gearhead141

I have been gathering parts to change my 1985 cable speedo cluster to the later electric speedo cluster. I have the cluster, a buffer box with bracket, and the speed sensor. I looked at the angelfire site for installation notes and I have pored over and printed the install done by Lilski.

I neglected to take photos when I got the buffer box at the salvage yard. What would really help me is a photo of the buffer box mounted to the ECM and its associated wiring. I have cruise control so I want to be sure I connect that wire properly. The install done by Lilski and the website notes did not seem to care about the cruise hookup. I'm just wondering if there are any wires that go from the buffer to the ECM? Perhaps a picture will be worth a thousand words!

gearhead141

I'm sure I'll get this figured out. For any of you that have changed from the 85mph cable speedo cluster to the newer electric 120 or 140mph cluster, how do you like it? Have you had any problems? Is the newer cluster better or worse as far as reliability? I understand that the fuel gauge is buffered so it should be much more steady than the unbuffered unit. The other thing I think I would like better is that the odometer has six places instead of five and the trip meter reset is puch button instead of the clock type reset.

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

Here's the shop manual schematic for the 86 Firebird. It shows all the connections that your looking for. Since your car is an 85,... you might want to double check that the wiring matches your car.

Example: Be sure that your 85 ECM accepts VSS input at PIN 'A10' on plug C1.



Full Sized:
http://berlinetta.info/media/shopman...86Firebird.jpg

BE SURE to get a pin-out for each of the 2 clusters that your working with. Print each of them out and compare each pin on the connectors wire-by-wire to be sure everything will match up OK. At the minimum,..... you will need to add 1 wire to the C1 cluster plug for the VSS signal @ PIN 14.

gearhead141

Thanks John. That helps out quite a bit. It confirms some things I was wondering about. My '85 Firebird shop manual has a wiring diagram for the digital cluster, and it is much the same way. I agree with you that the pinout is the most important aspect of the project and I am looking at that very closely.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)