Analog to digital dash swap

ChrisF · Dec 15th, 2003, 03:10 PM

First off Hi, I is new. Second, I did use the search feature, which leads me to believe problem with this swap is that 91-92 Sentra/ NXs have a cable speedo, while the 93-94 are electronic. I have a 93 SE-R, tach, airbag, etc. I pulled a digital dash from a 93 NX1600, with all electronic system, (no cable). Both Sentra and donor NX have same dash warning and indicator lights. I am assuming that since my Sentra has cruise control, it has a vehicle speed sensor required for the electronic dash. I have not pulled the Sentra dash yet, but wanted to first verify if this before ripping a good dash apart. Both cars are same year with same features. I really dig the digital dash. Unfortunately, the NX was stolen and crashed, nice car though. The Sentra has a little more pep however. Thanks for helping and please be easy on me, I am a newbie. A bright eyed, bushey tailed newbie, looking for guidance. Thank you for your support.

nitestridar · Dec 15th, 2003, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisF

First off Hi, I is new. Second, I did use the search feature, which leads me to believe problem with this swap is that 91-92 Sentra/ NXs have a cable speedo, while the 93-94 are electronic. I have a 93 SE-R, tach, airbag, etc. I pulled a digital dash from a 93 NX1600, with all electronic system, (no cable). Both Sentra and donor NX have same dash warning and indicator lights. I am assuming that since my Sentra has cruise control, it has a vehicle speed sensor required for the electronic dash. I have not pulled the Sentra dash yet, but wanted to first verify if this before ripping a good dash apart. Both cars are same year with same features. I really dig the digital dash. Unfortunately, the NX was stolen and crashed, nice car though. The Sentra has a little more pep however. Thanks for helping and please be easy on me, I am a newbie. A bright eyed, bushey tailed newbie, looking for guidance. Thank you for your support.

Hello and welcome aboard.

Here is my input .. I bought a 93 nx2000 about 4-5 months ago and it had the digital dash installed. I was like cool until I found out it did not work well..

The only things that seemed to work were the gas and the temp.

the speedo was off but I think that was due to the fact that the sensor was never changed .
The tach did not work. i guess while installing it the ass blew it out and fried the ecu

It will be a big headache you will need the harness from the 1600 then you have to splice it in with the sentra harness (all 4 plugs) . Please also note that this is not a straight forward job you will need the diagram for each one.

If you got it to work that would be cool but the red line I think is only about 6.8k. But when you think about switching back this is what you will have to deal with. trust me i know I switchd it back to analog what a bitch..

here are pics of my car

ChrisF · Dec 17th, 2003, 01:29 PM

Yikes! I think I'll just save some time and drill holes in my teeth so it won't be as painful. Thanks for the heads up. The digital dash just looks so cool, so Knight Rider-ish. I figured since the threads I searched had to do with the cable to electronic problem, I might have lucked out. I suppose I'll be parting out the NX1600 then. Maybe I can cut and graft the t tops into my SE-R's roof?

nitestridar · Dec 17th, 2003, 02:30 PM

No Problem.. Just didn't want someone getting into the mess my car was when I bought it.

But to tell you the truth it did look pretty cool with the digi dash.

halfshaft · Dec 17th, 2003, 06:53 PM

I was thinking of putting the digi dash in my 94 B13 Sentra, but everyone I talked to said they are very finiky and problematic when swapped to a different car. That t-top idea sounds really sweet, tell me if you do it and what parts you used.

ChrisF · Dec 18th, 2003, 09:49 AM

The T-top thing was kind of an optimistic joke, but I have a friend who has a body shop so maybe??? I suppose it depends on the angle and arch of the two roof lines.

SaphireNX · Jan 28th, 2004, 03:37 PM

It can be done, I know: I did the swap...

I have a '92 100NX, with a GA16DS in it.
Bought a Digital Dash off of eBay for $35,-
spent half a year researching and then 4 weekends on rewiring.

I actually made a second set of plugs for the Digital Dash,
so between weekends I could put the analog one back in
and drive my car as it is my primary vehicle.

The Fuel Gauge is accurate, I have to replace my Temp-sender
with a newer one with a slightly different curve.
The Speedo-Cable was replaced with a sensor off of a Sunny N14.
It swaps right into place where the cable-drive used to be.

The Tach required a custom piece of electronics which I built myself.
This was the hardest; I am now on my 4th revision and it FINALLY
works like it should...

On the GA16DE-equipped cars the ECU has an output for the tach,
which gives pulses to ground. The dash has an internal "Pull-up".
The Carbureted engines (DS) splice into the coil-wire so are
12V with a "Dip" to ground and then a spike causing the pulse
in the primary ignition coil. I Made a converter that takes this
"dip" and converts it into a nice short to ground for the dash.

If you need a wiring-diagram for the dash; I have one on-line
for a week or two. Right-click here:DigitalDash-Connections.pdf

Drop me an email and I'll try and aswer more questions,
I don't check out here that often...

dreadsword · Jan 28th, 2004, 07:52 PM

I love the digi dash in my 1600, but it seems like agony to get it over and working well into a different vehicle.

SaphireNX · Jan 29th, 2004, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreadsword

I love the digi dash in my 1600, but it seems like agony to get it over and working well into a different vehicle.

Just so there's no confusion;
"100NX" is the designation for the NX1600 and NX2000 in Europe.
So essetially my car is the same as an NX1600 and even
then it is a LOT of work to get it to function properly.

Adding to my problems was the fact that the 100NX's before
1993 were carburated (mine's a '92) and have a different signal-type
for the Tach as well as the speedo being cable-driven...
And the temp-sender is differently "curved" I've found out...

So it CAN be done, is a lot of work, but if you're determined you'll
succeed. To me it certainly was NO agony, just a fun project...

SaphireNX · Jan 29th, 2004, 03:08 AM

And what I allmost forgot:
I even replaced a couple of the icons on the dash...
My car does not have ABS, CruiseControl, or an Airbag,
so I replaced the icons I had no use for with ones
I missed (like the windshieldwasher fluid warning)
and ones I wanted (rear-defog and rear-foglight switches
are obscured by the Folding Panel of my Radio)...

TOOQIK · Feb 15th, 2004, 12:30 PM

http://car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

dburone · May 29th, 2004, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaphireNX

It can be done, I know: I did the swap...

I have a '92 100NX, with a GA16DS in it.
Bought a Digital Dash off of eBay for $35,-
spent half a year researching and then 4 weekends on rewiring.

I actually made a second set of plugs for the Digital Dash,
so between weekends I could put the analog one back in
and drive my car as it is my primary vehicle.

The Fuel Gauge is accurate, I have to replace my Temp-sender
with a newer one with a slightly different curve.
The Speedo-Cable was replaced with a sensor off of a Sunny N14.
It swaps right into place where the cable-drive used to be.

The Tach required a custom piece of electronics which I built myself.
This was the hardest; I am now on my 4th revision and it FINALLY
works like it should...

On the GA16DE-equipped cars the ECU has an output for the tach,
which gives pulses to ground. The dash has an internal "Pull-up".
The Carbureted engines (DS) splice into the coil-wire so are
12V with a "Dip" to ground and then a spike causing the pulse
in the primary ignition coil. I Made a converter that takes this
"dip" and converts it into a nice short to ground for the dash.

If you need a wiring-diagram for the dash; I have one on-line
for a week or two. Right-click here:DigitalDash-Connections.pdf

Drop me an email and I'll try and aswer more questions,
I don't check out here that often...

Please, i'm putting the digital dash from an NX in my sentra E16, carburated so i don't have any ECU, can you tell me how to make the converter??

dburone · May 30th, 2004, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dburone

Please, i'm putting the digital dash from an NX in my sentra E16, carburated so i don't have any ECU, can you tell me how to make the converter??

I've been working on it today, and i have almost everything working. The only things that i need to finish are fe Tach and Speedo, the speedo is going to wait for me to get the sensor, but the Tach needs a negative impulse that i don't know how to get.
I think theres where the converter works.
Any help??