Digital Dash Swap?

[NICE59FORDF100]

hey bud, thanks a lot for the extra pics! Good idea on using different buttons for that panel. But if memory serves me, then there might be enough room to the left of the 4wd push buttons to do the same thing. How did you secure the switch panel?
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[arco777]

I didn't secure it yet - I think this weekend I'll get some cyanoacrylate glue for the purpose. I prefer screws but there isn't really a good spot to do that and it won't be under much stress. The buttons' tips are level with the slats so there isn't danger of whacking it loose.

 

[arco777]

Here is a taped-together mockup of where the dash is at - the electronics are all in there (flopping about atm) and everything seems to be figured out except I don't have backlighting installed yet. This is a drop in install and eliminates the stock curved clear faceplate. Stock gearshift indicator position is retained as well as lower indicator lights.

Note that the acrylic sheet would be clear as glass but has protective film on it still. Imagine black paint on the backside of the sheet too.

 

[geoph1986]

Arco, THAT LOOKS AWESOME!!!! Is the brain board in there too? Can you post a pic of the Explorer's cluster housing, so I can see where you cut it out? How are you planning to mount the display circuit board? I like the idea of keeping the shift indicator, and indicator lights in the stock location. I think I'll try going in that direction, I didn't think there was enough room for them. A cluster housing at the U-Pull I go to is only $5 (no gauges, just the white part).

I made a bit of progress myself today. I figured out how to mount the brain board, on the inside of the cluster, I got the front and rear of the display sandwich cut and fitted. I was originally going to use a third piece of plexi type stuff for the middle of the sandwich, but the displays wouldn't sit in place firmly, so I've decided to use gasket type material, that will compress and give a snug fit. Currently I'm using cardboard for this. Like I said earlier, I'm going to move my displays up a bit (like arco's). All that will affect is the gasket for the display sandwich. I'm going to paint the backside of the very front piece of the sandwich, and probably put a very light tint on the front side, just to even out any imperfections. For the backlight, I am going to order 2-13" lcd display ccfl's off of ebay ($25ish to my door). I also need to fasten the cougar's display circuit board to something, so it won't be just flopping around. I have some pics, and will post them in a few days once I get a completely fastened together housing.

NICE59, How's yours coming along?

 

[arco777]

Arco, THAT LOOKS AWESOME!!!! Is the brain board in there too? Can you post a pic of the Explorer's cluster housing, so I can see where you cut it out? How are you planning to mount the display circuit board? I like the idea of keeping the shift indicator, and indicator lights in the stock location.

It's all in there! But it is all loose. If I could use a flat electroluminescent backlight and cut it to fit, that would be awesome, but I'm not too sure where to get it. I don't really like ordering stuff but might have to. I want to be able to brighten and dim using the stock rheostat so I am leery of going too far from bulbs.

I would like to sandwich the screens but it takes way too long to cut this acrylic for me to jump right on making another piece or two. As for securing all the components, I have to make them fit nicely first, then I will probably make lexan mounts. It'll flex a little to keep the electronics from getting damaged by vibration.

The display circuit board is hanging under the screens at an angle; the original plan was for it to sit flat against the bottom of the housing but the gear shift indicator won't allow that so it may get tacked up against the backside of the screens if I can put a flat backlight in first. The main circuit board I had planned to sit like in one of the pictures below, supported by the bump for the X's connector and a notch in the housing side, but it may have to shift a little to accomodate the ribbon cable to the display board. That is the only annoying part right now.

I could have cut it up better (less) for sure but this is from several stages of development... if it wasn't a minor hassle to get the X cluster out I might have grabbed another but this one is fine I think.

 

[geoph1986]

For the indicators under the stock tach, what is your plan to get the light up to the front of the cluster? For the ribbon cable, if I can't get it to work easily, I'll have to make an extension out of an old ide cable. These are the backlights I'm probably going to use.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350262533823&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
I'll get 13" long ones. I'd still like to make the LED's work, but They are so close to the displays, they act like little spot lights.

 

[arco777]

If I recall correctly the ones under the tach are the parking brake, anti-theft, hi-beams, and seatbelt reminder. I don't need any of them so to make it all easier I'll just not bother. The day I need an indicator light to remind me my hi-beams or parking brake are on, is the day I'm too dumb to drive my Explorer. Wearing my seatbelt is a force of habit.

I suppose if I wanted to keep them, they could stay in the stock locations with a little work - the symbols are on a sheet that easily peels off the stock tach gauge face, and that could be pasted on either side of the acrylic sheet. The stock bulbs and light tunnels could be used. Alternately if the tunnels are in the way just run a 12v LED for each from the flexible circuit (or to an empty bulb socket connected to the flexible circuit) and put the LED right on the symbol.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

thanks for the pics! Haven't really made any progress other than test fitting the lcd screens in the unmodified explorer cluster. Been too busy getting the actual explorer running well, but i have been driving it since sunday, so go me see, im goin to try and retain as much of the actual cougar housing as i can...the triangle piece that actually holds the lcd screens. Once that is screwed in with some led strips for illumination, i think i will go acro's route of cutting out the right corner and placing the brain there. The way im planning will not involve soldering onto the flex board since i will be pricing the 20 cougar connector into both of the explorer's connectors. That way i can still go back to stock if i choose, but i will still have the cougar connector plug there. Besides i am more comfortable splicing wires than i am soldering. Plus i will be running my wires for my second gen message center at the same time, and will need to splice into some of the cluster wiring anyway. As far as a face plate goes, i think i am just goin to try and dremal the factory cougar face plate to fit on the explorer cluster and just drill new mounting holes. What do you guys think?
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[geoph1986]

I was originally planning to use the cougar's cluster face, but I felt it was too different to use and still look stockish. I can't wait to see pics of what you've done thus far. I have decided to keep my original design and loose the shift indicator, and relocate the indicators. I will post pics in a few days, once I have the everything mounted. I too plan on keeping the explorer's dash harnesses intact, and that's why I have chosen to solder to the flexi-circuit board. That way if I ever have to, I can swap back to analog gauges with no problem. I also plan on making a plug connector for the extra wires I have to run from the PCM. Stay tuned, pics are coming soon.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

whe do i feel like this is becoming a race, lol just playing...wait i have a lot of catching up to do tonight lol
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[geoph1986]

whe do i feel like this is becoming a race, lol just playing...wait i have a lot of catching up to do tonight lol
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No race, just 3 people working collectively, (on an awesome project I might add:biggthump) towards a common goal. But when I finish first, I'll be the winner. lol.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

OK guys, you pressured me into it, ill try and have mine up and going from scratch to installed tonight, lol JUST KIDDING.. but I am going to start dremiling and fitting everything tonight

 

[geoph1986]

That's the spirit. Jump in, the waters digital!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Lexus had an interesting dashboard when they first came out. I don't know if they are still made like this. It wasn't digital, but it appeared like a three dimensional image. The gauges, and indicator lights looked like they were away from the background. It was a projection onto a screen (maybe a polarized lens).

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

well i cant do anything tonight. Spent 2 hours trying to find my dremel and when i did, im missing half the pieces to make it work. So it looks like i cant do anything till i get another dremel. Oh well third place aint so bad lol.
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[Skydiver]

Whatever it is you brainiacs do for a living I'd bet you get paid way too much to worry about a first gen Ex.

This is an awesome read, good luck.

 

[arco777]

I wish I had money, haha. Joining the AF has been a big pay cut but the benefits make up for it!

I checked out Radio Shack today with no luck. They didn't have anything that would help for illumination and suggested going online. However when I was shopping for tow hooks at Autozone I saw some white LED replacements for dome lights that consisted of a bright grid of flat SMD LEDs on a board. I think those might work well if they can be dimmed with the rheostat, as they're already made for 12v and heat wouldn't be an issue. Pictures attached show what I'm talking about but don't really show thickness - they're pretty thin.

 

[geoph1986]

Arco,
The problem I'm having with the LED's bulbs, is that in such an enclosed space (like the X's cluster housing) they're acting like mini spot lights because there's not enough room for them to "flood" out. I was going to work on it a bit tonight, but I ended up having afew drinks instead, and I don't think my work will look as good in the morning...kinda like college. I can drink almost any woman pretty.

Whatever it is you brainiacs do for a living I'd bet you get paid way too much to worry about a first gen Ex.

Thanks for the complement. I just like trying things that other people may unsure of. If it works, which is always the preferred outcome, it's great. If not, then I've learned something. With any project you have to do a bit of research in the beginning, to see if it's even feasible, or see inspiration in the junkyard (see the first post). That's the easy part, then there's many hours of fitting & testing. After that, there's more fitting and testing, or another idea comes along and you have to try it. Listen to me the alcohol has taken over, and I'm starting to ramble. BWY for a living, I draft and design buildings made out of precast concrete. It's great, just like giant legos.

 

[arco777]

I bought the largest they had in stock, one of the 4x5 light panels, for testing. At $17 that is the last one I'll buy local but I bet I could get them cheap online and in larger sizes.

I understand and was expecting the spotlight effect, these have built in diffusion lenses that help a little and I was thinking that with some cloudy lexan or plexi or something in front of them to act as a diffuser they might not pinpoint too bad.

Attached are a few pictures of the panel I bought. Without diffusion it is very bright but if distanced it throws off more than enough light to illuminate the panel. I could probably put it in the back of the housing and it'd work great if the display circuit board was not in the way. Maybe I can angle it? Or for direct mounting as shown, if I could find some milky/cloudy plastic I think that'd work great to soften it up and eliminate the pinpoints.

Even if this mode of lighting doesn't pan out, the LED panel is not useless to me - it is actually worse as a dome light than the stock bulb but would make a great inspection lamp to be placed in tight spaces when working under the car. In pushbutton store-display mode it runs off a 12v alkaline battery like those used in garage door openers which would probably last a long time.

 

[geoph1986]

Arco, That's the problem I've been having. I have 10 LED's mounted to the cougar's light bar, and from a 2 inches away, it works great, closer not so good. Your absolutely right, the display circuit board is getting in the way a bit too. I plan to post pics of my progress tomorrow.