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Mother Of All Whore Threads Non-VIP Edition v.1
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did you test with a multimeter today?
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Janz3n
Well-Known Member
No. I didn't have time. Maybe tomorrow. I think it's the loc though. I have another one but It doesn't have a remote wire to turn on the amp so if have to run a 12v wire to the amp to see if it works.
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Holy Spammers! Who let them in? lol
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- #20,208
I see you here. 
Honda-Fan
Well-Known Member
I missed the spam -- what was it for?
Online Casinos?
Naked AI Women?
Puzzle Games that require Crypto to play?
Online Casinos?
Naked AI Women?
Puzzle Games that require Crypto to play?
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Anime
Honda-Fan
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Added a bunch of additional keywords to the filter.
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They always trying to get here. They want to be like us lol
AlmosN8kd
Well-Known Member
- 528
- 327
- Vehicle Model
- 2012 Honda Civic Si, 1994 Stealth R/T TT, 2009 CBR1000RR, 2016 Pilot Touring AWD
- Body Style
- Sedan
So, this is a bit of a long one for what basically amounts to a simple modification to remove the factory boost gauge… which, if we’re being honest, has been about as helpful as a horoscope since I switched ECUs. Anyway, here we go.
Many years ago—somewhere around 2007, when flip phones still roamed the Earth—I ditched the factory ECU for an AEM EMS Series 1, which I’m still running to this day like the stubborn creature I am. Those of you who may be familiar with the 3/S platform, may know the factory boost gauge is relatively useless under ideal conditions. With an aftermarket ECU? It becomes actually useless. As in: dead. Decorative. A small, politely lit circle that contributes nothing to society.
Back when AEM still had forums (RIP), someone posted a write-up on how to make the factory gauge play nicely with the EMS. I didn’t save the info, because why would I do something practical like that? And now it appears to have been Thanos-snapped from existence forever. Probably. I spent a full zero seconds actually searching for it.
Fast forward to 2014. I scored a set of center gauges from a Euro 3000GT—basically the same as the GTO cluster but mirrored for LHD, so they practically drop into a USDM car. Like the RHD GTO version, the Euro one has that combo Boost-Temp gauge I didn’t want. So I started a project to replace the combo gauge with a US temp gauge. Simple, right?
Well… in theory, yes. In practice? The project stayed “in progress” for about 10 years. In 2015 I packed it up for a move, shoved it in a box, and granted it the same attention most people give their treadmill after the first week of January.
Earlier this year, with the dash out for yet another unrelated reason, I figured “while I’m in there” (the four most dangerous words in any car project), I might as well resurrect this little archaeological artifact. And amazingly… I think I actually finished it. Probably. I’ve tested everything on the bench, but the car isn’t reassembled yet, so we’re at the “optimistic but fully prepared for shenanigans” stage.
Anyway—here’s what actually went into this. It looks simple. It is not simple:
The US temp gauge now works using the signals from the plug. The signal pickups live in different places on the Euro combo gauge, because of course they do.
The gauge now lights correctly. The Euro light collector lives in a different spot (it is at the bottom of the gauge, where the US one is up and off to the side - see pic above), so you have to mount a bulb remotely inside the gauge like you're installing a tiny aftermarket sun.
The gauge now lights the correct color. This is actually where the project died for years. In 2014 I tried to stuff a white LED in there, but it turned everything a weird yellow that made the rest of the cluster look sickly. LED technology has thankfully evolved since then, so this problem is finally solvable without a séance.
The plug needed a full repin, because none of the OEM schematics matched what I was doing. Thankfully, the pins pop out easily, so this ended up being more “mild annoyance” than “existential crisis.”
The inner bezel needed plastic surgery, using bits from two different gauge sets because the half-moon cutouts for the needles didn’t line up. Frankengauge was born.
Cosmetic nostalgia: Back in 2014, you could still buy white faces that matched my setup. The companies that made them seem to have vanished sometime during COVID (moment of silence), so what I’ve got is what I’ve got. Same goes for the BS carbon-fiber stickers I slapped onto my original set years ago; I was able to get some at the same time to use for this project so it was an easy direct swap.
So, here are some final pics to compare things, the final unit, comparing to my cosmetically modified stock setup, and the installed look (dash is still out of the car though):
And, since this required a special pinout, I wired in both plugs to the dash harness (while also wiring in the plug for the clock) so I can switch back to my OEM unit pretty easily (if desired - or, I realize I have failed, it all goes up in smoke, and I have to put it back into a box for another 10yrs):
And . . . yes, I did cut that zip-tie, after the pic.
Many years ago—somewhere around 2007, when flip phones still roamed the Earth—I ditched the factory ECU for an AEM EMS Series 1, which I’m still running to this day like the stubborn creature I am. Those of you who may be familiar with the 3/S platform, may know the factory boost gauge is relatively useless under ideal conditions. With an aftermarket ECU? It becomes actually useless. As in: dead. Decorative. A small, politely lit circle that contributes nothing to society.
Back when AEM still had forums (RIP), someone posted a write-up on how to make the factory gauge play nicely with the EMS. I didn’t save the info, because why would I do something practical like that? And now it appears to have been Thanos-snapped from existence forever. Probably. I spent a full zero seconds actually searching for it.
Fast forward to 2014. I scored a set of center gauges from a Euro 3000GT—basically the same as the GTO cluster but mirrored for LHD, so they practically drop into a USDM car. Like the RHD GTO version, the Euro one has that combo Boost-Temp gauge I didn’t want. So I started a project to replace the combo gauge with a US temp gauge. Simple, right?
Well… in theory, yes. In practice? The project stayed “in progress” for about 10 years. In 2015 I packed it up for a move, shoved it in a box, and granted it the same attention most people give their treadmill after the first week of January.
Earlier this year, with the dash out for yet another unrelated reason, I figured “while I’m in there” (the four most dangerous words in any car project), I might as well resurrect this little archaeological artifact. And amazingly… I think I actually finished it. Probably. I’ve tested everything on the bench, but the car isn’t reassembled yet, so we’re at the “optimistic but fully prepared for shenanigans” stage.
Anyway—here’s what actually went into this. It looks simple. It is not simple:
The US temp gauge now works using the signals from the plug. The signal pickups live in different places on the Euro combo gauge, because of course they do.
The gauge now lights correctly. The Euro light collector lives in a different spot (it is at the bottom of the gauge, where the US one is up and off to the side - see pic above), so you have to mount a bulb remotely inside the gauge like you're installing a tiny aftermarket sun.
The gauge now lights the correct color. This is actually where the project died for years. In 2014 I tried to stuff a white LED in there, but it turned everything a weird yellow that made the rest of the cluster look sickly. LED technology has thankfully evolved since then, so this problem is finally solvable without a séance.
The plug needed a full repin, because none of the OEM schematics matched what I was doing. Thankfully, the pins pop out easily, so this ended up being more “mild annoyance” than “existential crisis.”
The inner bezel needed plastic surgery, using bits from two different gauge sets because the half-moon cutouts for the needles didn’t line up. Frankengauge was born.
Cosmetic nostalgia: Back in 2014, you could still buy white faces that matched my setup. The companies that made them seem to have vanished sometime during COVID (moment of silence), so what I’ve got is what I’ve got. Same goes for the BS carbon-fiber stickers I slapped onto my original set years ago; I was able to get some at the same time to use for this project so it was an easy direct swap.
So, here are some final pics to compare things, the final unit, comparing to my cosmetically modified stock setup, and the installed look (dash is still out of the car though):
And, since this required a special pinout, I wired in both plugs to the dash harness (while also wiring in the plug for the clock) so I can switch back to my OEM unit pretty easily (if desired - or, I realize I have failed, it all goes up in smoke, and I have to put it back into a box for another 10yrs):
And . . . yes, I did cut that zip-tie, after the pic.
Janz3n
Well-Known Member
@webby
I have been waiting for this day to come so I could say this.
What a Pyle of ****.
I just gave away my other sub and box a month ago. It had a crack in it but I would have thrown it in and not cared.
Voice coil said see yeah. The basket is actually cracking too. It's plastic. Lol. It was a $50 Amazon sub.
I have been waiting for this day to come so I could say this.
What a Pyle of ****.
I just gave away my other sub and box a month ago. It had a crack in it but I would have thrown it in and not cared.
Voice coil said see yeah. The basket is actually cracking too. It's plastic. Lol. It was a $50 Amazon sub.
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Would this be of help now, or not of use? It may take some time, but it’s possible it could be recovered. Your work on the gauges is very nice.
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That is a Pyle indeed. Lovely. Plans now?
Janz3n
Well-Known Member
Either buy another cheap sub off Amazon or find a used on locally. I've contacted a couple people with no response so far. This sub lasted like 5 years which isn't bad. But 1 year of that was in storage.
AlmosN8kd
Well-Known Member
- 528
- 327
- Vehicle Model
- 2012 Honda Civic Si, 1994 Stealth R/T TT, 2009 CBR1000RR, 2016 Pilot Touring AWD
- Body Style
- Sedan
If I had the information, I'd likely save it in the event I decide to use it. If I had a link to the old AEM forums, I'd try and see what I could pull from the Web Archive but the closer you get to a complete link to the actual page you need, the better it works. However, if you're thinking of reverse engineering things to re-figure out how that was done, that is also possible but it would be of limited value since AEM has been bought up by Holley and they discontinued any support for old AEM EMS units.