GL Dashboard to DL Swap

[Tronkus]

Hi Guys:

 

Recently i acquired an old '92 GL and take off the dashboard. My car is a 89' DL. I want to swap these dashboard from GL, because my car haven't a tachometer but is not easy to install because the pins are not the same.

 

Any ideas are welcome.

 

Best regards,

 

Luis

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

You want to install a GL instrument Cluster on your DL, both EA82's.

 

The USMB member: "Fangster" mentioned that he accomplished that, in Australia, 

 

on this Thread: ~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/50291-93-loyale-speedometer-cluster/

 

Also, another Australian: "hilux_1990"  wrote that he did the same retrofitting:

 

on this thread: ~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/4560-l-series-gauge-cluster-swap/?p=99981

 

But no one did mention an Step by Step procedures ...   ...

 

maybe another members could elaborate further on this subject.

 

Good Luck! ... Kind Regards.

[wagonist]

Note that when you read below, Aus never had the SPFI option, only carb, or MPFI.

 

I know that pre 89/90, the body wiring looms for the DL & GL except for EFI versions (yes we still had carbs until the "Loyale" was stopped, and our EFI were only MPFI) were identical, but after all the EFI models were dropped in 90, then Subaru started doing cost cutting here by having wires removed from the body loom that weren't necessary.

ie tacho wire, low fuel light wire, rear door speaker wires, central locking wires

But these wires were present in the pre 90 DL models, just not plugged into anything.

 

So my first option would be (since you have a whole donor car) to plug in the dashboard loom from the 92 & see if it works. The worst that will happen is that a lot of fuses will blow.

 

If that doesn't work, you could swap the entire wiring from both cars. Sounds like a big deal, but can be done quickly if you have the space to remove the interior of the car.

 

If that doesn't work, then take out both gauge clusters, map the pins on the back of each, and work out how to extend/shorten the relevant wires as some wires need to be swapped from one side of the cluster to the other.

But your best bet would be to try the first option, it'd be the least painful.

Edited July 13, 2015 by wagonist

[AlcyoneSpiral]

Tronkus, did you have any luck? I'm just about to do this myself. 85 GL cluster into a 91 DL. When I go to pick up the donor cluster, I'm wondering if I grab any of the cables/plugs/looms etc? Should I grab the cluster surround with the buttons? I'm pretty sure everything is the same size.

 

Thanks in advance if anyone can assist a bit here as I'm still struggling to find a write up.

 

Thank you Loyale 2.7 Turbo aka Jes for the links to related posts. That gave me more information than I had found elsewhere. Now to find a write up or get out the multimeter and a swag of spare fuses (points to wagonist as his fuse sponsor) lol...

 

Cheers,

Matt