Eomund Posted March 2, 2020 Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) So my cluster is pretty much dead. The plastic is cracking, the glass broke this weekend while I was fixing something electrically. It's old and beat. I know I can find a used one, probably for not that much. But I'm really thinking of a custom cluster setup. Any of you running something other than stock? If you do, can I get some pics for inspiration? Edited March 2, 2020 by Eomund 1 Quote Link to comment
demo243 Posted March 2, 2020 Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 Not a 521... But here is what I did on my 620. Biggest downfall is the lack of a glove box.... might pick up a small marine one to add it at some point.... dash was cracked, so was the pad, and I didnt have the bezel and guys were asking 2-300 for them... so I fabbed a full dash out of aluminum sheet. If you dont want to go that far, it shouldn't be to bad to fab up a metal plate - aluminum sheet is pretty easy to work with- that can sit in the same location as the cluster. Then you can get the combo gauges from SpeedHut. 4 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted March 2, 2020 Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 Untitled by raymond medeiros, on Flickr Autometer. Will be for sale soon also. 3 Quote Link to comment
BrothersGarage Posted March 2, 2020 Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 I know 6 minutes ago, mrbigtanker said: Autometer. Will be for sale soon also. Another set of speedhut? 1 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 Both are a bit more custom than I'm looking I think. I might need to go that route. mrbigtanker. Looks like your dash is mostly stock. You completely went without the platic bevel huh? I was hoping I could keep that. But I'm not sure I can find a speedo small enough. 1 Quote Link to comment
BrothersGarage Posted March 2, 2020 Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 56 minutes ago, Eomund said: Both are a bit more custom than I'm looking I think. I might need to go that route. mrbigtanker. Looks like your dash is mostly stock. You completely went without the platic bevel huh? I was hoping I could keep that. But I'm not sure I can find a speedo small enough. https://www.speedhut.com/kit/GR4-DUAL-GPSQKIT-ST-03T/2-gauge-custom-set---Dual-Gauge---160mph-GPS-Speedometer---8K-Tachometer,-Quad-Gaugehttps://www.speedhut.com/kit/GL4-DUAL-GPSQKIT-ST-01T/2-gauge-custom-set---Dual-Gauge---120mph-GPS-speedometer---8K-Tachometer,-Quad-Gauge 1 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 1 hour ago, BrothersGarage said: https://www.speedhut.com/kit/GR4-DUAL-GPSQKIT-ST-03T/2-gauge-custom-set---Dual-Gauge---160mph-GPS-Speedometer---8K-Tachometer,-Quad-Gaugehttps://www.speedhut.com/kit/GL4-DUAL-GPSQKIT-ST-01T/2-gauge-custom-set---Dual-Gauge---120mph-GPS-speedometer---8K-Tachometer,-Quad-Gauge Well, what I'm trying to do is keep the stock plastic bezel. I like it. If I make it flush with that, it would be a little less than 3" high. That's the limit I'm talking about. I have a thought about making a kind of inset area that might give me more room behind and look through the bezel. But that's not quite the look I'm going for either. I guess I'm hoping to find a speedo less than 3" in diameter (or at least in height). I know that's small. 1 Quote Link to comment
demo243 Posted March 2, 2020 Report Share Posted March 2, 2020 Play around with some cardboard. Its easy to shape and mark up with where you plan to put the gauges and really helps to visualize things. Be sure to sit in the drivers seat once youve mock'ed it up see what you can see and what might be blocked by the steering wheel. Something else to consider if you are going the custom route is where are your turn signal and hi-beam indicators. I dont know where they are on the 521, but if you ditch the bezel you may loose those. On my 510 I used a Speedhut Speedo that had the turn and hi-beam indicators built in. On the 620 I found some LED arrows and hi-beam indicator on amazon and wired them in. 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted March 3, 2020 Report Share Posted March 3, 2020 (edited) Here is what Bob3 did on his MX520 project, scroll to the bottom of the page. https://ratsun.net/topic/7446-project-mx520-top-secret/page/35/ Edited March 3, 2020 by wayno 1 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted March 3, 2020 Report Share Posted March 3, 2020 5 hours ago, BrothersGarage said: I know Another set of speedhut? No I got the new AEM CD-7 full color display. 2 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted March 3, 2020 Report Share Posted March 3, 2020 4 hours ago, Eomund said: Both are a bit more custom than I'm looking I think. I might need to go that route. mrbigtanker. Looks like your dash is mostly stock. You completely went without the platic bevel huh? I was hoping I could keep that. But I'm not sure I can find a speedo small enough. Dash is all stock except for gauges and Stereo. The factory bezel is still in use. Mixing a little new with the old. 2 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2020 6 hours ago, mrbigtanker said: Dash is all stock except for gauges and Stereo. The factory bezel is still in use. Mixing a little new with the old. Did you remove the bottom of the bezel? A front on Pic would be awesome. I'm just trying to figure out how you got that big speedo to fit in there 1 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2020 7 hours ago, wayno said: Here is what Bob3 did on his MX520 project, scroll to the bottom of the page. https://ratsun.net/topic/7446-project-mx520-top-secret/page/35/ Pics arent loading. And damn that was 10 years ago 1 Quote Link to comment
d.p Posted March 3, 2020 Report Share Posted March 3, 2020 There was a dude on FB that utilized the stock bezel + speed hut gauges. It looked money but trying to find anything old on FB is an exercise in futility so just take my word for it. 2 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted March 4, 2020 Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) 22 hours ago, Eomund said: Did you remove the bottom of the bezel? A front on Pic would be awesome. I'm just trying to figure out how you got that big speedo to fit in there No the bezel was just trimmed a little to clear gauge rings, very clean set up, like everything i do. lol Edited March 4, 2020 by mrbigtanker 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted March 4, 2020 Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 The glass being broke/plastic cover being cracked and it being old isn't really that good of a reason to trash the instrument cluster, and it doesn't really need a bunch of stuff/money thrown at it to make the gauges work properly(fuel/temp/speedo) like new gauges would need, getting new gauges is great if you have money to spend(burning a hole in your pocket), but if you are poor I would just keep the stock gauges and spend the money on gas driving it or making the interior/exterior nice, it's amazing what a comfortable bench seat will do for the body. 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted March 4, 2020 Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) On 3/3/2020 at 12:20 AM, Eomund said: Pics arent loading. And damn that was 10 years ago Sorry, I forgot I installed the google extension needed to see the photos as he used Photolame to host photos when he built that truck. Fact is he may have built that truck 10 years ago, but that truck is still a relevant and a daily driver and is on the race track to this day as far as I know, it's as good a read now as it was then, he is one of the reasons I have 520 and 521 kingcabs today, but reading that thread without seeing the photos is likely a waste of time, photos are likely why that thread has 371,568 views. He put a Miata drive train in it so he used the Miata gauges, but he used the 520 plastic surround and the glass face and housing. It is expensive to go with new gauges, my 521 kingcab turbodiesel has 4 different aftermarket/stock 720 type gauges, boost, pyro(EGTs), oil pressure, volts, and all I really care about is that they work, all my 520/521 trucks have the stock 520 type instrument clusters because they have the amber turn signals that I see blink when it is sunny outside. Edited March 4, 2020 by wayno 1 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, wayno said: The glass being broke/plastic cover being cracked and it being old isn't really that good of a reason to trash the instrument cluster, and it doesn't really need a bunch of stuff/money thrown at it to make the gauges work properly(fuel/temp/speedo) like new gauges would need, getting new gauges is great if you have money to spend(burning a hole in your pocket), but if you are poor I would just keep the stock gauges and spend the money on gas driving it or making the interior/exterior nice, it's amazing what a comfortable bench seat will do for the body. I know it's not necessary. It's just something I wanna do. Oh and I got a comfy bench. Installed it last week. Edited March 4, 2020 by Eomund 1 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 1 hour ago, wayno said: Sorry, I forgot I installed the google extension needed to see the photos as he used Photolame to host photos when he built that truck. Fact is he may have built that truck 10 years ago, but that truck is still a relevant and a daily driver and is on the race track to this day as far as I know, it's as good a read now as it was then, he is one of the reasons I have 520 and 521 kingcabs today, but reading that thread without seeing the photos is likely a waste of time, photos are likely why that thread has 371,568 views. He put a Miata drive train in it so he used the Miata gauges, but he used the plastic surround and the glass face and housing. It is expensive to go with new gauges, my 521 kingcab turbodiesel has 4 different aftermarket/stock 720 type gauges, boost, pyro(EGTs), oil pressure, volts, and all I really care about is that they work, all my 520/521 trucks have the stock 520 type instrument clusters because they have the amber turn signals that I see blink when it is sunny outside. I'm not faulting the 10 years ago. Just shocked the info still exists. The internet isn't exactly great at retaining info lol. So he's got them set behind and the top and bottom slightly cut off. interesting. It allows the larger size and looks decent. I might have a source for an original from someone I hit up. So if that falls through, I'll look at this. But I do like this one. But OEM is preferred. I like the stock cluster. 1 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted March 4, 2020 Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 Untitled by raymond medeiros, on Flickr 3 Quote Link to comment
gene knight Posted March 4, 2020 Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 Eomund: pm me 1 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 24 minutes ago, gene knight said: Eomund: pm me When I try it gives a message saying you can't receive messages. 1 Quote Link to comment
gene knight Posted March 4, 2020 Report Share Posted March 4, 2020 ok try again 1 Quote Link to comment
Eomund Posted March 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2020 Quick update. I lucked into a complete OEM unit that's cherry for a reasonable price. It'll be here Monday. 2 Quote Link to comment
Arifaeth Posted October 1, 2021 Report Share Posted October 1, 2021 On 3/2/2020 at 12:05 PM, mrbigtanker said: Untitled by raymond medeiros, on Flickr Autometer. Will be for sale soon also. I really like your build setup, you don't happen to have a build thread do you? Quote Link to comment
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