New/Modified Gauges

In one of my other posts I mentioned that my odometer is not working and my instrument enclosure is cracked. Well it seems the local motorcycle salvage places are CRACKED OUT, with what they're quoting for a used replacement cluster. It will be cheaper to replace it with an aftermarket electrosport as shown in this thread. The only problem I see is that my seca has the computer which almost all the lighting and such runs through. After looking at the drawing I COULD bypass these, but it got me thinking, I believe that I could keep the whole computer, build a seperate enclosure for it and just replace the speedo and tach. This would allow me to keep the stock warning system, and more importantly the fuel indicator, and avoid rewiring the head/taillights, etc. I would wire in new SMALLER warning cancel and check switches, and tie the old warning light wiring into the new gauge's hazard light. I was thinking about mounting it either beside the new gauge, or go for a tank mount, custom looking thing.
I guess i'm just wondering if anyone can see anything obviously wrong with this? I don't know when i'll have the time or ambition to get this done, as the odometer/tripmeter is the only thing not working right now, but maybe it'll be a nice fathers day present. The other option I thought of is going for a motorcycle GPS like this which has a tripmeter/fuel gauge based on GPS distance, and it tells you where the nearest gas station is. I work for a Garmin dealer, so I could get it cheaper than retail, but its still fairly costly.

 

If this is the squarish dash. I have one you could have for around $60 plus the shipping. I know it works. I ran it on my bike last year. It looked kind of funny as my bike is an xj750j, but got the job done. Shoot me PM if interested.

 

K-chicken,
I'm thinking along the same idea you are. I would like to keep the fuel guage function somehow, but get rid of that ugly speedo/tach that stands out like a sore thumb on my chop project. This may be an option:

http://www.electrosport.com/electrospor ... _2700.html

I looked into taking the micro processor and diplay screen out of the stock unit and try to make a small housing to mount on the handlebars, but it's going to be time consuming and all in all, a nightmare to do. I have even tried to find another guage/fuel guage setup off of other bikes that would work and look better, but no luck so far. At this point, I don't even care if I have a tach anyway, because I don't rev anywhere close to readline anyway. If I can find a mechanical speedometer (so I can just use the cable to run it) and incorporate the fuel guage with it somehow, that would make my day.
So...if you come up with any kind of solution, please PM me or post it here so I have something to start with. Thanks!!! >PD<

 

From what I recall from taking mine apart (I wasn't really paying attention to the computer) it is around a 4" square box about 2" thick. All the associated harness comes out that box and is seperate from the tach/speedo harness, so that would remain hooked up the same. The only other wires are the check and warning switches, which should just be a momentary contact between two wires, so can be replaced by new better looking switches. The last part would be the existing warning light which could be wired into the new 2700's hazard light. The only challenge would be making it look good with a round speedo. Which is why I was thinking about a tank mount beside the fuel cap, which would give enough seperation and give it a custom cruiser look...

 

Not a bad idea Killer chicken. I will have an extra tank to experiment with soon so maybe mounting the new speedo right in the center of the tank would look alright. That got me thinking of the gauges mounted on the hood of a car facing back toward the driver. If I can find something that would match the contour of the tank (and chrome) it just might look alright. Thanks for the idea!! >PD<

 

Look on the floor in some little-kid's room ... and you just might come-up with something like a "Game-Boy" or some other cast-off Gadget your kid-brother (or, son ... as the case might be) ... that you might be able to use as a pre-fab case for the warning panel.