Re: Dakota Dash

["M. P. Olans <mpolans@xxxx>" <mpolans@xxxx>]

For those of you who are new to this list or perhaps just this thread,
the digital dash project was one I began a few years back. I worked
extensively with Dakota Digital to produce a dash with which I would
be comfortable. I had two made, one I kept for myself and the other
was sold to a former owner who didn't hook everything up quite right
from my understanding. Louie bought his car and inherited any issues
there may have been.

I had mine done by Rob Grady so I knew it would be done right and
installed with quality. Rob has the schematics of the install and
even kept a few of the pod's warning lights for me as a nice touch. 
The dash has the same layout of the analog gauges, two smaller ones on
top of each other on the left and right, and the speedo and tach big
sharing the center with bar graphs above and numbers in the middle. 
The odometer/trip odometer is below the speedometer. I had the
placement of the smaller gauges altered, however. In the upper left I
have my fuel, lower left is the voltmeter, upper right is the oil
pressure, and the temp gauge in the lower right. The Dakota gauges
will flash when they hit the user programmable warnings/limits so I
put the temp gauge where I would be most likely to see it out of the
corner of my eye. I was surprised at how well everything works and
the visibility is perfect and unobstructed by the steering wheel. In
fact I was going to purchase the $30 dimmer option complete with
brushed aluminum dimmer knob, but I found that I never need to adjust
the dash brightness.

There are turn signal indicators, a bright lights indicator, and when
your emergency brake is on a "b" shows up on the speedometer. The
speedo takes its cues from a pulse generator which is driven right off
the lower speedo cable. I kept this arrangement in case I ever wanted
to go back to the analog gauges. I can tell you that won't happen and
I am planning to put this setup in my other car if it does not sell. 
Besides, any electronic cruise control unit can take the signal from
the Dakota pulse generator. I have an aftermarket kit on my car and
Louie has the Dakota kit and both work well. I didn't want anything
in the engine compartment from the cruise control unit so I hooked up
to the pedals directly and ran the wires to the brain in the trunk. 
The one challenge was that the threads on the metric temp sensor did
not match the ones on the block or the water pump, but Rob Grady had a
guy machine an adapter and everything works perfectly. I have
pictures from the trip back from Memphis, but unfortunately the
digital camera I own won't focus on the dash when the car is moving. 
You can get a good idea of the install from them and I am willing to
share with anyone interested. A few are posted in the files section.

Dakota will make this kit for you for somewhere in the $900 range and
it comes in blue, teal, or green. However if there are interested
parties out there, if we all get together and place a bulk order they
will discount it by the number of orders they receive. If you are
interested please let me know as I have the details. For an extra $45
they professionately installed the unit in my binnacle frame. 

Matthew
VIN #16816
VIN #10365

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "content22207 <brobertson@xxxx>"
<brobertson@xxxx> wrote:
> Contact Louie G (louie AT delorean.com). Not only could he shoot you
> some pics, but describe the pros & cons as well. Not long ago he was
> willing to give his digital dash to anyone who would do labor to swap
> their analog gauges.
> 
> Bill Robertson
> #5939