[johntaurus]

I like the 120 MPH Windstar cluster, with tachometer. How hard is it to wire it into my 1993? Of course, it currently does not have a tachometer and it only has 85 MPH speedometer. The odometer reads "[2][4][9][0][0]" and I want it to read the full 224,900 (or what have you) miles.

When I replaced the 85 MPH cluster in my Tempo LX with a Tempo GLS 120 MPH unit, it was a simple plug-in-play because my Tempo already came with a stock, in-cluster tachometer, as did the 120 MPH unit.

Any thoughts? I'm planning to do this in a few months, I dont have the money or time to do it now, but I'd like an idea before I go spend money on a gauge cluster and find out its way too much work to make it so.

 

[sixfofalcon]

Plug-n-play if they are both analog gauges. I think some of the newer Windstars might have electronic gauges. Other than that, the only problem will be that the fuel door arrow will point to the opposite side of the car.

 

[qwertz9586]

Take a black Sharpie and color over the arrow and then take a silver Sharpie and draw the arrow pointing the other side.

I think the way you can tell which cluster is which is that the ones with a speedo cable has the shift indicator kinda like the Taurus (orange behind letters). You'll need to swap the shift quadrant with the one in the Taurus, but that's easy.

The ones with the needle in the shift quadrant are the electronic ones, I think.

 

[johntaurus]

So the tachometer will work without extra wiring? I'm told that when adding a tach-equipped cluster to a Tempo that didnt originally have one, you have to wire the tach in seperatly. Is this not the case with the Taurus?

 

[TaurusGuy]

Correct, as long as the speedometer isn't electronic, all the clusters are plug and play.

 

[jj57]

The pointer thing is not always true, my 93 Sable had the orange behind the letters, not the pointer, and it had no spedo cable.

But then again, it was Digital.

 

[sixfofalcon]

I don't even remove the gear indicator when I swap the clusters. I think that would make the project a lot harder. Just unscrew the two little Torx screws on either side of the gear indicator, and pull the rest of the cluster out. It takes maybe 10 minutes to do the whole swap.

 

[johntaurus]

Thanks everyone! This information is extreamly helpful. Right now, (as mentioned) I'm a little short on fun-money and Ebay only currently has a digital 1995 Windstar cluster (even if that would work, I wouldnt want it) and ones from newer models.

I'm also considoring SE head lamps (the crystal clear ones) and newer alloy wheels (from a 2K+ model). I found a NICE set on Ebay in Houston, Texas (I pass right through Houston on my trips accross country) but a lack of funds is keeping them out of my grasp.

I dont know if I've mentioned this on the board before, but some about a year and a half ago, I was in a major car wreck. I was in a 1990 Accord and was hit by a full size GM pickup (1996 or so). I tweaked my back and have worked very little since. I'm waiting for a settlement and when that comes though, I'm going to be doing a lot of work to my 1992 Tempo LX and (hopefully) keep this Taurus as a daily driver. If that settlement doesnt come through in a few months, I may be forced to sell one or both of my Taurus'.

Both of my Taurus' need their power steering systems repaired. The rack is leaking on the 1993 and I think the pump is going out on the 1988. I plan to repalce (or have it done) both pump and rack on both cars. Both Taurus' need a tune up. The 1988 has a major coolant leak (radiator) and trans leak. The 1993 has a very small coolant leak and the trans doesnt leak at all.

I was planning to part out the 1988 but the HSC I4 purrs like a kitten and the body is virtually dent-free. I cant see parting out a car thats got so much going for it. I have a feeling that the trans leak is easily repairable but even if its not, I still think the car is worth fixing. The interior (aside from missing the knobs on the climate controls) is nice. The dash isnt cracked and the seats are not ripped or fadded. The carpet has come up slightly around the drivers area but a carpet kit isnt that expensive.

The 1993's dash is cracked in two places and the little "grille" on the passenger side vent is broken. The carpet is torn in one place but the seats are nice, they look almost new. The body has a few dents, dings, scratches, etc. One fender is darker than the rest of the car and the bumper support is pushed in slightly. Its clear the car was in a slight wreck on this side but not hard enough to make the Air Bag go off.

I really dont plan to have the body on the 1993 repaired. From a reasnoble distance, it looks fine. Its a daily driver/commuter car. I like the car but if I want to make a Taurus of this gen. nice, I will find one with LESS than 200K, LOL. I want to concentrate on my Tempo before getting a Taurus project going. I hate not having a tachometer, even though with an automatic I dont actually "need" one. I havnt buried the 85 MPH spedo yet, and I dont plan to, but I like having the new-style look of 120 MPH gauges.

Thoughts?

 

[mrclean]

So you're saying that you could swap gauge clusters because its plug and play, thats good, I want a tachometer with my gauges, it seems kinda dull without it. I might look into going to a junkyard and pickin up one with the tach gauge. As for the gear indicator, I have a floor shifter :-D, so that won't bother me.

 

[qwertz9586]

The reason why the tach will work on a model w/o tach is because it's computer controlled. It uses the same wiring harness to move the other guages.

The shift quadrant will swap right out just by taking out 2 torx screws at the base of the speedometer.

 

[mrclean]

Well, not to sound stupid, but that also applies to a 1994 GL right? Cuz I thought that it was a mechanical speedo, not an electronic one...Because when I opened up my dash to replace all the bulbs, I didn't see any extra wires....I'm not too mechanically experienced....but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong.

 

[sixfofalcon]

Originally posted by mrclean@Jan 21 2004, 10:31 PM
Well, not to sound stupid, but that also applies to a 1994 GL right? Cuz I thought that it was a mechanical speedo, not an electronic one...Because when I opened up my dash to replace all the bulbs, I didn't see any extra wires....I'm not too mechanically experienced....but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong.

All the clusters in any Taurus from 1990-95 are plug and play. SHO, non-SHO, tach, no tach... it doesn't matter. The only connections are the speedo cable and two electrical plugs. It is really simple. The speedos are NOT electronic.

 

[qwertz9586]

Yeah, the speedometer is the only thing mechanical in the clusters of G1s and G2s. The fuel, temp, and tach are computer controlled.

 

[mrclean]

I guess I didn't look hard enough for a connection for the tach gauge, granted all I was really doing was replacing the light bulbs so I could see the dash at night.

 

[qwertz9586]

It's those two big cables going into the cluster. You would have to take them off to get the cluster out to replace the bulbs.