Aftermarket gauges in place of OEM in dash cluster

[jesilvas]

Had an idea driving to work today.
One day, when ever I finally build my perfect truck, ground up, I want to do something with gauges. Something perfect and neat.
What about, since the OEM dash cluster just takes up space not really showing anything, taking the certain gauges I want to replace and putting real ones in there?
Ever been done on here?

[fifty]

I did that a number of years ago on a Subaru. It was a pain in the butt. Did all Vdo gauges in there, custom warning lights. To be honest it really wasn't worth it.

I ended up building it into a race car and moved most of the gauges from the stock location anyways.

[jesilvas]

I'm sure it would be a lot harder than I realize.
It'd just be cool to get the actual gauge readings exact there, then probably get an Edge CTS or something like that to do the rest.

[JSchuricht]

I have thought about doing that for years. It's not going to be a easy project, the cluster passes the VSS signal to the transmission so you will either need to isolate that portion of the cluster or hide the cluster somewhere. If you have a digital odometer, there are probably some functions needed in that module. There may also be other functions that the truck needs the cluster for, I do know it will start without the cluster.

[jesilvas]

Well I don't mean get rid of it all, but just the particular gauges to replace like fuel level, oil press, volt meter, and ECT. The speedo, odo, and tach are actually accurate.

[JSchuricht]

That might make it easier. IIRC, the back of the console is tied together by a flexible PCB, check all the traces in the area you want to remove and you should be able to cut it with scissors. I recommend trying this on a spare console.