Does anyone else out there have a Fierro 600?

[djm58]

(cell phone holder clipped on side of radio shell)

[djm58]

stephen, you mentioned hill climbing, pikes peak? or are you talking of timed runs on a track, are you familiar with solo-time? i've been wanting to enter for some time now and we do have it in the area that i live in(once a month during summer) but didn't want to push the car as it is my transportation and it still has drum brakes.

[djm58]

this is the correct aspect ratio, look at surroundings. with framing of picture closed around the car lets you see how wide and low these cars are. fender lip to lip in front is just a hair under 6 ft. , and rear , a hair over 6 ft. . my car i had weighed at a landfill weight station and it clocked in at 2,095 pounds, a pretty good starting point-just add horsepower! handling,aerodynamics,weight,styling, a good head start on the time and money issue.

[Darryl Castone]

My interior will remain with the all black seats. (my actual seats)

black carpet and brushed (circles) aluminum dashboard and center console faces.

i'll get my new gear shifter (undecided on the two)


and my hand brake- black and polished metal accents.

you've seen my new Ferrari steering wheel already.

i also gotta get racing seat belts...

i guess my main interior theme is black and silver with a small hint of yellow/red

[djm58]

great start on dash/console! you can't go wrong with either shifter as looks go, what about reverse lockout? i scraped reverse a number of times on downshifting before i got the lockout to work. i like the all black as well, but will be using a diff. theme on mine when i get started. i have all vdo gauges but will also be replacing. what kind did you go with, they look good in your set-up.

[Darryl Castone]

your car is automatic! i'm a bit jealous. lol
i still have my VDO gauges. i'd like to replace with some LED ones.
my GFs mom has a 2011 mada rx.... her gauges are so cool.

is it possible to steal those off a wrecked 2011 rx8 mazda in a scrap yard and use them in mine or would it be much more complicated than that?

[SCOTTRODS]

your car is automatic! i'm a bit jealous. lol
i still have my VDO gauges. i'd like to replace with some LED ones.
my GFs mom has a 2011 mada rx.... her gauges are so cool.

is it possible to steal those off a wrecked 2011 rx8 mazda in a scrap yard and use them in mine or would it be much more complicated than that?

Having worked in the GM FORD and Related Instrumentation Industry for 13 years, (Til about 2 years ago), I'm gonna say it's possible to use the gage set,... but terribly complex, as they are an assembly called a "cluster" and they'll have a pin-out that sports probably 30 or more pins, times 2. They talk back and forth to all parts of the car, and are typically involved in Vehicle transmission controls, engine management systems, braking systems, suspension systems, security systems from the factory, audio system, lighting,.... I guess that would fill you in enough to decide.... However, you could probably build a gage set that is similar to that one, using after market gages (any number of manufacturers may already have a set that would work too). I could do it. So I know others can. But I'm reluctant to get involved that deep in my own projects. It's very tedious, time consuming and frustrating to figure out how to make all the gages work with different inputs and adaptations. You sometimes have to feed information on a digital level, to these later model clusters to make things work. One of the most fun things is supplying a proper lighting signal to them, or changing the "bulbs" to the right input type for your car. At least they're almost all using LED lighting now. Some still use little bulbs though.
Knowing that MAZDA and FORD were and still are closely related in some of their electrical wiring, I'd run far and fast from trying it with MAZDA stuff..... I abhor their engineering on electronic items!

Just my 2 cents worth.

[djm58]

scottrods, what a wealth of information! there's no way i could've explained in detail as you have. darryl, my car "is" a standard like yours, i wish it were an auto as i've driven a stick for 18+ years and have grown tired of them. if i stay on the track i want with this car, it will some day be mid-engined with an auto with a variety of other features. if you check around, and decide whether you will run cable drive or electronic tach./speedo, make sure they offer these combination's in the same gauge style with each other. since your car already has vw speedo cable drive and electronic tachs are the easiest to hook up, i would probably opt for that combo providing you find a style you could live with(price,looks,compatibility). i've already been through some of this since i had planned a mod motor and a.o.d. trans in a falclon.

[dfhtrhjn]

Good lord I've missed some great posts. Danny I like your car; it's got a rugged look and that wheel set is pretty cool. You should take a few pics of how your exhaust is set up.

I've got classic instruments gauges by the way, the quality is exceptional and they've got about 30 styles.

http://www.classicinstruments.com/

Hill climbs are probably my favorite, I live in downtown Portland and we've got a bit of a mountain range right in the downtown area with lots of windy roads that trace the hillsides. Endless driving fun, but it's kind of easy to to get killed.

I went down and snapped a photo of my interior.

[Darryl Castone]

hey what do you guys think of this gauge set?

[djm58]

thanks stephen, that rugged look comes from a rugged environment,lol. sounds like a pretty fun place to drive. we have alot of curvy roads here but not the good old up and down stuff like they have in ark. which is close but always a drive to get there. these wheels are the steel type and not much for unsprung weight, but they'll do for now. the exhaust is also temporary and is a ceramic unit that tucks in behind the engine with a homemade heat exchanger and a shortened and gutted motorcycle muffler, does the job for now. i wasn't trying to invest to much in this drivetrain as i had another in mind down the line. the pics of the spyker interior that was posted is close to what i had in mind for mine, sans the tan color. i wish i had mine as far along as yours, the inside of your car has a racey look to it and compliments the car well. these cars have a nice cockpit feel to them, especially at night. the wheels you have bring out that italian look the car already possesses, i will eventually go to 5 lug where there is more of an offering on sizes and styles. i have found the biggest and most affordable selection in tire and wheel sizes to be in the 17" range and is probably where i'll be going. keep up the good work, beautiful car!

[djm58]

darryl, simple and clean-would leave alot of room in the area that the small gauges used to reside in for other stuff like nav. system etc. , just measure your dash and make sure these 5" gauges will fit or you may have to customize your dash. my dash will fit them up and down but not side to side without mods.(i believe those are 5" aren't they?) these gauges i've seen in alot of retrorods (older era) and not so much in the newer or exotic type cars, but, never say never!

[dfhtrhjn]

Those gauges look pretty good, I definitely like the white. I prefer having the tac and speedo as separate gauges but you'll be looking at them everyday so just buy what you like.

[djm58]

yes! that's why i'm gettin' a picture of gerri ryan(deep space nine?) for my horn button!

[Darryl Castone]

OOkay!
so today i went out in the aftermath of a snowstorm and pulled off the cover & snow, and started figuring out where the wires were coming from. by the time i was done my hands and feet were frozen. though i should have worn gloves and socks in my shoes. haha

What i found out was hilarious as i've gone through so much unnecessary trouble with trying to figure out what wires go back to what gauges.
turns out all the gauge's various wires were connected by a continuation of the same 3 wires.
I used Microsoft Paint software to draw & illustrate what i mean below.

So those are the back of all the gauges (picture attached below).
the three continuous wires were (and to the best of my ability their purpose served as):
Black- Ground wire.
Red- Power supply.
Orange- Power supply to the light bulbs for each gauge.

On the back of the Amps/Volt gauge, there are two symbols
"+B"
"+L"
now all my VDO gauges say they are made in Germany if that is any indication?
and by the way- i do still own my original instruction/manuals to the VDO gauges!
just didn't get to take a look at them as i've left my house since messing around in my car today. actually typing this from the GFs house incidentally ignoring her the last hour.. or two.


on the back of the Gas Tank Gauge there was the letter "S" by a particular connector.
i cannot remember if the black wire (ground wire) was connected there, but if so.. why the hell doesn't it just say "G" by the connector like on the back of all the other ones?

Also there were these Christmas Tree looking symbols on the Gas Tank, Lbs sq. inch & the 'F(temp) Gauges. Exactly what does that mean? there were no wires connected to those by the way.

I'm sure all the "+" symbols on the back of the gauges, each by their respective connectors, were where the Red wires were meant to go.
If you're wondering why I'm assuming the red wire were for power supply, it's because the orange wire was only attached to light bulbs as the black was a ground wire.

Now onto the Speed gauge.
The back of that only used the orange wire for 2 light bulbs.
It also has this big screw thingy where a thick black wire screwed onto it.
I suppose that thick black wire gives it power supply while somehow feeding my cars MPH.

Tachometer gauge
(i think there's a spelling typo on the picture)
Just one light bulb for this gauge, and on the bottom there were 4 connectors.
from left to right on top of the connectors it said
+12 / +6 / 1 / - /
the red wire was connected to the +12 and the +6 connectors.
the black wire was connected to the "-" connector.
nothing was connected to the "1" connector.
Also on the back of the Tach was engraved
"8 6 Zyl./ 4 Takt" ...there was also the numbers (top to bottom) 2 and 4 on top of the letter Z in that engravement.

anyways...
the thing at the very bottom of the picture just shows how the three wires were tapered together as it split off to connect to each gauge when needed.

this is just what i figured out today.
now why im posting all of this is because.... all these months i thought before that every wire connected to the connectors on the back of all the gauges were all separate wires coming from a specific place. turns out its all 3 continuous wires splitting.
...that's confusing...
because how does one power supply wire (red)
tell each gauge simultaneously:
1- how much fuel is in my gas tank?
2- how many pounds per square inch are throughout my car. hahah???
3- the 'F/temperature of... actually... WHAT is that even for?
oil temp? engine temp? water temp?

eyyeee yii yiiiiee!!!

I've asked a lot of question through out this one post and so Thanks for the help and for reading & responding guys!!!!!!!
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By The Way: i started a new topic regarding hooking up wiper & headlight switches if any of you guys wanted to take a look or whatever.
http://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php ... 97&start=0