electronic cluster question

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electronic cluster question

August 28, 2008, 10:15:32 PM

Hi guys i have a 86 T-Bird with a fully electronic instruments cluster and i was wondering is there a way to keep it when swapping the 3.8 to a carburated 302 0r 351 engine or it will have to go since there will be no computer

electronic cluster question

Reply #1 – August 29, 2008, 12:08:45 AM

Just use the senders for the digital dash as the dash is seprate from the computer. However if you go carb you will loose the trip computer functions as it relies on input from the computer.

electronic cluster question

Reply #2 – September 04, 2008, 12:19:38 AM

was my cluster made only to go with the 3.8 and 5.0 efi or i could swap a muscled 5.0 HO and it would still work what are the capacities of the computer? thanx you all

electronic cluster question

Reply #3 – September 04, 2008, 08:29:12 AM

I see you're Canadian. Chances are your '86 V6 is carbureted (most Canadian ones were). If that's the case there is no computer in your car.

The base digital cluster (no tach) will work with any engine, you'll just need the senders for it (water, oil, fuel, and speed). On the base cluster all of these are standard (normal) senders except the speed sender, which is unique. If you change transmissions you'll have to use the speed sender off your current one.

If you've got the "full" digital cluster (has a tach and a fuel consumption computer) it is engine specific to a point. I believe you can make some changes to make the tach work with different number of cylinders, but the fuel computer won't work with a carbureted engine.

electronic cluster question

Reply #4 – September 04, 2008, 10:30:05 PM

i have the full electronic cluster with all the fuel info avg speed...
but if i try with a more than stock fuel injected 5.0 ho is ther a chance of the fuel consumption computer working properly? i mean i saw a 87 t bird with the full electronic cluster on this website http://www.mass-air.com/87%20Tbird.htm and if you read the description it says (Full digital dash and digital message center fitted in original dashboard ) and if you look at the engine it seems to be far more than stock

electronic cluster question

Reply #5 – September 05, 2008, 08:38:26 AM

The full electronic cluster gets its fuel data from the engine computer (which is an entirely separate component, mounted down by the passenger footwell). If you install a larger engine that uses more fuel the fuel usage computer in your dash can still work as long as you use a stock Ford computer (for example, if you install a 5.0 HO and use the stock mass air computer along with it). Certain upgrades may cause it to be inaccurate, such as installing larger injectors and a MAF calibrated to those injectors. The engine computer calculates the fuel usage data by crunching the numbers based on injector pulse width, so doing mods that increase fule use but don't alter the injector pulse width will result in the display being inaccurate. With larger injectors the pusle width remains the same, but the amount of fuel being injected each pulse increases. The computer does not know this so it won't send that increase along to the dash display.

If you go with a carburetor the fuel usage computer will not work at all. It can be made to work by finding a fuel flow rate meter (mounts on the fuel line and actually measures the fuel going through it) from a carbureted 1980 Lincoln Town Car with the optional fuel computer, but you'll likely search for years before ever finding one (if you ever do at all).