# Upgraded Gauge Cluster



## Guest (Feb 9, 2003)

Well I went to the junkyard today to just get a nice doorpanel to replace my torn one on the drivers door. I looked at every single B12 at the yard trying to find a nice cloth one. Turns out only the 4 doors have them. Grrrr, not fair! So while I was looking around, I found the only Sport Coupe they had, which seemed to be pretty complete. It was an 87 and only missing the passenger door. Anyways, I was looking at the door panel, quite interesting, but I decided it probably wouldn't work on my door. But I did notice the gauge cluster. Mmmm, tach! Mmmm, 160mph speedo! So I snagged it, and just to be safe, I snagged the plugs that plugged into the back of it too. Good thing I did because when I got back to my place, all of the pins were re-arranged, so I had to cut the connectors off my car, and color match the wires to the XE connectors. For the tach wire, I just disconnected the crappy aftermarket tach I had hanging off the A-pillar and ran that tach wire to the cluster. Had to replace a few bulbs and clean some contacts to get all the lights working. I also decided not to try my luck on the voltage regulator, I knew mine worked fine and mine had a big like 1" black heatsink on it, so I swapped mine over to this gauge cluster. So the swap went almost without a single hitch.. The problem came when I went to test drive the car. All of a sudden, I was doing 50 in second gear, at like 3 grand.. Hmm.. My first thought was that the XE's use a different gear ratio for the speedo. Then I remembered how surprised I was that the XE had 291,000 miles on it. And I looked down at the bottom of the speedo... KM/H.. DOH! Damn Cannucks! So I have a damn Canadian cluster in there now. I have to look at the small numbers to see how fast I'm really going. heheh, but the cluster looks really nice, the tach really was meant to be in the cluster, and not somewhere else completely. The tach seems to work perfectly, and completely accurate, even hooked to my '82 ignition system.. heheh..
Oh, and on the door panel, I got the best one in the yard, out of 20 B12's, I got the only one that still had the factory speaker grill in it.  Also has a pocket in it, that mine didn't have.


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## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

160 mph speedo on a B12 would be a joke!!! At least you now have a factory tach.


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2003)

With the E15 I have, yeah, I agree, it'd be a joke. But I could see the car doing 160 with a good body kit, 1.5" drop, and a GA16DE or better yet, an SR20DE.. I think the body kit and the drop would be the most important part tho, reduce the drag. Probably wouldn't hit 160mph, but I be it'd get damn close. I've done 160mph in an '89 Toyota Supra, and those things sure don't look aerodynamic... I'm not sure what kinda horsepower the engine was rated at though, it was my friend's parent's car. heheh..  I doubt it was over 250hp..


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2003)

The tach switch in sounds great....in the american version of course....it would be worth paying for an aftermarket tach just for the hookups, and then switch in the cluster w/tach instead, just to get the factory look.....good choice.
However that must have been one muscled up supra to hit 160, most i've ever seen in the tests was about 135 on a good day!


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2003)

As far as I know, it was stock, and it was supposed to be an '89 only thing.. 
You don't need to buy an aftermarket tach to get the wiring for this cluster, you just have to run a wire from the cluster to the tach signal wire at the coil. Heh, unfortunately, I'm not sure which wire that is on a B12 as I have a very early B11 ignition. But I know there IS a wire that will send that signal on the B12's ignition.


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2003)

I put a picture of the new cluster installed in my dash in my photo album on Yahoo. I also had a shot of the old cluster, in case you want to compare. Just click on the link in my signature to go see that album. 
Kind of off the B11/B12 topic, I got my speaker box built and installed. I replaced the back of my back seat with the box. I haven't gotten around to putting padding and vinyl on it yet, so it's very ugly. But it's up in that album too. Was kinda hard to get the camera far enough back to take a good shot of it.. Ahh well. Anyways, the idea was to keep the back seat fully functional, and once I get padding and some good strong grills, I'll have that goal met.


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## fastpakr (Sep 18, 2002)

The units on that cluster look remarkably like kilometers per hour. Are you sure it's 160mph?


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2003)

That's what I've been saying. I thought it was mph when I was installing it. After taking it for a test drive and scratching my head about why it was reading so far off, I finally noticed the KM/H at the bottom of the speedo. Ahh well, looks cool going to 160, even if it's not MPH, and the MPH is in small numbers in the middle, so I've just been using those.  The tach is damned sweet, I like it alot more than the aftermarket tach I had.


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## 7RIPP3R (Sep 27, 2002)

UnaClocker - sweet setup ... kudos on the rims I got an 87 myself and would like to get my hands on a new cluster like yours. I have to go on a field trip to the local yards and see if i could stumble upon a cluster for myself.

laters - 7RIP


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2003)

Look for an XE Coupe, can't miss the radically different interior they come with. Just make sure you snip off the plugs that go into the cluster itself with a good 3-6" of wire. Then it's very simple to splice in to a standard sentra, all the colors match. Only wires I had a hangup on was the temp gauge wire and the seat belt light wire are the same color for some reason. But the clusters are well labeled, so you shouldn't have any problem figuring it out.


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## fastpakr (Sep 18, 2002)

Nevermind, that's what I get for not reading through the whole first post. Sorry 'bout that!


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## vdubberwithb12 (Mar 6, 2003)

Hi there b12 owners! New member here. 

I always wanted to know any info about a this cluster swap...and here it is! Thats why i got this topic out of its grave 

Any more info about the instalation will be apreciated


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2003)

Just cut the harness out of the donor car. Gotta find a Sentra XE in the junkyard, it's the coupe. Someone emailed me and said GXE's had them too. That'd be the 4 door. I haven't looked at one at my junkyard to check that claim tho. Cut your harness off and splice the wires. Same colors. I believe there was one wire that was the same color in two different connectors, and had two different purposes. Just be methodical, everything is well labeled on those circuitboards, just read the board.


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## AVERAGE (Aug 9, 2002)

hey una . i can confirm that the gxe sentra does indeed have a stock tach. i have a parts gxe .....well sort of parts . the gxe is in better condition than my running car so i am on the look out for a motor for it. found one , local japan direct.


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

Jsut got some info from boost_boy. He is using gauges form a 87-90 Pulsar SE. It has a tach and 125mph speedo. He said he hade to "meticuously modify" them to fit the B12's housing, but they do look very good.


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2003)

My gauge cluster slid right in, not modifications to the housing at all. Exact same shape as stock.
Oh, and I remembered which two wires are the same color. The seatbelt warning light and the temp gauge.. Both of them have the same color wire for some damn reason.. heh...


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

The stock gauges are diffferent from the B11 to the B12, right? You got a pic of the two?


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2003)

Oh yeah, definately. You'd be godlike to get a B12 gauge cluster into a B11.


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

Oooops. I meant are the gauges different depending on the B12. I realized the B11 and B12 would definately be different. What model came with a tach? Do any have a speedometer over 105mph, or is the 125mph gauges only for the Pulsar??


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## Guest (Mar 10, 2003)

I've never seen one over 105.. Would be real nice to have after an engine upgrade. My E15 can't push the car over 99.. heh..


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

Who cares about going fast with a E15, you get what, about 40miles to the gallon?? You could put in a E15t if you can find one, I do believe HydridDET had the motor in his B11 before the SR20DET.


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## Guest (Mar 10, 2003)

heh, Kinda off topic, but I did find an E15t at the local junkyard. Complete minus the turbocharger. Wiring harness and computer and all!  The engine is seized though, so I'd have to rebuild it..


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

How hard can it be to rebuild an old Nissan motor? I'd go for it if you can find the rebuild parts.


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2003)

Yeah, I'm in the middle of rebuilding my VW at the moment. As soon as that's on the road, I'll go back for the Turbo engine. Turbo makes everything better.


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

"Fuel injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown!"


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## Myetball (Dec 15, 2002)

I'm gonna have to go to the junkyard again and spend a morning seeing if I can get an N13 guage cluster into a B11. Would be nice to have the 125mph speedo. 

Of course my wife says she likes my speedo's just the way they are. Can u visualize.....250lbs of hairy half mexican in a size 32 speedo. Slap it...Flip it...Rub it doooooowwwwnnnn.


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## boost_boy (May 25, 2002)

I just got a phone call today from my friend that imports motors and he found what's possibly a e15t with a supercharger as well. He called me about to cry begging me to come check it out, but the migrane headches win and boost_boy is now bed_boy He also has a stock e15T with ecu......If you boys are interested, drop me an email.


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## Myetball (Dec 15, 2002)

Anyone ever deal with an NX digital intrument cluster, found one in '89 NX 1600? Wondering how much of a nightmare it would be to get one to work in a car with stock analog instruments. Of course it was laying on the cars seat so it may not even be to that car.


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## xXB12RacerXx (Mar 6, 2003)

well if i knew more info ion the tacj wire, where it went to, id be hella able to trying that switch out.


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## xXB12RacerXx (Mar 6, 2003)

actually think ijust found out..
http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17023


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

Myetball said:


> *I'm gonna have to go to the junkyard again and spend a morning seeing if I can get an N13 guage cluster into a B11. Would be nice to have the 125mph speedo.
> 
> Of course my wife says she likes my speedo's just the way they are. Can u visualize.....250lbs of hairy half mexican in a size 32 speedo. Slap it...Flip it...Rub it doooooowwwwnnnn. *


Ahhhh!!! My eyes, their burning!!!


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