Re: Astra GTE Digital Dash to Ford Escort MK5

Does anyone know any tips as to how to fit an Astra GTE Digital Dash

> to a Ford Escort MK5. > > I'm not the cleverest with electronics, but can get by.any tips, big > pictures ;)or any information would be fantastic. I have read a few > posts on this, but i'm none the wiser,apart from knowing that there is > a calibration issue with the speedo.anyway. > > thanks in advance > > James

Swear we had this EXACT same question not long ago, for a Mk4 escort tho, google for it you lazy bastard :)

Reply to
Dan405
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Electronics is the least of your issues. Hope you've got a few quid to replace the dashboards you're going to bugger up.

Reply to
Conor

If you're no good with electrics, you've got no chance. The rest is easy :)

Reply to
Nom

Getting the speedo to work is the biggest obstacle. Wiring the rest up for the rev counter, ignition supply is just a case of matching the Vauxhall wire colours coming out of the dash to the Escort wiring loom. I can tell you the colours of the wires coming out of the GTE dash and what they do, but have trouble remembering the ones for the Escort.

Anthony Remove eight from email to reply.

Reply to
Anthony Britt

I do somewhere. Will have to dig it out for you, although that won't be until the weekend, unfortunately.

Good luck getting the speedo to read right, it is more than likely to be well out! My previous post about LCD dashes gave the reasons.....

HTH

Anthony Remove eight from email to reply.

Reply to
Anthony Britt

Ah your a good man, i do appreciate this.

cheers mate

James

Reply to
james

i have had a trawl around and found you previous post it reads.

I fitted the Astra GTE digital dash into my Mk3 Escort (may years ago now!). The thing that gave me the most trouble was getting the speedo to work accurately, as the Vauxhall sender would not fit onto the Ford gearbox. Even if it did, it would be miles out, as most Ford gearboxes give an even output of 1000 revs/mile (60mph = 1000rpm). Vauxhalls on the other hand have some very strange numbers - 1474 revs/mile for example. In the end I made an Infra-Red pick-up mounted on the gearbox, pointing at a strip of self-adhesive foil tape with alternate sections covered in strips of black tape.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have found the paperwork on which I did the calculations for the speed conversion. The Astra was 1776 revs/mile and the Escort was 1000 revs/mile. On the Escort, this figure was around the periphery of the speedo dial, and could only be seen with the instrument removed.

The IR pickup that I used was a special sealed device that I have just searched for, but cannot find, so I am not sure that they are available anymore. (tried RS, Maplin etc). It is just an IR source and detector mounted in a plastic body, and they are angled towards each other. Anything reflective passing the centre of the body will bounce the IR signal back to the detector. This then gives a pulse on the output wire. I fed this back to a small circuit board which I mounted on the back of the LCD dash. I should still ahve it somewhere.....

  1. where did you get these figures from?
  2. IR source and detector, where did you locate it and what was it looking at?
  3. did you build the circut board yourself , if so would i be rude to ask for a diagram.
  4. my Escort being an EFI 1.6 (XR2I engine)and has a brain, could i tap into that for the information?
  5. is the difference inpulses between the two gearboxes down to the gearing of the small speedo wheel, or something in the dash?

U must be bored by now with this, but i appreciate it.

James

Reply to
james

No problem!

1). The figures for the Escort speedo were obtained from the instrument itself. The Astra one was calculated from knowing that I had a 16 impulse speed transducer (16 pulses/rev), and finding out the gearbox speedo output revs/mile from Vauxhalls technical data (advantages of working for a main dealer).

2). The IR reflective switch was obtained from Maplin's, but I think they have since discontinued them. Rapid electronics still do them, code

58-0914, £2.30 + VAT.
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Download the optoelectronics catalogue in PDF format to see it. This pointed at the n/s inboard CV joint, which had a piece of self-adhesive aluminium foil tape applied around the circumference. This foil had small strips of black insulating tape applied around it. As the driveshaft rotated, with the sensor pointing at the foil, the IR beam would be reflected, then not reflected, giving a voltage pulse back to the circuit. Knowing how many black strips to put on there was calculated.

3). I did build the circuit myself on a small piece of veroboard. It had a suitable resistor (1K) to supply the IR LED in the sensor, and a NPN transistor to amplify the signal provided by the photodiode in the sensor. Will sketch it out and mail it to you - am not very good at ASCII art!

5). Not sure you could get any signals of any use to you from it. The only complication you may have is if the engine is DIS (has no distributor), in which case getting an RPM signal could be a pain.

6). The difference between the two is down to the gear ratio on the speedo drive, and differences in wheel diameter etc.

HTH

Anthony Remove eight from email to reply.

Reply to
Anthony Britt

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