Question on converting to full Ciera guages..

[a1veedubber]

Hey all, I was at the local Jyard today (Getting a MINT set of coupe dewstrips for 3.00!!) and they had an 89 Ciera like my beater there that had column shift AND gauges. It was also a 3300. How involved is it changing over to full gauges? IIRC 89 clusters are all electric so is it plug and play? Just curious!
Thanks!

[notsoslimshady76]

I think you need to repin the connector, but all the colors are the same. So if you cut the pigtail out of the JY car, and repin your connector to look like it, you'll be set. Don't quote me on that

[CieraSL92]

Haha. You have a ciera! You dont get off as easily as repinning connectors! Only the Olds cutlass supremes could be repinned in that manner.

The colors are the same in a few spots, but you will need to wire some stuff. Tongle and myself have been working with this, and he got the wiring for it just about all planned. This thread that Im talking about was deleted prior to the forum change-over. It isn't plug and play. You need the coolant temp sensors from the gauges vehicle, and its oil pressure sensor. They mount physically in the same fashion as the non-gauges vehicle however.

Tongle NEEDS to chime in on this. I haven't gone any further with this since I have almost no time. It is possible though.

I noticed on my 89 Jeep cherokee though that it had tons of wiring for options the car didn't have.. I.E harness for overhead console compass/temp, two addition harnesses for dash speakers, and a harness for power seats. It's too bad AMC was the only one who wired cars for options they didn't have, making upgrading easier at a later date.

[skalor]

I swapped in a full gauge cluster into my old '90 Ciera and all it was plug and play as far as the gauge cluster was concerned. The only two things I had to mess with were the water temp and oil pressure sending units. The oil pressure sending unit had to be switched out because my factory one was only for an idiot light and not for a full gauge. I don't remember but I think that I had to add the sending unit for water temp. Check on the front of your intake manifold where is belt is located. You should at least see a fan switch there. If I recall correctly, mine had a hole plug that I took out and put the coolant temp sender in place of it. There should also be an extra connector floating around in the same location. Let me know if it works out.

[Tonglebeak]

I don't remember anything about the topic anymore, except that you have to resplice the harnesses :(

I think you can repin them, 86euro had a nice little guide on the old board.

[skalor]

After looking at the pinout schematics in the '89 and '90 GM Service manuals it looks like '89 U31 clusters were unique. The good news is that they changed the cluster to be generic in '90 and it was renamed to UB3. If you have a '90+ UB3 cluster it should work in any 3300 powered Ciera without having to repin the connectors. That includes using it in an '89 Ciera that had a base cluster. So, if you want to use the '89 cluster you have to repin. If I were you I would just look for a '90+ cluster.

[Tonglebeak]

After looking at the pinout schematics in the '89 and '90 GM Service manuals it looks like '89 U31 clusters were unique. The good news is that they changed the cluster to be generic in '90 and it was renamed to UB3. If you have a '90+ UB3 cluster it should work in any 3300 powered Ciera without having to repin the connectors. That includes using it in an '89 Ciera that had a base cluster. So, if you want to use the '89 cluster you have to repin. If I were you I would just look for a '90+ cluster.

What about using a 90s+ cluster in an 88? Can you send me a copy of the wiring schematics for the pins and I can run them against my service manual to see if that's all good?

Not that it'd matter since the 88 is mechanical, but I'm curious.

[86euro]

You can convert to electric speedo, I just don't know what exactly is involved. I will be doing it when I eventually do the motor swap in my car. I need to get a couple diagrams for the '86 from work and then I should be able to figure it out.

[CieraSL92]

So..In theory, a cluster from a 1990 Olds cutlass ciera, would plug and play with a 92 Ciera that previously only had speedo, idiot lights, fuel, and temp?

Because, my 3.3 has two senders on the intake underneath the alt. Coolant Gauge sender, ECU temp sender, and a three pin oil pressure sender on the filter adapter.

[a1veedubber]

After looking at the pinout schematics in the '89 and '90 GM Service manuals it looks like '89 U31 clusters were unique. The good news is that they changed the cluster to be generic in '90 and it was renamed to UB3. If you have a '90+ UB3 cluster it should work in any 3300 powered Ciera without having to repin the connectors. That includes using it in an '89 Ciera that had a base cluster. So, if you want to use the '89 cluster you have to repin. If I were you I would just look for a '90+ cluster.


Are you talking about the C1 and C2 connectors? In my 89 Ciera manual it shows the base & gauges clusters as having the same connections....I bought the cluster today at the Jyard, but they were closing so I didnt have time to grab any sensors.....that will have to wait until next weekend! I also snagged a perfect white & rustfree door to replace my rusty rear drivers side door!

[Tonglebeak]

Can somebody PLEASE post screenshots of the 89 or 90s C1 and C2 connector diagrams? PLEASE!?!?!

[skalor]

I'll get there. I had a busy weekend working on my house.

[Tonglebeak]

Ok, please keep us up to date. I want to see if the connectors are the same or not.

[skalor]

Here are the pinouts for a full cluster(aka. UB3) from a 1990 Ciera.

http://www.gmv6.org/images/olds/1990ub3-c1.jpg
http://www.gmv6.org/images/olds/1990ub3-c2.jpg