Subieguy Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 I imagine this question has been asked before but, I have a 85 GL-10 sedan with the digital dash in it. I do not like it. I am picking up a 86 GL sedan on Monday. Can I swap out the digital dash for the standard gagues in the 86? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Do a search for threads about it, but the short answer is no. It's just not worth the effort. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 I will agree that it's a lot of effort but I would debate its worthlessness. Most people who get the idea to exchange their digital dash for an analog dash don't realize the coverage this topic's gotten.. The digital and analog dashes require different components such as the fuel tank/gas gauge sensor, the oil pressure sender, and the temperature gauge sender. These must be swapped from an analog car into a digital car. Most of my research into dash swapping has concerned an EA82 dash, like yours. I believe that the EA81 dash swap is complicated by more extensive wiring harness modifications - although Rick would know more about this than I do. In the EA82, after the sending units and sensors have been swapped, the wiring has to be addressed. The plugs and the wiring pinouts are different between an analog and a digital. Swapping out the analog probably necessitates eliminating the trip computer; the trip computer is wired and integrated to the digital dash. I don't know if it's possible to hook up the trip computer to the analog dash - that may require plumbing analog and digital sensors so that the two units can receive from their required types - but if you have to remove it from the car entirely, then it will leave you with extra wires which will not be connected to the analog dash. You will need to map the wiring from the harness to the dash, so that you can either make an adapter for the harness, or modify the car's harness itself. Either way, you need to crossreference the wiring harnesses. I am not certain if the tachometer has to be modified in any way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 With the GL-10 having so many features.... you'll just screw it all up if you try. Believe me - it's a serious, serious endevour. Took me a month to figure out the EA81, and I only wanted *some* of the gauges cause it's my off-roader, and I use Autometer guages for better accuracy. But my situation arose because the EA81 dash's have a tendancy to fail that the EA82 dash's do not. Otherwise I would have never bothered. The EA82 digi's are cool, and very rarely have problems. If you want an analog dash it's a lot easier to just find an analog car. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 if you love wires, wiring schematics, finding wiring schematics, and trial and error, it is TOTALLY possible. People have done it successfully. it is a major endeavour though, one only an intrepid man would undertake... I decided long ago it wasn't worth MY effort. however, adding an oil pressure gauge and a reliable water temp gauge are excellent ideas. If you feel like it, go for it. It might simplify your project to scrap the stock oil and temp gauges, and see if you could butcher some real ones into the cluster or something... Thats about the closest thing that I eve imagined happening in my case. With the rust on the vehicle though.. doubtful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subi81 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Yes it is possible. I did it so it can't be that hard. Good bookeeping and a little bit of time will get the job done. Go here for some pics of my install http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=626 Basically my approach was to create my own harness that addapts an analog dash to work in place of a digital dash. Go here for my post on it: The search function is your friend http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24763 Good luck and feel free to ask any questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicfrog Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 DO IT. Yes it's a pain-in-the-rear-bumper, and will take a lot more time than you would think. But afterward, every time you drive, you'll look at the dash and say to yourself "I did this! It works 'cause of me!" Here is a post with pics of my digi to analogue dash conversion. You will definitely need the schematics for the dash. Subi81 had some posted on the list a while back and can be found here. Good luck. PS. Before you rewire stuff, make the holes behind the dash where the wires feed through wider. I had a heck of a time getting my A dash to fit because the excess wires took up too much room between the dash and the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prospeeder Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 maybe im wierd, but i want a digital dash, lol.... but im like, living in the 80's car wise, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 maybe im wierd, but i want a digital dash, lol.... but im like, living in the 80's car wise, lol. No, it *seems* neat... but some of us at least would prefer accurate instrumentation.. and I am not even talking about how well it DOES read out.. My fuel gauge may as well just be a numer from zero to ten, with a low fuel light that comes on at "1." Same with the temp gauge. My RPMs go up in increments of 125.. thats kinda lame, when you start thinking about it. (By the way, to Fuji with those people for dividing it into 8 instead of 10...) Plus, no oil pressure gauge, or voltmeter. The older (86 and before) GL/Loyale style cars had an amber digi dash, which had some cooler things going on, but it (apparently? hearsay) was much more difficult to see in sunlight sometimes, and i think was a tad more prone to failure. Not that its all that awful, I am just trying to explain to you the myriad reasons so many people have this idea after getting a car with the digi-dash.. besides, NO 20 year old digital panel in a car, thats been left outside for a significant portion if not all its life, is going to be in brand new condition.. It would be neat to see one brand new I guess, a much higher "cool factor" than it has at age 19.... but the age, the poorly broken down readout, and the fact that it removes two gauges from the cluster are the three primary motivators of this swap.. plus some of us prefer digital watches, some prefer analog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 I had the 86 digital dash, and I agree it sucks. Mine would all go dim from time to time in the center and left portions. It would blink like that too when I used the turnsignals sometimes. It would go off on the right only if I had all the doors locked and defrost off, basically so no indicator lights were on over there. had to be a ground problem or something in the dash.Ussually I just whacked the dashboard and it would work again. I had it for 3 year and It had been that way for 6 years at least with the guy I bought it from. He said it did it when he bought it! Also the temp gauge would just disappear intermitently. The CRUISE portion of it didn't display anything. My tach did go by increments of 100 so that was nice. Outside temp gauge was always spot on so that was nice too. I just realy hate the lack of an oil pressure and voltage gauge. Also it is totally invisible if you have any glare in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hondasucks Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 I wonder how different the 85-86 and 87+ digidash wiring is? The one difference I see is that on the 87-up dashes, the outside temperature reading is on the trip computer instead of the main dash. Reason I mention is that the 87+ digitals are green instead of amber and are a LOT easier to read (and most of the ones I've run into have all worked properly... I've got an 86 GL-10 sedan and the temp and fuel gauges are the only things that are flakey on it...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Easy route (that I took on my 86 GL-10...) Keep the stock digidash.... add on an aftermarket autometer analog temp guage... NEVER trust an 85-86 temp guage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Easy route (that I took on my 86 GL-10...) Keep the stock digidash.... add on an aftermarket autometer analog temp guage... NEVER trust an 85-86 temp guage! Yep - add a $65 autometer 3 guage cluster of temp, voltage, and oil pressure. Those three are the ones you really, really need to be accurate. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Yep - add a $65 autometer 3 guage cluster of temp, voltage, and oil pressure. Those three are the ones you really, really need to be accurate. GD I have always preferred ammeters to voltmeters... northwet should understand, the older datsuns all came with ammeters and thats just what I learned to monitor... I know its all a wash, but I usually have a multimeter if I REALLY wanna know the volts anyhow.. at one point I butchered a cigarette plug just to give me a quick-acces spot to be able to double check, because I was having a fuel injection problem and I wanted to monitor voltage directly, rather than inferring it from the amperage shown.... The reason I mention all that is, could you maybe order that same kit with an ammeter instead of a voltmeter??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 The reason I mention all that is, could you maybe order that same kit with an ammeter instead of a voltmeter??? Yeah - they are cheaper too. Ammeter's are a lot less expensive to produce. Also an excelent idea to have, but more useful for those who have lots of aftermarket accesories. For those with largely stock electrics it's more useful to have a voltmeter, and better for john public to just see a gauge in the "green mean ok" range than an ammeter than bounces all over and actually requires some knowledge to read. Basically they resulted in way too many complaints, so voltmeters took over as a simple pass/fail for the charging systems. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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