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electronic speedomoter and tachometer ls swapped k5

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funderburgh22

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i did an ls swap on my 1982 k5 blazer and am wanting to have a vss speedometer, does anyone have any of the 1990 1991 clusters or know of where i could get one? also i would like to have a tachometer, anyone know what the best way to accomplish these goals?
 
I believe the best bet would be to swap in one of the C60 techs with built in fuel gauge...the 90-91 cluster is not cast for the small fuel gauge the early tach clusters used.

90-91 R/V donor is the only source I know for that cluster. Dont believe anyone is reproducing them, but for what people on ebay are asking, it's probably close to being profitable if someone decides to.
 
90-91 Blazers and Burbs have them as well as the R/V trucks for those two years. I've seen some folks use the GM Sports tach/fuel gauge combo before to avoid having to repin the cluster and lose their clock, plus you get an 8000(?) rpm tach instead of the factory 5000 or whatever it is so it matches up to the LS engines rev limits better.

I found a 90 3/4 ton Burb at one of the pick and pulls near me and grabbed the t-case and speedo from it. Decided to go with Dakota Digital gauges though so I have the whole gauge cluster with the electronic speedo if you can't find one locally.
 
I tried a few different ways but the way I decided to do it was cut up the housing for the tach to fit in the vss cluster and run fuel gauge jumper wires to the printed circuit.

20190614_103043.jpg
 
NorCalAnthony said:
90-91 Blazers and Burbs have them as well as the R/V trucks for those two years. I've seen some folks use the GM Sports tach/fuel gauge combo before to avoid having to repin the cluster and lose their clock, plus you get an 8000(?) rpm tach instead of the factory 5000 or whatever it is so it matches up to the LS engines rev limits better.

I found a 90 3/4 ton Burb at one of the pick and pulls near me and grabbed the t-case and speedo from it. Decided to go with Dakota Digital gauges though so I have the whole gauge cluster with the electronic speedo if you can't find one locally.
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I would’ve bought it from you, but I just picked one up on the for sale on here, does yours have a tach?
 
That's a c60 gasoline 5k tach. I have sold over a dozen diesel tachometers but this was the only gas one I've found so I kept it for myself.
Factory tachometer availability stopped in 82 so the second design gauge styling is a pretty short run on the 10 20 and 30 trucks. Then the fuel gauge is pretty hard to find by itself if you want to fit it into a vss cluster.
 
No worries just thought I'dthrow it out there in case you weren't having any luck. And no, the tach clusters weren't an option in those last years as far as I know so mine just has the regular giant fuel gauge and a clock in the lower corner. Here's the GM Sports tach I was talking about. Looks just like the one ObijuanK5 posted but with a higher rev limit.
412686967.jpg

Another thing you can look in to is using a diesel oil pressure gauge, they have a higher range than the gas version (100 psi vs 60 psi) to match up better with the LS engine and is supposed to be a drop in swap.
 
funderburgh22 said:
That looks awesome, anywhere you think I can find that tach, ebay isn’t coming up with much.
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Try car-part.com as well. I just did a quick search and there's one dismantler in ID that has one listed, maybe others too but I stopped scrolling lol. I just used an '81 20 series pickup for the vehicle and speedometer or instrument cluster for the requested part and found one pretty quickly.
 
NorCalAnthony said:
No worries just thought I'dthrow it out there in case you weren't having any luck. And no, the tach clusters weren't an option in those last years as far as I know so mine just has the regular giant fuel gauge and a clock in the lower corner. Here's the GM Sports tach I was talking about. Looks just like the one ObijuanK5 posted but with a higher rev limit.
View attachment 313022

Another thing you can look in to is using a diesel oil pressure gauge, they have a higher range than the gas version (100 psi vs 60 psi) to match up better with the LS engine and is supposed to be a drop in swap.
Click to expand...
That tach is the one I wanted to buy, called gm sports and they discontinued them.

Interesting, I might try and find one of those that would be nice
 
NorCalAnthony said:
Try car-part.com as well. I just did a quick search and there's one dismantler in ID that has one listed, maybe others too but I stopped scrolling lol. I just used an '81 20 series pickup for the vehicle and speedometer or instrument cluster for the requested part and found one pretty quickly.
Click to expand...
They had clusters with tachometers?
 
NorCalAnthony said:
90-91 Blazers and Burbs have them as well as the R/V trucks for those two years.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, all "squarebodies" '87-91 are R or V-series trucks.

Dont try to state that at your local parts counter unless you want their head to explode.
 
@funderburgh22 I didn't message or call to confirm but that one in Idaho has one listed with a tach. Not sure where you're at but there might be one close to you, or just see if that one will ship it.

@dyeager535 - 100% correct. I'm used to people meaning the trucks like a V3500 but the Blazers and Burbs had the same R/V designations. I just stopped calling them that because I got tired of people asking if I had a viper engine in my '89 V10 Blazer lol.
 
NorCalAnthony said:
@funderburgh22 I didn't message or call to confirm but that one in Idaho has one listed with a tach. Not sure where you're at but there might be one close to you, or just see if that one will ship it.

@dyeager535 - 100% correct. I'm used to people meaning the trucks like a V3500 but the Blazers and Burbs had the same R/V designations. I just stopped calling them that because I got tired of people asking if I had a viper engine in my '89 V10 Blazer lol.
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:haha:
 
The original signal is a 12V square wave. The LS pulses a ground signal on/off. You need to install a resistor between the PCM speed signal and a 12V ignition source then hook the speedometer up between the resistor and the PCM. When the PCM grounds the circuit the speedo sees 0V but when it opens up the speedo then sees 12V.

You might need to change the VSS output count in the PCM programming for 2k pulses per mile. Some of the newer PCMs run 4k so your speedo would be doubled.

Same deal if you are hooking up an old school tachometer, it needs a pull up resistor and the output programming changed from a cylinder signal to an 8 cylinder signal.
 
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