VW gauges

There was a guy on I-Club who sold a kit that changed the color of the numbers/clock/climate control stuff to blue, and our needles are already red. I just did some reseach, his name is Bankheist, and he is still on that BBS. Here's his info from that site:
http://www.i-club.com/forums/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=2237

Hope this helps a little!

someone on i-club was selling a center tack conversion package that came with gauge faces with blue markings. looked pretty good. i think it was ImprezedRS... but i might be wrong

KillerTHC said:

someone on i-club was selling a center tack conversion package that came with gauge faces with blue markings. looked pretty good. i think it was ImprezedRS... but i might be wrong

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Yeah, it was him, I remember seeing that thread when I did my search. The only problem with the new gauge cluster is that you lose your odometer reading, since the new clusters odo will read 0.0 miles. Makes for a bit of a hassel if/when you sell/trade in the car.

Makes for a bit of a hassel if/when you sell/trade in the car.

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Not if you do it the proper way. I think all you have to do is document the milage when you switch clusters and probably have to have it witnessed/notorized. Might cost you $5.

ylexot said:

Not if you do it the proper way. I think all you have to do is document the milage when you switch clusters and probably have to have it witnessed/notorized. Might cost you $5.

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Yeah, I know that there is a proper way of doing it, but I don't think I would ever buy a car that had had this done to it, and I'm sure that something like this would make it a bit more difficult to sell. That was the hassel I was talking about, mostly.

I'm new to the Subaru scene so I don't know if it's possible, but, with domestics you can roll the Odo forward to match the reading on the old one and it won't void anything, It's the only leagal change you can really make to an odometer reading. You can just put the new instrument in and document the old reading but it does take the resale value down more than rolling the odometer forward. Like I said though I don't know if it's even possible to do with the subarus.

The odometer in the (newer) Subarus is controlled by the ECU - since it's digital. You can put any old Subaru gauge pack in the dash and it'll come out with the same number of miles as the original one.

RS25.com said:

The odometer in the (newer) Subarus is controlled by the ECU - since it's digital. You can put any old Subaru gauge pack in the dash and it'll come out with the same number of miles as the original one.

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Are you sure about that? I've heard of people putting the STi cluster with the center tach in, and thier odo was 0.0mi. I think that there is a memory chip on the cluster itself for the milage, and it is updated by milage "clicks" from the ecu. But I've never done any of this personally, so I don't have any first-hand knowlege, just trying to remember what I've read before.

Pretty darn sure - for the MY00 RS at least. I was researching a new ECU and engine from a turbo Legacy and the shop I was talking with told me that. Then I vaguely recall a local dealership telling me the same thing.

Easiest way to confirm would be to call your local shop's service dept. They'd know for your year car. It might be different if your car was made a different year. My odometer IS digital, so I strongly suspect it's in the ECU - doesn't that just make sense?

Here's what I found, and this is from people who have done the swap:

http://www.i-club.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=98197&highlight=sti+gauge+cluster

There is a mod where you take the dash apart, move the tach and speedo motors, and put a new gauge face on so that the tach is in the center, but since you are keeping all your dash parts, the odo is not affected. Maybe this is where the confusion came from? According to one guy in that thread, the Subaru wiring diagram even states that the milage recorder is part of the cluster itself.

The only time your odometer will get thrown off is if you swap in the genuine STi guages from Japan. They have their own separate 'mileage recorder,' but it reads in KM. So if you try to sell a car that has been equipped with STi guages, instead of 30,000 miles it will say ~48,000 km. This will be more of a problem the more miles you rack up on your car.

50,000 miles = ~80,000 km.
100,000 miles = 161,000 km !!!


-scott-

So would the genuine STi one show how many km the car it came out of had, or would it show how many km your car has on it? It seems to me that they show how many the car they came out of had, like if you put a brand new gauge cluster in, it will show 0. Like in the link I posted, North Ursalia said that his cluster had 8km on it when he put it in his car. Am I just really confused and getting this all wrong?

Cool, I'm not losing my mind! And I don't think it's illegal to change your odometer out, as long as you disclose that fact to the DMV and whoever might buy the car.

Yes it was me making those kits that switched the speedo and tach. And yes I can still make them but I'm doing some more changes to them to make them even better. When the new ones are done you will see a post in the classifieds.

No my kit doesn't change the odo readings as your still using the same gauge cluster just modifying it. Also the odo reading is stored in the gauge cluster not the ecu.

The ne kits will have a new lighting system for the gauges that you will also wire in to make them having a brighter look. And also the design is going to be changed.

Just wait and give me some time and I will start making them again soon.

Sounds good are you going to be including the heating controls this time? None the less i am still liking the idea. TImeframe?

I'm going to try to do the heating controls this time but not sure yet, I got an idea for them and a way to make them bright too. I also have to say that this is going to cost a little more than the last one but you will be getting more with it than before.

I don't want the lights to be any brighter or a different color, will your kit be able to accomadate that? I'm in no hurry, by the way, no job to pay for anything, but this kit definitely intrests me.

ImprezedRS said:

I'm going to try to do the heating controls this time but not sure yet, I got an idea for them and a way to make them bright too. I also have to say that this is going to cost a little more than the last one but you will be getting more with it than before.

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Heating controls are EASY :sunny: