Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (July 2002, week 2)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Wed, 10 Jul 2002 22:59:54 +1000
Reply-To:     Chris Mundy <cwmundy@OPTUSNET.COM.AU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris Mundy <cwmundy@OPTUSNET.COM.AU>
Subject:      Re: Tachometer retrofit: 85 to 86 (Long Message)
Comments: To: emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Edward,

I maybe able to help you, with some help from others on the list. I have an 89 Caravelle GL (Your equivalent Vanagon GL) and wanted to install the Tacho. Another listee put me onto Interstate VW Spares in LA who had an 85 dash. They assured me it would all fit with no difference into an 89, however when I received the dash I noticed there were several differences

The 85 Dashboard had the following

* Tachometer * MPH Speedometer * Digital Clock * OXS Light * No Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch mounted on the back of the Speedometer * The Oil Pressure LED did not flash but remained constant for low/no pressure * Other characteristics... The circuit foil had within the circuit the potential to fit a Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch but obviously no hardware to do so on the back of the Speedometer.

My 89 Dashboard has the following

* KPH Speedometer(Metric) * Large clock * Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch mounted on the back of the Speedometer integrated into the circuit foil * No OXS Light (It did not come out on Australian Models) * The Oil Pressure LED flashed due to the Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch * Other characteristics... The circuit foil had no facility to mount the Tachometer

So... What to do???

1.I too had them both side-by-side deciding which way to go. So I decided to chart the circuits as a start. Find attached those diagrams

2. I too plugged in the 85 Dash and everything worked fine. Obviously the Oil Pressure switch behaved in the normal "LED On" for low pressure. The Cooling LED flashed the same as the 89 LED, the OXS didn't work as it is didn't’t in the 89 version

3. I consulted with a few listees; David Beierl [dbeierl@attglobal.net],Ken Wyatt [kokopellis@att.net], P&J Lander [pjlander@ozemail.com.au]Ken Wilfy, who all had ideas and several of them sent me some information and advise in one form or another.

Thanks guys if I haven't done so already. It was now a case of what to do.

I resolved to go with the 85 Dash as the main unit and put my 89 Speedo into the 85 Dash. My main reason was the 85 circuit was closest to the fit which required minimal work. This meant I didn’t have to solder to the circuit foil, which would have been messy.

It also mean't creating sub harness. I decided to go external to the circuit. This meant creating a sub-harness to plug into the 89 Dynamic Oil Pressure switch and plug in directly to the wiring before the “big plug” under the dash. (I’ll talk about this point later)

The other thing I needed to do was to cut one side of the Resistor on the Oil Pressure LED circuit and solder a new wire to it from the dynamic oil pressure switch.

The reason for transistor cut was based on the following points,

*If I ever wanted to make the 85 Dash operate how it was originally designed to it just meant a soldering job on the transistor end.

* It meant not touching the circuit foil at all.

(PS I hope I haven’t lost you at this point.)

*** Now for the Job of doing all this ***

1. Restore the dash

After making the decision I decided to commence restoration on the dashboard. My, wasn’t it a mess. Cigarette burns on the Perspex, grease in crevices, you name it, it had it. I hazard a guess to think what type of Van it was in, however, I pulled it apart piece by piece, degreased it, polished it with Brasso and it came up like new, after 6 weeks of intensive work.

2. Analyse the plugs and circuit

With the help of an Auto-Electrician, we realised we could pull off the plastic plug and square metal plugs from the dynamic oil pressure switch and the circuit foil of the 89 Dash. This allowed me to think about creating a sub-harness.

Current Configuration

89 Dashboard Circuit Foil Square Metal Pins->Black Plastic Plug->Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch-> 89 KPH Speedometer

(“->” = Plugs into)

This meant I could then source the same type of square metal pins (from an electronics store) to connect to my sub-harness and to the black plug.

Proposed Configuration

Circuit before the main dash plug for Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch->New Sub Harness->Square Metal Pins->Black Plastic Plug->Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch-> 89 KPH Speedometer

3. Create a Diagram of what was there and what had to be done

Find attached those diagrams that you will need. I will refer to the main one which is titled “Conversion of a 84/85 Instrument Cluster Circuit (tachometer, digital clock) to incorporate a Dynamic Oil Pressure SensorDOPS) from a 89 Instrument Cluster (Filename=”85-89 Final DOPS Design.jpg”) For other listees, please contact me if you need these diagrams.

4. Purchase the bits and pieces to make the harness, wires and plugs

· One packet of 20 square pins that fit into the Black Plug that fits into the Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch · Around 6 pieces of different coloured wire · 1 Six Pin Male/Female Plug, similar to one that fits into the back of taillight, (electronics store again) · 5 Automotive piggyback wire joiners

5. Find a competent Electronics Guru good at soldering the wires to male/female plugs. Important. I hadn’t done it for a while so I was fortunate to have one at work. So now I had

New Wires 1 - New Plug Female-< <-New Plug Male – New Wires 2

6. Have the Electronics Guru solder the New Wires 2 (300mm) from the New Plug Male into the relevant square plugs that plug into Existing Plastic Plug removed from the 89 Cluster.

7. Push the New Wires 2 with square metal plugs 2 into Existing Plastic Plug removed from the 89 Cluster. (In your case 86 Cluster) See diagram 85-89 Final DOPS Design.jpg You should now have 5 wires joined between the new plug male and the Existing Plastic Plug that fits into the Dynamic Oil Pressure Switch and One wire hanging free.

8. Join the New Wires 1 to the relevant coloured wires on the wiring Harness Circuit prior to the big plug on the Instrument Cluster/Wiring Harness with the 5 automotive piggyback wire joiners.

Your now ready to do the final fitting

9. Have the Electronics Guru cut the relevant resistor to allow the wire from the dynamic oil pressure switch to pass a signal to the Oil Pressure LED.

10. Solder the last wire (Yellow with Green Trace) from the back of the dynamic oil pressure switch to the cut transistor as mentioned in the previous point.

The Job is now complete

11. Reconnect everything; the Oil Pressure LED should now flash when the vehicle has the ignition on and engine not running.

Like everything with the mailing list, I must add you do this at your own risk.

I hope this gives you an idea and plan of what to do

Chris Mundy

************************************************************************* Original Message ************************************************************************* Well, I got the two clusters on the living room floor and looked at them a lot. The 86 that came in my van has the dynamic oil pressure warning system, the 85 that has the tack does not.

I would just switch the tach for the clock in the 86 cluster so as to retain the DOPWS, but there is no foil connector for the tach.

Also the different positions of the gas and temp gauges don't look like they are supported in the 86 foil. Then I plugged the 85 cluster into the van, and started it up. Tech tach worked right off. the OXS light didn't self test at startup, and the high beam indicator didn't work either. The gas and temp gauges seemed to work, but the gas gauge was reading fuller than the 86 gauge does. The temp light was flashing for a while, just like it does in the 85 partsmobile I am taking it out of. The temp light in the 86 cluster doesn't do that.

So, Hmmm, this is hurting my head. Sure would be nice to get this to work. Any suggestions?

Edward

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christopher W. Mundy Canberra Australia 89 Caravelle GL 97 Golf GL Ph: 61 2 62419343 AEST Wk: 61 2 62446749 AEST E-Mail: cwmundy@optusnet.com.au ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.