hey all

just wondering the difficulties in inserting an NL cluster into an EF Futura. have read the doco, but on this subject it says little...

cheers

As I understand it the biggest problem is wiring up all the switches needed to make the door indicators in the cluster work. Other than that, it should be just as easy as any other cluster (unless I'm forgetting more of the pointless features Ford packed into the cluster to try and justify the $60K+ cost of the Fairlane)

I'm part way doing mine, the biggest hassle you will have is the connectors. If buying the cluster from a wrecker to save a lot of hassle make sure you get the connectors with it and one with the correct K's. The low and mid series cluster uses two 20 pin conectors, the LHS connector on high series is a 16 pin and a 12 pin connector. The 16 pin one replaces the 20 pin one on the lower series clusters, the 12 pin contains the wiring for the door open signals. You need to remove the pins from the LHS 20 pin and put them into the new 16 pin connector, the doco shows which pin goes where. The only problem I had here was getting the pins out from the 20pin connector without damaging them, practice on the new connectors first. I used a fine jewlers screw driver to unlatch the connector part from the body and swapped them one at a time to the new 16 pin connector.. I have not done the 12 pin one yet as I can't source the 12 pin connector yet. There is a 4 pin connector at the rear of the cluster for the "Bulb out" feature which needs to be wired in series with both the rear brake lights and the park lamps.
If you get a cluster with the correct K's you will also save a lot of hassles but if you wish to retain the exact K's then the eprom needs to be swapped from clusters, you need to have specialised equipment and practices to do this otherwise you will end up with 2 dead clusters.
You will also need to add a resistor to the inside of the cluster to enable the backlight of the LCD to work while the lights are on, the same warning applies here.

Hope this helps,
Cheers
TW.

so not really worth it? i've currently got the mid-series one - not much of an upgrade?

I'm far from an expert - the last time I saw an NF/NL dash it wasn't powered up and thus looked pretty much identical to the standard mid-series cluster - but if you already have the mid-series cluster then you're probably not missing out on all that much for the NF/NL version, certainly nothing to justify the trouble of wiring it all up properly. Unless of course your car doesn't have a left-hand wing mirror (to check the fuel door) or you can't move your neck sufficiently to check if any of the doors are open before you take off necessitating indicators on the dash

Not so much to gain if you already have a Mid series, I had the low series one and wanted the oil pressure gauge.
Cheers
TW

yeah i've got a fairmont one already - i'd have to rewire both cars in order to get it out of the old one, refit another cluster into that, and then refit the NL one into mine... sounds like far too much hassel

Bad enough doing one connector change.....!
Cheers
TW.

If you have a keen eye, you will see the clusters are very different - from the dial facia designs to the dial facia fonts - as TW has said, the door indicators indicators need wiring up - unsure about the 'gear display' indicator though ? Does this get a reading from the modified pinouts or does extra wiring need to be done to make this work ?

As I have said in another post - if the NF/NL clusters had the adjustable / calibratable speedo - then I would be doing this mod...but I'm happy with EL Ex-xhaser. Upto you Fraser - if you have mid-series, the only real upgrade to this NL one is facia styling and the door / gear indicators...do you value them enough to warrant the change

The gear indication functions without modification to the wiring, the cluster knows which gear its in via the ECU, just needs to display it.
Cheers
TW.

hmmm... gear displays eh... i like that feature!

has anyone got a decent picture of the NL cluster i can have a glimpse at?

Check out my Gallery, the vertical row of lamps is the gear selection area in the high series.

Cheers
TW.

The dial fascia designs are are acheived merely by changing the underlay inside the cluster however I did notice from twasons pic that the speedo and tacho in particular (not sure about the rest, you can't quite make them out) are rotated slightly to make way for the enhanced LCD readout. It's still mostly identical to the Fairmont/XR though.

Does the gear display just parrot what's on the indicator in the console or does it go 1, 2, 3, 4 as you accelerate/decelerate? If it's the former you can access it on any EF/EL through the diagnostic displays however the NF/NL probably displays it more stably than a cooker EF/EL could. In any event, if it's the former then it's not really something to get excited about IMO. I mean, you only have to look at the console to work out what gear it's in and being an auto chances are that gear will almost always be D.

"mostly identical" - I didn't know there was such a phrase lol...I beg to differ - the clusters *although very similar* look totally different when you see them in the flesh.



It only displays D when you are in D - it does not go through the gears, unless of course you are a bad-boy racer who manually changes the gears from 1 through to D hehe.

Yeah Twason and Steve have it all pretty spot on.
The High Series clusters dont have the speedo calibration feature, which is a real pity !

Just a point for anyone doing this mod, make sure the Self levelling suspension bulb in the cluster is good, and is inserted in the cluster (you dont have to wire it up luckily)....
My cluster was beeping for weeks and weeks before I worked this one out Lol !

As for cluster differences.
The plastic surround is different,
the needles are different,
the backgrounds, as well as the needle assemblys are completely different.
The circuit board is completely different.
Some lamps were moved to the LCD screen, including Economy, and Cruise.
The gear position is exactly the same as the diagnostic mode, including the delay in displaying the chosen gear. (I.E. it updates every 0.5 seconds).
The EEPROM is exactly the same (Thank god), so you can swap with a low and mid series cluster.
The LCD display for the boot open doesnt require resistors. It can be wired directly up to the boot Negative Line.
The Doors, and fuel flap release require resistors. (I have information on how to wire this up, including resistor values, etc somewhere... Just got to find them).

Apart from that, the cluster is a personal preference type thing.
I had mine lying around for a couple of months, before I got sick and tired of looking at it, and decided to spend a weekend throwing it in.
I cant really say that its one of those must have things. (Its not like having cruise control, or a trip computer, or power windows)