carfreak85 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 This is the week... After reading Connie's post about the interal VR being out of production, I have decided to test the waters of the analog swap. I have two analog gauge clusters and one complete analog dash harness. It sounds like the hardest part of the swap is joining a digidash harness to an analog dash. My question is this: To those who have attempted this before, can I replace my digital dash harness with the analog harness? Would the dash be plug and play after that? I supose everyone will tell me to be the guinea pig, but I would like to hear some opinions before my car becomes a potential basket case and the whole dash gets trashed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I wish it was a direct plug and play. we are working on and documenting an adapter harness for the job.there are some sensors that need added like the temp sensor and I believe the fuel sending unit. This seems to be an issue that keeps being brought up and seems that no one has successfully repaired a digi ..and if they did they dont want to come forward..so the analog swap seems to be the only choice. Either way...its going to be a PITA:-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 I wish it was a direct plug and play. we are working on and documenting an adapter harness for the job.there are some sensors that need added like the temp sensor and I believe the fuel sending unit. Temp sensor is fine actually - you need the *change* the fuel level sender (in the tank), and add the GL oil pressure sender. You can actually use the same wire that is used for the oil pressure idiot switch - you just repurpose it to be the pressure sender wire instead. The swap is straightforward enough - I went so far as to go from an 84 digi to an '81 vertical needle, orange cluster. That required adding some diodes to a few circuits, etc. Connie - did you get the scans? GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edrach Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Sorry to butt in here, but I read carfreak's comment about the VR being obsolete. I work on lab equipment that is sometimes more than 25+ years old. If there's any identification numbers on the VR post them up and I might be able to find a source that has old stuff like that still in stock. One of the best is www.findchips.com/avail which queries 20 common databases for the part you're searching for. I hope this helps. Corrected findchips link. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 I think you're best off making an intermediate harness or adapter harness which you can plug straight into the car's dash harness and straight into the analog harness. It usually requires hacking the plug receivers out of a dead digidash. You can include any necessary diodes or modifications in the middle of the adapter harness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Temp sensor is fine actually - you need the *change* the fuel level sender (in the tank), and add the GL oil pressure sender. You can actually use the same wire that is used for the oil pressure idiot switch - you just repurpose it to be the pressure sender wire instead. The swap is straightforward enough - I went so far as to go from an 84 digi to an '81 vertical needle, orange cluster. That required adding some diodes to a few circuits, etc. Connie - did you get the scans? GD Thanks for that info GD:) Yup I got the scans and they are on my desktop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Sorry to butt in here, but I read carfreak's comment about the VR being obsolete. I work on lab equipment that is sometimes more than 25+ years old. If there's any identification numbers on the VR post them up and I might be able to find a source that has old stuff like that still in stock. One of the best is www.findchip.com which queries 20 common databases for the part you're searching for. I hope this helps. Check out post #18 in this thread: http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=89482&page=2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted June 26, 2008 Author Share Posted June 26, 2008 So I did some comparisons between the two harnesses I have. Turns out that they ARE different. What I've decided to do is pull the dash and just throw the analog stuff in the car and go from there. Anyone else have any progress to report? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 We are just going to directly rewire ....probably not use any or much of the exsisting stuff..but the whole prject has been put on back burner until I get finished with the headgaskets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 The swap has begun. Digi harness is out and the analog harness is about halfway installed, and I will probably know tomorrow if things are going to work. Things look to be identical between the two harnesses except for the gauge wiring. This is going to be a large period of down-time for the wagon. Because the dash is all apart right now, I figured now would be a good time to redo a few mods I rushed the first time around. This will include larger front speakers in the factory locations, new wiring for my gauges along with shuffleing their positions and some other suprises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Got this in the mail today. I will be scanning most, if not all of it and have it uploaded for the USRM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Now THAT looks like a valuable volume of information for this kind of project Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Got this in the mail today. I will be scanning most, if not all of it and have it uploaded for the USRM. I have the 84 to 89 version of that manual for the non-turbo's. It details the differences in the 85 through 89 EA81 wireing that the final 84 FSM's don't cover. Very handy. I will be scanning it as well as time permits. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Got this in the mail today. I'm one step ahead already. Thats the manual I've been using to try and figure out how direct a swap the harnesses are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 We are just going to directly rewire ....probably not use any or much of the exsisting stuff..but the whole prject has been put on back burner until I get finished with the headgaskets The round connectors are super easy to get the wire ends out of. Looking at the face of them, there is a locking tab visible for each pin. Use a small flat screwdriver and lift up the little tab and Voila! the wire slides out. I believe you should be able to repin the connectors easily to just plug into the back of the analog dash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 It's not that simple. There are a few different shaped connectors for the analog dash that just aren't present on the digi-dash harness. There are two round connectors, I believe on the analog harness and three round ones on the digi-dash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 It's not that simple. There are a few different shaped connectors for the analog dash that just aren't present on the digi-dash harness. There are two round connectors, I believe on the analog harness and three round ones on the digi-dash. Well, all the actual Gauges on the analog, the connection goes through the 2 round plugs. that is the main part of the dash. All the wires such as Temp/Voltmeter/Oil Pressure/Fuel/Low fuel light/Tach/ECS/4wd/4lo/turnsignals/HiBeam/and Lighting can be repinned from the round connectors of the digidash to go right on the analog. The other wires go to the *car* display that shows open doors/defrost/ParkBrake and the clock wiring. Those connectors were cut off my analog dash and hardwired so i don't know what they look like. These are the ones likely to need spliced and wiring will go to clock memory/clock power/clock lighting/grounds as well as the Open doors and Defrost and Parking light Looking forward very much to scans of the Digi and Analog pinouts. A diagrham showing wire colors of at least the Digi dash wiring would be great. I need to figure out what wires go to my cruise control unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted July 27, 2008 Author Share Posted July 27, 2008 More work being done today. Passenger's side is fairly straight forward, but the driver's side is still a bit of a mystery. :-\ This is also proving to be a perfect opportunity for me to reroute aftermarket wiring that previous owners and myself have done. I also found a few nice places where the control boxes for my turbo timer and EBC could be stashed. I suppose it would be a good time to get those things put in so I don't have to rip things apart later... Darn, more work... Has anyone else made progress on their conversion projects? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 No, got to many other things to get ready for the Show. I'm not the one with a digidash :-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted July 30, 2008 Author Share Posted July 30, 2008 I made some good progress last weekend, more than I thought I would at least. Got the entire passenger's side done. Just need to double check the wiring manual to be sure the connectors that still don't have mates are unused. Still need to do that on the driver's side, but there are a few more on that side. Then I need to get a battery in the car and start firing systems up to ensure they still operate correctly, if at all. On a side note, I got the turbo timer's "brain" installed. I found a nice spot behind the HVAC controls. I wanted to mount the EBC there too, but the temperature controll cable was creating problems, so I left it alone. I might get a little more creative with a solution in a week. After that, I can devote my full attention to the car and it will be a straight thrash to get the car up to snuff for WCSS10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted August 8, 2008 Author Share Posted August 8, 2008 Status report: Yesterday afternoon and evening saw me installing and testing the analog gauge cluster. Because the car is still immoble, I can't test the speedo or tach, but the illumination works as does the clock and warning lights. The car also starts, but I can't quite drive it yet. The only things holding me back now are these: 1) Fuel gauge shows empty, but we knew that because of the differences in the senders. 2) The brake lights aren't hooked up right now, different style connector... 3) I've been told the water temp sensor needs changing, but I havn't confirmed this on my set up, but we will see... 4) I don't have any mileage on this set up, so who knows how reliable it will be. Pics to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnW Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Im not sure the water temp sensor will need changing if its the one inline with the heater lines I think yours will work still... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 Lets hope you're right Shawn! I still need to mount my Autometer water-temp sender. One of the locations I found that would have worked was filled by some silly thermo-valve. This was below the thermostat housing. Today's swap update: Brake lights work now! Boost and A/F ratio gauges now permanently mounted on the steering column, and the turbo timer is mounted up, but only wired half way. I'm still working on that. The gauges are all buttoned up now, just fine tuning a few warning lights and other things. I also continued work on the 2WD console swap. Need to start cutting up the new face for the stereo mount, bringing it up to the same standard that was met with my dash set-up; version 2.1. That one was pretty much perfect, but could be better... You'll just have to check it out at the WCSS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 Working on getting the factory boost and fuel gauges working. Volt meter seems shifty to me and I don't trust it. Other than that, it is working pretty well! I'm happy with it, but I did lose my OEM shift light and buzzer, trip computer and 120 MPH speedometer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry DeMoss Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Nice. Do you have any pictures of that and any pics of your engine bay? I am interested to see that vf11 on you car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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