[Toomanycars]

So we have pulled the tacho from the 1.3 panel out and apart and done the same with a donor 1.6 beleno tacho.. Inside looks identical except for one large chip...the only large chip on the board. The tracks etc both look similar .. How do people normally convert these tachos. Is it just a matter of swapping that chip or what. We are trying to keep the facia the same color otherwise we will have black and white dial faces..What do people normally do.. Sorry if my questions seem stupid to some but I know very little about these cars.

[Blkfxx]

Distributor or coilpack 1.6?

Distributor would be fine with stock tach, just use the stock brown wire in the engine bay. Coilpack needs the donor tach fitted (It's possible to keep the stock face)

[Toomanycars]

It was a 1.3 ditributor type now it is a 1.6 coil pac efi..

[MrRocky]

U can make the sierra one work with diodes and stuff
Any aftermarket tacho will work with coilpack motor

[Toomanycars]

Does anyone know exactly what "donor" taco will work. Problem is that the taco gets it's info via the 3 screws that hold the taco in place. The screws make contact with tracks on the panel circuit board and info is transferred via the screws to the taco circuit board. The sierra taco circuit board is mounted vertically and the baleno taco board is mounted horizontal so the 3 screws are totally in the wrong place and even if I made up wiring to go to the correct place the tracks run to different pins on the plug (harness)..I think we have been misinformed about the baleno taco fitting..So I am back to square one. I don't want to have a non functioning taco on the dash and a separate after market one stuck somewhere..

[Gwagensteve]

I have fitted a Baleno tach into a Sierra cluster. Might be some photos in "Michaels trolley tug build" in the rigs section.

No, the screws don't line up.

[Toomanycars]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14025&hilit=trolley+tug+build ... These are BOTH black... I think mine must be a different model because my speedo and 1.3 taco are both white.....The Baleno taco I have acquired is BLACK.... Have I got the wrong Baleno cluster because everything about the Baleno one is wrong...The orientation of the taco board, the screw holes that provide power/data are in the wrong place and the pins on the cluster are not in the correct order for the Baleno taco to work even if the screws did line up...

[Toomanycars]

Maybe I am missing something... Like...am I supposed to swap the entire cluster across into the sierra dash... Just a bit lost here...

[Gwagensteve]

No, you're correct. You have an SJ80 dash which has white gauges. What can't you swap your white SJ80 face onto the baleno tach? don't they both read to 8K?

No, nothing at all lines up between the baleno tach and the Sierra tach. Nothing at all. It's a fiddly job.

Steve.

[Toomanycars]

Everything about the baleno taco is different.. To start with the Sierra taco, I've been told, runs off the distributor or coil, where as the Baleno 1.6efi taco runs of the computer so they are totally incompatibly in any way so it is a total replacement. but............

Firstly the face, if it was just a matter of swapping the mechanism itself and just putting on the correct face, is out by quite a few degrees..



Plus... as you can see in that photo the taco circuitry is all wrong as it is sideways...

plus... the blue arrows are pointing to the connections of each cluster and the tracks on each cluster are totally different..eg.. 3rd from the right is an earth on one and active to a bulb on the other....
You can also see the 3 transmitting screw hole connections, marked in red arrows , are in a totally different place..



I think whoever advised my son that you could simply swap a taco from a Baleno into the Sierra cluster was just making it up as they went along or probably refering to the type of swap that was in the TUG build. I worked in the computer industry for over 20 years before I retired and can usually come up with a solution for problems but this is square peg in round hole stuff.....I think we are destined to have an aftermarket taco installed in this one...and maybe a nice big clock where the taco used to go...lol.. My son is returning home in 3 days from working in Thredbo for the season and I reeeealy wanted to have this up and running for him as a surprise.. aaaahhhh..

[Gwagensteve]

I'm telling you you can do it because I've done it. I was staring at exactly what you are staring at. It's possible. To correct the rest position of the needle you just put the needle on in the new position.

This 100% works, it's exactly what I already have done.

If you can't work it out or can't be bothered, that's fine. It doesn't mean it's impossible.

[Gwagensteve]

Somewhere I have photos of the inside of the cluster once I was finished. Not sure I have them handy. The board was mounted on long screws to position it in the right position and flying leads run to connect it to the ECU.

[Toomanycars]

hmm ok.. so you don't use the cluster connections at all. If that's the case it is easy.. Just mount the baleno taco with the Sierra face, which will be a bit out as far as accuracy goes due to the slightly different position of the numbers, and then run flying leads from the 3 screw holes directly to the ecu...Am I understanding you correctly ??? The "guru" is coming over tomorrow night so he may know which wires on the cpu go to the taco.. Cheers for clarifying this for me.. I was thinking it had to use the existing Sierra cluster for it's power/data.. cheers. Would love to see that photo if you can dig it up. This may help others as well..

[Gwagensteve]

It's been posted before.

Just replace the needle in the correct spot to read zero when the engine is off, the tach will read fine. The trolley tugs reads true at the rev limiter and true by calculation at 100km/h in top gear.

Steve.

[Toomanycars]

Ok.. So I have ran 3 wires from the 3 screw/connector holes on the board out the back of the cluster and now all I have to do is find the wires on the ecu to connect them to and it should all work.. from the front it just looks normal...

[alien]

Seems like you've taken a really complicated route?

Suzistore have a capacitor or something that you just put in the right spot and voila, you have tacho.

[Toomanycars]

All sorted.. Yellow is earth, pink is signal and grey is power..just run them to the ecu.

[fordem]

You can get power & ground right there in the cluster - look at the traces where the pink & yellow wires come through.

[jono165]

I'll be giving this a go viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8033&hilit=baleno+cluster&start=60

coil negative emulator, popular in Toyota conversions.

I also believe its possible to use the stock sierra temp gauge with a baleno motor and its ECT in the thermostat housing the pink/black wire is the feed to the cluster and a 360ohm resistor in parallel should get the sierra gauge reading pretty close

[Toomanycars]

We have a couple of options but they all include using those three wires. The sparky will decide which one is best. We are retaining some of the original loom to run the oil pressure and coolant temp. The sparky has done these conversions before. He just finished another one last weekend. At least it starts and runs now. He is coming over tonight to finish it all off hopefully. He is running all new light wiring with new relays etc as well.
I have kind of given up hope of having it all finished by the time my son gets home Thursday night. We are having an engagement party her for 80+ people on Saturday night and that is going to start occupying my time shortly.

[MrRocky]

jono165 wrote:

I'll be giving this a go http://auszookers.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... r&start=60

coil negative emulator, popular in Toyota conversions.

I also believe its possible to use the stock sierra temp gauge with a baleno motor and its ECT in the thermostat housing the pink/black wire is the feed to the cluster and a 360ohm resistor in parallel should get the sierra gauge reading pretty close

Yeah i use the pink and black wire to my temp gauge, obviously without the resistor it reads about half what it would normal but i just use it as a reference point for normal