Was thinking about converting my standard TP to an electronic dash setup, anyone done this?, is there alot envolved? big job? and will i need anything other then the electronic dash unit? Thanks!

i have done it with my TM... i'll help you out if you get in contact with me on msn

Cheers,
Bill

Or me. Be warned, trying to find a wagon fuel sender is difficult.

Do what I did, go on to ebay and pay $150 for a whole car with all the **** you need already in it. :D

I'll be stripping that sucker soon, maybe I should post pics of its de-construction. :badgrin:

I have a large hammer you can borrow lol

I have a large hammer you can borrow lol

Thats not what your GF told us. :badgrin: lol :badgrin:

I've also done this convertion. Your up for a new fuel sender, oil pressure switch and a lot of soldering and none of the plugs match trhe digital dash. Also a power feed from the bonnet fuse box needs to be added, along with a "Extra" wire from the dash lights "Dimmer" control, that goes straight to the new dash too. Any questions let me know on this post!

I dont want to clog up the forums with another thread, but while on the digi dash topic... ive got a digital dash in my 89' first gen tp elite and i want to change the crappy orange backlight to something cool like green or blue, has anyone done this? and if so is it hard to do?? any advice appreciated guys cheerz

I dont want to clog up the forums with another thread, but while on the digi dash topic... ive got a digital dash in my 89' first gen tp elite and i want to change the crappy orange backlight to something cool like green or blue, has anyone done this? and if so is it hard to do?? any advice appreciated guys cheerz
the thing that gives the digits their orange colour is a sheet of opaque plastic colours orange (and where the tacho is, there is a little bit of red)... if you take apart the dash, you'll see it... but i really didn't look into what i could use to replace that sheet... cant be a red/green/whatever transparncy, it has to be opaque... otherwise you see things you dont wanna see (the plastic that illuminates the lcd has white bits)

Translucent perspex no good there, Bill?

needs to be no thicker than paper... so whatever it is, it needs to be:
a) thick as paper
b) translucent/opaque... like not seethrough, but lets light through

oh, and one time at band camp, i tried putting a piece of paper there... and you could see the texture of the paper in the display...

maybe i'll take apart my spare dash and take pictures

ahh okay i can sorta picture it, interesting the way they make the dashes.. cheerz man

EDIT: ya a couple pics would be great mate :D

Are these electronic dash's easy to get a hold of?
and whats a fuel sender?

In your wagon, lift up the carpet. On the passenger side, there's a eggish shaped cover. Remove that. The sender is the little device held in with the three philips head screws. Wagon digital senders are almost bloody impossible to find. We've looked. The digital dashes aren't too hard, I do have the equipment to swap over a sedan right now. Depends on what my next car is, it may or may not be available.

I can offer basic advice on how to get a sedan digital sender working in a wagon, but I did the swap 4 cars, and 3 years ago, so might forget a step or two. Be warned, that putting a TM or TN dash into a fuel injected auto TP is a massive bitch, and you do need to know how to solder and read circuit diagrams, and it'll take about 8-12 hours.

oh, and one time at band camp...

Reminded me of American Pie lol

Take out the globe that illuminates the dash and replace them with your colour choice of bulbs, then remove the orange stuff and replace it with standard A4 paper.

do other cars (Eg ford toyota) have fuel senders similar that could be Converted/
rewired to fit?

the egish thing in the boot on the passengers side thanks for the helpful info above.

Take out the globe that illuminates the dash and replace them with your colour choice of bulbs, then remove the orange stuff and replace it with standard A4 paper.

Globes are fairly expensive, $7.XX for a pair, and there's 5 to replace I think.

I have some blue caps I'm going to try on the original lights, but I dunno if it's going to be bright enough.

Coloured globes you can get come in 5watt compared to the standard 3watt, this is to make up the brightness from the colour change I guess, so thats why I don't think the caps will be bright enough.

I'll try the paper idea aswell! :)

so i pulled the sender out 5 mins ago it has a setup like a slot car controller what is the digital one like?

Speak to Bill, paper doesn't work, the texture shows through.

fuel sender a poor example in pic not even close but is in the petrol tank

you need a speedo electronic sender
an oil pressure sender also electronic


CAD had a dash for a carton of beer check for sale section a few weeks back
no senders

very hard to find good dashes with low km if someone has tampered with them the chips burn out and you cannot wind these back they stop at 999999

all the wires are close coloured so dont be colour blind

thanks magna buff, ill try to get the oil and speed sender when i look for a fuel sender
i sent CAD a message about the slab thing, but CAD hasent been on for a while

so i pulled the sender out 5 mins ago it has a setup like a slot car controller what is the digital one like?


they are the same, the way they are wired is different. digital dash sender works like a poteniometer, where as the analog sender works like a reostat.

paper doesn't work, i've tried. i'm using polycarbonate sheeting as a diffuser. also replacing all the illumination with leds. the globes still give the dash that orange look.

you will find it very difficult to find a petrol sender for a digidash fuel sender
very few wagons came out with digidash

sedan tanks senders are very different and can not be retro fitted

if you find 4 fuel senders for tha wagon I have imediate buyers for you

this is the origional reason i registerd lol just about done everything else but no dash, dont think anyone ever got round to doing a complete step by step how to either

this is the origional reason i registerd lol just about done everything else but no dash, dont think anyone ever got round to doing a complete step by step how to either

i did a while back... jsut haven't revised it as i fixed the problems i had

had all the bits to do it just not the info so they all went to ebay :(

I've heard that Millert85 did the digital dash conversion on his old first gen...

Quite a few did the conversion to our old first gens.

I did get a sedan sender semi-working (until the car wring burned it out) in a wagon.

You will need the wiring diagram from both the donor car, and the recipient, and the ability to read said wiring diagrams.

It WILL take about 12 hours to convert, and you do need to be able to solder decently, as there isn't enough room for mechanical connectors.

Pic below is an Unleaded sedan sender, pulse generator, and the wiring loom you need behind the dash. My dash itself's at my folks place, and I've not got a working oil pressure sender at the moment.