[mplex2000]

Hey everybody I'm not a frequent poster but thought somebody might like to see this. Trying out these gauges as they'll work with the coming LS swap and the old 350 that's in there now. Paid about $270 new on Ebay which included the metric thread adapters for the LS swap.

Turned out good I think. Did things a little different from their directions which are a bit confusing.

1. Plastic washers are between the circuit board and the metal overlay from the factory. Without them there, looks like I had a short that disabled the speedo and messed with the other gauges.

2. I thought I was low on oil pressure before, assuming the tick mark on the factory gauge was reading about 10 PSI as idle. Engine has 30-50k, hard to say, best guess based on what the previous owner told me when I bought it in 2013. Now it's showing 3-4 at idle. Either there's a gauge/sender problem or the engine isn't long for this world.

3. Speedo doesn't work at all. Need to re-check wiring, always shows 0 and odometer showing 4 (was like that on first startup).

4. Glued the smoked glass panels with silicone to the black metal overlay, don't think I'll put the factory clear piece back on per the directions. This thing will end up being way thicker than stock so I'm curious how the factory dash bezel will fit afterwards. Waiting to put that back until I get my new dash pad in and resolve the issues with the speedo.

5. Very strange, when I have the panel hanging out of the dash, everything is fine. Once it's set in the dash, none of the lights for the other accy work (wiper, hvac control). The headlights work fine, but the gauge panel doesn't dim properly - where it will dim if it's not placed in the dash. If any of that makes sense. I assume I have a short somewhere, going to check the connector I installed and the heat shrink.

6. I used Painless # 40011 connector to replace the factory connector. Works ok, but the pins move back and forth easily. For $12 some odd dollars I think this cheap plastic connector should be a bit better and include a couple of extra pins. If you ever need new pins, good luck measuring to get replacements (they're just some molex type).

7. I think this one was already calibrated for LS tach - sounds like LS is same as 4 cylinder output and that can only be changed by Intellitronix. That's ok since I'll have an LS in there before too long. However if I'm right about that, it would be nice to be able to change that with a switch or something. Maybe someone can confirm that for me, since Intellitronix doesn't appear to answer their phone or return phone calls for tech support.