Was wondering.... i recently opened up my instrument dash cluster. Would it be possible to stick a little lcd (im talking mybe 2.5- 3" ) screen behind the speedometer. Run the cabling through the car dash, console and basically display a secondary feed from a GPS/Tv/Entertainment unit. I reckon itd be pretty mad. The wiring cant be too hard, and power will be a pain but doable.

And the video feed can be a standard video out running from a compatible device. Hope this doesnt sound stupid and ill try to explain by photoshopping something tonight.

Anybody done this? or interested? Id want to get a 99 Dashboard for a verada to practice on. Would be MAD if it could be done...any feedback?

It would be doable, and cool, but not sure how it would go legally.

mabey if you were going to use the screen for somthing usefull, like engine stats, or even a reversing camera hooked up to it. it wouldnt be stupid. why would you want movies playing while your driving? spend the money on a screen in the center dash, that way, if you want movies on while your driving, your passengers can watch. and it would be able to be a big enough screen to actually see, with out having your face 2cm away from it. however that said, a reversing camera in that spot would be the only good candidate. but i would still prefer the full 7" screen for that anyway
just my 2c

Yeah a reversing camera hooked upto a switch would be cool.

It would be doable, and cool, but not sure how it would go legally.

Yea Im with Mrmac it sounds possible but will may be also be a tiddly bit illegal.

But as for what it displays I wouldn't have it hooked up to DVD or anything I'd make it a digital dash showing the engine stats like 'exact' speed and engine temps etc.

But yea do it mate sounds cool.

Also If you need a spare dash I have one, its from a 97 exec you get the idea

To be honest I had the same idea, I was going to use the speed sensor wire and a little display behind the speedo.... Maybe I could steal some parts out of a first gen with the digital dash?

Video or anything like that would be wanky though.

mabey if you were going to use the screen for somthing usefull, like engine stats, or even a reversing camera hooked up to it. it wouldnt be stupid. why would you want movies playing while your driving? spend the money on a screen in the center dash, that way, if you want movies on while your driving, your passengers can watch. and it would be able to be a big enough screen to actually see, with out having your face 2cm away from it. however that said, a reversing camera in that spot would be the only good candidate. but i would still prefer the full 7" screen for that anyway
just my 2c


Heh no worries...forums are meant for opinions, whether i agree with them or not mate. I was trying to explain what sort of device would give the video output..basically one of those ebay 7" gps/entertainment units..hehe...ive already got on on my central console....have a look and temme what you think. I
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?p=981444#post981444

Ive got the reverse view camera and thats what id want it for..coz its got this neat night vision thingo that works well :).....some of the members here have car pc's ... they could utilise it for car data from this software...cant remember the name from the tip of my tongue...grr...magnaflow was it??! GPS on screen would be neat, as would caller details via bluetooth....(not that id be answering the phone, same with music track title that'd run from the FM transmitter)

anyway, yea JarRah gimme some details on the dash you've got, i dunno if the loom is the same on magna's and verada's :(

I was toying with this idea too for my old XR6, but instead of car info, rig up a phone with the screen in front of the speedo to look like what Mercedes does nowadays. It's definitely doable, whether it's worth the effort though :confused:

I would love to put a big screen there and display all the info on it

Heh no worries...forums are meant for opinions, whether i agree with them or not mate. I was trying to explain what sort of device would give the video output..basically one of those ebay 7" gps/entertainment units..hehe...ive already got on on my central console....have a look and temme what you think. I
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?p=981444#post981444

Ive got the reverse view camera and thats what id want it for..coz its got this neat night vision thingo that works well :).....some of the members here have car pc's ... they could utilise it for car data from this software...cant remember the name from the tip of my tongue...grr...magnaflow was it??! GPS on screen would be neat, as would caller details via bluetooth....(not that id be answering the phone, same with music track title that'd run from the FM transmitter)

anyway, yea JarRah gimme some details on the dash you've got, i dunno if the loom is the same on magna's and verada's :(

The dash I have is just from my old 97 executive manual. I dunno much about the different looms it just has a plug on the fuel gauge side.

Anybody know where I can get one of those verada dash's?

Wanna give this one a go :)

The wiring is pretty simple.
Theres one catch though, realised this now that ive taken my dash cluster out.....the Lcd has to be pretty small, we're talking around 1.8" diagonal, coz otherwise, it touches the speed indicator numbers, and on the bottom, the dial head.

Someone on the forum was doing remakes of 3rd gen dash's....would like to aski if the needles can be pulled off to place the lcd?

any ideas?

Could an LCD screen from a newish phone, Ipod or palm pilot be used? I'm not exactly savvy with wiring LCD screens, my thought was to mount it in front of the speedo in it's own ring so to speak, so the speedo needle and markings were still visible around the outside, so then needles dont have to be pulled off.

Could an LCD screen from a newish phone, Ipod or palm pilot be used? I'm not exactly savvy with wiring LCD screens, my thought was to mount it in front of the speedo in it's own ring so to speak, so the speedo needle and markings were still visible around the outside, so then needles dont have to be pulled off.

genius! hahha i didnt think of that LOL, can connect oon top of the dials :)....hmm, i just need a cluster to test on....

yes to answer your question, you can. I know for certain the new Nokia N series, E series and HTC, Imate phones have tv out...so you could simply run a 3.5mm stereo video cable from the phone/ipod to a screen... ON TOP of the instrument cluster....