[47 Fasttoys]

Hey Eric, To answer your questions, yes the typical mods to the wiring harness eliminate the the information center function. I did look hard into retaining it, as it does do a lot of neat things. In my case, and maybe yours, I could not find a good way to incorporate the donor dash into the '47 dash and make it look right. I tried photo shopping the gauge cluster in my dash but just didn't like the look. The donor cluster (with info center) has a complete printed circuit board lay out which would have to be completely modified and re-engineered to use the info center only. You would also have to keep the the body control module, lock system and column along with almost all of the stock sensors. Now the other option is to use one of the aftermarket info centers which have most of the same functions. These units plug into the OBD II port. I plan on using one of these and a flip down speaker grill mod. As far as retaining the factory sensors goes, some you need to keep. Temperature sensor is required, oil pressure is not, oil low level is not (hot rodders check their oil just because they can) Tach signal is required for the ECU, but ECU also has an output for an additional tach. For a basic 5 gauge lay out you would need only to add a second temperature sensor to the engine, swap the oil pressure sensor, use the VSS signal for the speedo (using an electronic speedo), swap the fuel level sensor and wire in a volt gauge.
I sure you will find there are lots of little challenges in building a COE but that's where the fun is. Post up some pictures of what you got. And by all means ask a ton of questions, we all have a lot to learn from each other. 62 days left, and yes, I'm counting.
Rob