Guest Anonymous Posted July 2, 2005 Report Posted July 2, 2005 I'm looking into my next project; I have acess to a gp gauge cluster with the full 6 gauges and the shift indicator for the column shift; what i would like to do is swap it into my prix but to get the shift indicator to work on the cluster... is it possible? I can get the cable, too. Its a bit annoying to look down all the time. Quote
1990lumina Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 I'd say it is possible with some fabrication...but since you are the all mighty parts bastardizer I don't see why it wouldn't work. Quote
White93z34 Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 if your driving down the road and you have to question what gear your in...... Quote
1990lumina Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 I've been driving arounbd with no indicator since winter when I slammed the shifter into 1st and broke the plastic indicator plastic lol.. I like it with no indicator personally. Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 I'm talking about when you are parking or pulling k-turn or whateever.... i'm guessing if you extended the cable in some way, maybe you could get it to work? but i'm not sure how to hook it up. Quote
Psych0matt Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 if i ever am not sure, I usually throw it into park and count from there instead of looking Quote
DiscoStudd Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 Here's an idea: Go buy a brake or shift cable for a bicycle. Cut the original cable off of the cluster and thread the bike cable through it (and maybe even find a way to fasten the sheath down so it doesn't move.) Run the cable/sheath down to the shifter and find a way to fasten the sheath down near the shifter. Wrap the cable around the shift lever (underneath the upper console plate so you don't see it) and either solder the cable together or find some small cable clamps to keep it snug around the shift lever. This is an idea I had off the top of my head, so feel free to scrutinize and/or tweak it to your liking... Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 My gf has a Sunfire and they have the shift indicator. So she's like "where is it"? And I point down at the console. I have no need for one- hell, if you can drive a manual transmission then you can feel which gear to pop an automatic.. I never look and I drive lots of cars at work (and lots of parking and backing up). But I still think it would be a cool project to seen done. Quote
1990lumina Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 My Lumina goes: Starting from park, push the button, pull level down and release button at same time. Pull until lever stops. Overdrive. From overdrive pushing forward with no button is neutral. One down from park is reverse From overdrive push in button and drop it down 3-2-1. From 1 push up with no button 1-2-3-OD And that's about it... Quote
runt Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 I think that would be an UBER pain in the ass personally. While I think you could get it to "pull" into the correct spot fine, I have a feeling with the cable being so long that it wouldn't return to park or what not. Just my thought. Quote
sl3196 Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 I grab my shifter quite often and always know where to put it. Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 Its not a necessity per say, but a trinket that I would like to try to get to work. Quote
Turbocharged400sbc Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 petty edition: that should be no problem! I have fixed tons of indicators that the small thin braided cable broke etc...I have a roll of .25 mm mdel airplane control line cable in my toolbox! (2$) for the gas planes that you fly around in circles (any hobby store has them. for the sheath you would probably have to look elswere in the hobby store as they may have a roll of it, but you could use bicycle cable housing. you need the small cable as the colum shifter indicator will not work right with too stiff of a cable... then you just need to measure the travel of the indicator from P to 1st and find a point on your console shifter that moves the same distance ziptie or otherwise sevure the end to the shifter and then make a bracket (hopefully a threaded bolt so it's adhjustable) to hold the cable housing end... Voila! dash indicated console shifter.... good luck should prove interesting! I have thought about the same for Al's car (with TWO indicators) so he would (at a glance) see where each trans is in gear I will probably just be using LED's that will be wired into the trans range switch with a few NOR/NAND gates (14 led's-7 each trans) when we redo the dash to install the front halobar and legs of the 10 pt rollcage ahhh a project never really is done eh? Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 Turbocharged: Thats along the lines of what i was thinking. the 97+ GP's have it in their clusters... so it must be able to be done. My only concern is that the distance between Pand1 on the cluster is not as much as P and 1 on the console. My guess is the cable would have to get attached lower on the shifter nearer the base, becuase that would move less. Quote
Turbocharged400sbc Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 precisley my good man... now get to it! james Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 I won't get the cluster until august... but in the meantime I've set out to research waht to do. what would make the cable move back from 1 to P?? is it spring-loaded in the clluster? I'm just a bit in the dark on how the cable actually moves back and forth without just flopping into a loop like a piece of string. Quote
GP1138 Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 It's probably not a bike cable, it's probably a telescoping one like the shift cable. Quote
Turbocharged400sbc Posted July 3, 2005 Report Posted July 3, 2005 no it's returned by a small spring that pulls the ind into the park position that is why you need a small diameter very flexible cable as the spring would have to be much heavier for a bigger cable and then it would snap the clear plastic peices.... Quote
bluegp Posted July 4, 2005 Report Posted July 4, 2005 ...the 97+ GP's have it in their clusters... Are those done with separate lights for each position or with a needle? As was said, the needle assembly in the cluster will include a spring return and they are rather fragile. I would think that a bike cable would be too stiff. You're right on track with thinking that you'll need to find a spot on the shifter that will move the cable the precise distance between each detent. It probably wouldn't be too hard with some trial & error. A possible source for the cable could be a floor shifted Chevy G-body (RWD Monte Carlo/Malibu/El Camino). They retained the needle indicator in the dash when equipped with a floor shifter. Quote
DiscoStudd Posted July 4, 2005 Report Posted July 4, 2005 A possible source for the cable could be a floor shifted Chevy G-body (RWD Monte Carlo/Malibu/El Camino). They retained the needle indicator in the dash when equipped with a floor shifter.Correct you are on the dash indicator, but on console-shifted G-Bodies, the "bowl" on the column moved along with the detents of the floor shifter (just like if the column shifter was present.) Therefore the indicator connected to the column just like it did on the column shifted cars... Quote
Turbocharged400sbc Posted July 4, 2005 Report Posted July 4, 2005 Studd is correct that will not work using a Gbodie cable for reasons he stated (the bowl he was refering to is the piece of the colum that has the shifter sticking out of it on column shifted models GM just deleted the boss for that shifter when it installed console shifters (kinda cheaper for GM that way.... the best way to do this is as I have stated using small diameter flexible cable with a regular housing and finding the section of the console shifter that best matches the detent spacing of the indash indicator.... I would not suggest using string/dental floss on this job (I have had customers use them to fix theirs it worked for a few weeks then broke lol) the madel airplane control line cable is perfect for this as it is more than flexible to make the sharp 90* turn into the cluster indicator to move the pointer.... a petty edition that would be the only one with cluster and consol shift indicators...true customization! to bad I dont have an indicator on my Hurst ratchet shifter in my 74 nova...but then with a ratchet shifter it's kinda obvious (reverse lockout etc).... let us know how it goes Pettyedition! have fun! lol Quote
bluegp Posted July 4, 2005 Report Posted July 4, 2005 A possible source for the cable could be a floor shifted Chevy G-body (RWD Monte Carlo/Malibu/El Camino). They retained the needle indicator in the dash when equipped with a floor shifter.Correct you are on the dash indicator, but on console-shifted G-Bodies, the "bowl" on the column moved along with the detents of the floor shifter (just like if the column shifter was present.) Therefore the indicator connected to the column just like it did on the column shifted cars... Ooops; I forgot about that. Quote
5speedz34 Posted July 4, 2005 Report Posted July 4, 2005 I don't feel like reading this all, but ross why not get a digital one, I know alot of the GM trucks have digital indicators on the dash. Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 4, 2005 Report Posted July 4, 2005 It would be much easier, IMO, to get the needle job. a digital or LED indicator would be too involved to wire, and it wouldnt fit into the cluster. The digital ones look cool, but not worth the added work involved. Quote
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