Thinking of Dakota Digitial dash for my 67 NOM or sending out stock dash for rebuild. Opinions Please!
Also, how difficult to install ?

 

Sounds like you are on the road to making the car a restomod? If not keep the original gauges Most future buyers don’t want something “halfway,”

 

Sent you an email. Email me back and I can send you some notes.

 

I'm in the same boat and plan to send mine out to Classic Instruments for a full restoration with a few changes to the functionality. Personally, I think all of the Dakota Digital products quickly "date" a build....just like any other visible tech. If you look at their first generation gauge clusters from 10 years ago, they look like something out of an 80's GM truck. Similarly, I don't think their current offerings will age any better. This however is all just personal preference....if you like their stuff, then by all means go for it!

 

I'm putting an LS3 in my '64 and I'm having the tach rebuilt to be electronic. Oil pressure and temp gauges I'm just refurbishing. Battery gauge converted to volt meter. Love the original look of the stock gauges and you can make them work with modern engines.

Patrick

 

I thought the C2 battery gauge was already a volt meter. What is it?

Does anyone know this answer?

 

I agree the Dakota VFD, and VHX series will date quickly. The HDX is better, but may still look out of place depending on your personal taste.

Have you seen the new RTX Series? They are designed to look like the original gauges. A much better appearance IMO. And beyond that, if you want a custom look to your own taste, Dakota will create custom gauge faces to your specification (for an additional cost).

If your engine and sensors are all conventional analog and you want the appearance to be stock, the rebuild is likely the better way to go and a lot less expensive. If you are adding modern tech like a data from computer engine control unit, GPS speed, cruise control, tire pressure sensors, air/fuel ratio, etc. Dakota has the integration to make it all work. Dakota also has all the conventional analog inputs on the control box.

On ease of installation: The Dakota installation manuals for their systems are available on the website. The install is straightforward, but by no means plug-and-play as a rebuilt stock cluster would be. The Dakota install requires a lot of wiring, a cable to electronic speed sensor for the speedo, and possibly changing or adding sensors such as oil pressure, temp, etc.

I was going to use the original speedo and gauges in my 56/57 restomod with conversion of the tach to electronic and a hide-away flat screen display for the additional information. When I found Dakota would make me a custom setup for the 56/57 I changed to that route. It's expensive and has a long lead time, but the integration is very cool.

 

Thanks for the replys, any recomendations for a quality rebuild.

 

[QUOTE=D67;1604541300]Thanks for the replys, any recomendations for a quality rebuild.[/https


http://www.csofmdwest.com/?gclid=Cj0...kaAtSaEALw_wcB

 

Redline is good to deal with. I was very pleased with them. https://www.redlineg.com/

 

This is who has been doing my cluster work. Very happy with them.

 

The stock gauge doesn't measure actual battery voltage. More info here and in other threads I'm sure:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...e-reading.html

 

It really doesn't matter anyways. My Holley handheld EFI programmer gives me the volts reading among other engine vital data.

 

In anticipation of an LS motor before summer, I too have an electric tach, and a device that converts a VSS signal from a 4L60E to cable drive. The original cluster look is huge to me. All ready use a volt meter.