmc8]

Too hot to play in the shop yesterday with 'hard' work, so I tried this speedo conversion for electric conversions (LSx and 4l60e & 4l80e)

I took more pics along the process in case folks are interested in doing this for themselves. Keep in ming at this point I was just seeing if it would function and keep the guts inside the AD gauge case. It does- but to reset the odometer would require the press button to be outside the gauge. The circuit board is exposed on the back and would need a cover fabricated for it. The circuit board is not wider than the gauge itself.

If you are interested in doing this swap/conversion yourself- Time well spent would be to read through this thread on the 67-72 forum. There is around 14 pages or so and most of the details have already been worked out. My contribution here is simply adapting the speedo head into an AD gauge housing.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=512751


I bought the donor gauge cluster on eBay. 1997 S10 without tachometer-I bought the cheapest one with shipping. ( circuit board on tach clusters are too wide and also do not have the odometer-so not a good choice for this conversion)

1997 S10 donor Cluster cost $25 with $12 shipping. I figured it was worth the risk. Most of this conversion engineering was worked out on the 67-72 forum- I just adapted it to the AD line.

I caused the mileage counters to read zero across the board and that took the longest to figure out. It doesn't matter but I want to have zero miles on my AD build. Now it has 3 miles since I temp wired in speedo into the floor in my 71 C10 with 6.0 and 4l80e for a test ride.

It wouldn't be very hard to have a 47-53 factory looking speedo decal made similar to the ones on eBay that cost $12 for a set- but the numbers would need to shift slightly and perhaps be a little smaller to fit the S10 sweep pattern. Maybe someone has that capability. I would like to make the shift indicator work with my Lokar floor shifter in conjunction with the shift indicator on the side of the 4l60e if someone know how to make that operate-

This speedometer seems to function properly going down the road by the 'butt' calibration method. Odometer works also. On my 71 test subject- I have the PCM programmed to the tire diameter and rear end differential ratio.

I can post more pics of the conversion process if anyone is interested.

There is space in the lower portion of the converted speedo to install turn signal and hi beam indicator LEDS or something else like a small short sweep tach

As it is-even if not particularly stylish- it functions as an electric speedometer for AD trucks for $37 and a couple hours time. With a new decal it could look more period and still be under $50. I know there are plenty of aftermarket gauges available but here is an inexpensive alternative for DIY folks.

[chuckmc8]

forgot the test pic

[T Hilde]

Looks good!

[e015475]

Here's a dial face for a AD truck cut from a piece of laminated plastic sign material with a laser. It has a 270 degree sweep for an electronic speedometer, but you could re-do the artwork to match your gage sweep.

Any sign shop with a laser engraver can cut the gage face from a vector file. You can have my source file if you want to pull the font style, tics and diameters

Here's what the gage looks like assembled

[e015475]

And backlit with LEDs............sorry about the fuzzy photo

[solidaxel]

I'm in!
Tell us more about the circuit board connection to the speedo wire from the ECU

[chuckmc8]

This decal would be perfect if the numbers were in the correct position.

BUT...I dunno how to arrange that

[chuckmc8]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

I'm in!
Tell us more about the circuit board connection to the speedo wire from the ECU

Thats EZ. The circuit board has a pink IGN and a black GND and uses the green speedo signal wire from the PCM. This pic is from the 67-72 side but its the same

[eagleuh1]

Just about finished up with this conversion on a 68 Tach cluster for my 68 C20. Any print shop should be able to match the font and color of the 47-50 gauge and just copy the correct spacing of the S10 gauge onto a vinyl sticker. Like the laser cut led backlit gauge too.

[Clay54]

chuckmc8 are you saying the circuit board for the non tach will fit in the AD housing? Last year I bought a '97 S10 speedo set with tach and I think it might be too large to fit. Looks like I need to get one without tach. Would appreciate all info you can provide for this conversion. You also mention "on the 67-72 side". Where? That might be helpful also. Thanks, Clay

[Clay54]

Well I found ls1nova71 over on the 67-72 and found me a non tach speedo on e-bay and ordered it. Not sure why the non tach are more expensive then the tach models but that seems to be the case now. Again, would appreciate any info you can/will provide to make this conversion possible. I plan to use the stepper motors on the other gauges as well. Thanks again, Clay

[chuckmc8]

[QUOTE=Clay54;7250657]chuckmc8 are you saying the circuit board for the non tach will fit in the AD housing? Last year I bought a '97 S10 speedo set with tach and I think it might be too large to fit.


Clay-

The circuit board does not fit inside the housing. It in on the back of the gauge and could a cover placed over it of desired.

On the Tach clusters, I couldn't see the circuit board through the printed circuit on the eBay photos of those clusters. I read that they would work for conversions in the 67-72 line- BUT- there is a lot more room in a 67-72 dash cluster and may be room for that circuit board. I edited my introductory post to read that ONLY the non-tach cluster should be used for the AD conversion. Thanks for helping to massage the info to get the right info out there on these swaps.

Here is the thread with the speedo swap info that has been accumulated by folks a lot smarter than me-

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=512751

[chuckmc8]

Picture of back of gauge. Ill need to drill a couple holes to put in the dash light bulbs. Please keep in mind that this isn't a finished project just a starting point that still needs some tweaking. A cover could be put over the circuit board but its probably not necessary for function since its up under the dash in a protected area. I think Ill look for a plastic cover that I can adapt to function.

Also, If you notice the small green folding TORX bit tool in this pic- you ll need one of those. It was the only thing I could find that had the tiny torx bit to fit the speedo head screws, I bought it at HF but someone mentioned in another thread of buying one at Lowes also.

[iowaboynca]

Subbed.
Very cool! Keep up the good work and let us know how the progress goes.

[Clay54]

Originally Posted by chuckmc8

Picture of back of gauge. Ill need to drill a couple holes to put in the dash light bulbs. Please keep in mind that this isn't a finished project just a starting point that still needs some tweaking. A cover could be put over the circuit board but its probably not necessary for function since its up under the dash in a protected area. I think Ill look for a plastic cover that I can adapt to function.

Also, If you notice the small green folding TORX bit tool in this pic- you ll need one of those. It was the only thing I could find that had the tiny torx bit to fit the speedo head screws, I bought it at HF but someone mentioned in another thread of buying one at Lowes also.

Thanks for the pic of back of gauge. Several guys on this forum have tried this in the past but you are the first to state that it works. They all have stated that the oil pressure, gas, amp or volt meter and heat all worked OK using the S10 stepper motors but the speedo never did work on any of the tries. I will be attempting this as soon as I receive my non tech speedo cluster.

e015475, will the dial face you show work with the S10 sweep on this conversion. Clay

[mr48chev]

Good tech there.

[chuckmc8]

Originally Posted by Clay54

Thanks for the pic of back of gauge. Several guys on this forum have tried this in the past but you are the first to state that it works. They all have stated that the oil pressure, gas, amp or volt meter and heat all worked OK using the S10 stepper motors but the speedo never did work on any of the tries. I will be attempting this as soon as I receive my non tech speedo cluster.

e015475, will the dial face you show work with the S10 sweep on this conversion. Clay

Clay,
Id like to read more about folks getting the stepper motors to work for the other gauges. Looks like that would have to go thru the PCM. Do you have a link to those folks who did this?

[e015475]

The file I offered was a AutoCad file that had the fonts and tics that matched the style of the original gauges in an AD truck. You'd have to take this file and modify it to match the sweep of your S10 gauges and size the numerals appropriately.

A good sign-shop could probably do this for you - my file would just give them a head start matching your gage sweep. It took some searching to find the font that matched ok with the AD truck gages. The guy that did mine I found in Craigslist under 'services' and I probably searched for 'autocad'. IIRC it cost me around $40 to have the speedo and tach face done.

I had mine laser engraved so I could back light the numbers, but you could have it printed to vinyl and glue it on your gage face too

[Clay54]

chuckmc8, if you can/will send me a pm and give me an e-mail address, I will scan the e-mails I have and send to you. One of the guys was on the KB forum and has since sold his truck and moved back to England. The other is a member here on this site jed971959 http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=563395 starting at post 24 and then again at the end of the thread. In the meantime, I will try to gather them up so it won't be so hard to send. Clay

[NEWFISHER]

I used the transx.com box and my already refurbished gauges. Simple 3 wire hook up, mount the box and screw the cable into the back of the speedo.

Yours is a great alternative , I like the overlay idea.

[chuckmc8]

I am also working on a way to make the gear indicator function.

I am using the 23" LOKAR shifter in my 53 truck and I'd like to have a gear position indicator for when others are driving my truck. LOKAR makes one- great quality but $$$
I have thread in the LSx section of the forum and it seems to be making progress with input from others on the board

Here is the link

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=677445

This uses the factory 4l60e range switch and I am wanting to use the PRNDD321 indicator in the speedo face. When I get the speedo decal remade (vintage look) Ill have the gear indicator also printed on the decal. Well, maybe.....

[Clay54]

GREAT!!!!!!! I hope this works out. I will be using a 700R4 and not sure those leads are available.

On post #7 you show a speedo decal for the AD trucks and I have looked on e-bay and I can't find it. I was thinking of doing what the computer guys do "cut and paste" literally cut the numbers and paste them in the proper location temporarily just to see what works. Anyway, I can't find it to play with. Clay

[chuckmc8]

Here is the link

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361178131416...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Clay54]

Thinks for the link. Here is one you might be interested in.

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f270/h...-heavy-489489/

At this point it may be after the fact. Just another one I had. Clay