This is part of a full 3.5 swap that I will be doing in about a month.
I got a great deal on an 03 gauge cluster ($25 CDN) because one of the three mounting brackets was broken off. For the swap that is ok because all three brackets are in different locations compared to a 4th gen.

Here is the 03 cluster with the 2 remaining mounting brackets cut off.


I fabricated the two lower brackets out of polyurethane using a plaster of Paris mould I made of my stock 98 cluster. For the top bracket, I just reused the one I cut off by gluing it in at the correct position and angle.

Here is the gauge cluster with the new brackets.



Here it is installed without the finishers on.



And with the finisher installed.


Check out the mileage on the odometer 3619 km (~2250 miles)

As far as wiring is concerned, you pretty well need to have a section of the the 03 dash harness as the three gauge cluster connectors are completely different from the 4th gen. I had the 03 harness already as I am using a portion of it for the engine swap. It was simply a matter of going through the 98 and 03 wiring diagrams and splicing the appropriate wires.

IMO this mod is not worth it unless you are doing a full 3.5 swap.
The only nice feature that the 03 cluster adds is the board computer which displays: ambient temp, trip timer, ave. trip speed, fuel consumption and estimated driving range based on remaining fuel.

 

Looks great. Are you planning to use the 3.5 ecu + e-gas?

 

what!!!?? i would love to have that feature b/c i'm usually low of gas cause of the
astronomical prices

 

Looks sweet, weird that its in km/h though...

 

He's in Canada...

 

Where does the ambient temp. reading come from? i.e. where is the sensor? I would have assumed it was independent of the cluster.

Btw, creative mod! I don't think I've seen that around here yet...

 

i wonder....... could you take the ambient/trip lcd out of there and retro it to another place in the 4th gens like for example the empty spot next to the dimmer switch on the gauge cluster

 

it looks really nice......i think i might want to do that

 

Wow, nice job dude.

 

That is a very nice mod...did you use the 4th gen finisher? How was the fitment on that? Glad to see that all of your dials work...the question is...are they still accurate? (fuel tank, and the lights...also...no CEL? What about the traction control light?)

Sorry for all the Questions...

 

Yes & Yes.

It is independent of the cluster. The stock auto air conditioning uses an amb. temp sensor located up in the front of the car by the rad. You just need to splice into the two stock wires and run them to the cluster.

There is some signal processing done in the cluster itself to calculate the values. You would of course have to move all the associated circuitry with the LCD display. I have not opened up the cluster to see if the display and all the electrics are an integrated unit.

You do need a separate momentary contact switch connected to ground to switch the displayed parameter. On the 02/03, the switch is on the wheel. I am taking a TCS off switch from a 99 and using that.

 

Fitment of the finishers is perfect as the curvature (up/down) on the front of the cluster for the 4th & 5th gens is the same. There is a slight difference in the left-right profile of the clusters. The 5th gen is a little narrower. Most people would not notice.

The wires for the TCS light are not hooked up so it does not come on.

Fuel is accurate as the needle is in exactly the same spot as it was on the original cluster when I removed it.

RPM and tach are accurate. Idle is at 650. 120 km/hr is ~3000 rpm in 5th which is right where it should be.

The only problem really is the coolant temp gauge. On the 02/03, the ecu supplies a voltage signal to the cluster for water temp. On the 4th gen, there is a separate water temp sensor that is used by the gauge cluster and the auto air conditioning. The ecu uses its own sensor. Therefore the circuitry is not built in to the 02/03 cluster to convert the sensor resistance into a voltage that the gauge can display.

In my case, this does not matter as I will be using an 02 ecu when I swap engines.

 

Nice job dave.....look forward to seeing the full swap

 

Thanks Zack. Right now I am just trying to take care of all the little things ahead of time just to minimize the downtime when I do pull the engine. I am in no rush as it will be atleast another month or more before Cattman has another batch of headers ready for shipping.

My next little weekend project will be installing an 03 fuel pump assembly in my tank.

 

Looks great man! Any chance you could fabricate these for people?

 

Wow! Nice job! You're quite the smart one for figuring that all out! Are you going to do a writeup? Definitely very creative!

 

Interesting I must say. Are you on TMEC?

 

I have popped in a couple of times when the .org was down. Username is the same (eng92).

To do multiple units the way I did it would be horrendously inefficient. You really need a 2 piece mould in order to do this in one step and still get the part out. Because this was a one of, I used some of my kids plastercine for the top portion of the mould and then just peeled it away once the polyeurethane and epoxy had dried. There was also some time involved with the dremel to shape the brackets exactly like the 4th gen stock ones.
Also, gluing plastics can be kind of tricky and I would hate to make a bunch of them for people and have the brackets snap off.

The short answer is: sorry but no. Some things in life you only want to do once for the learning value and/or the experience.

 

Fantastic job, very creative and differnt. Wish the 4th gen had the readings the 03 has. Will save this thread incase I happen to see an 03 clutste dirt cheap or need to reaplce mine for some odd reason.

How did you adjust the milage or did you?

 

Once I get the 3.5 in with the ecu and data link connector, I will take it to the local dealership.

 

Very nice job. It's something different over the regular SE gauges.

 

you did the exactly same thing as me when i installed my cluster. props to you. cant wait until you have the complete swap. how far are you and waht did you do already?

 

wow that looks sexi, hehe now you can tell people you have a 02 maxima.

 

Looks interesting. Can't wait to see the finished product!

 

I have been thinking of installing a 2k cluster into my maxima. Hope I wont have any problems with the Fuel, Tach, Speedo, and Temp gauges.

 

Nice. Always wanted a 260 km/h gauge. Would it be worth putting in our cars as far as time and effort is concerned?

 

You should not have any problems as the 2K cluster uses the same type of signal inputs for those 4 parameters as all the 4th gens.

 

If all you want is a 260 km/h speedo, then use a cluster from a 2K/2K1. The wiring would be much more straightforward.

 

excellent job!!

 

Awesome job. Give you props for following the wiring and get it right...most people get discouraged when they have to do electronic work.
Wish u the best on the swap man.

 

That is a freakin' awesome job that you did. Can you post more pictures?

 

ohhh man that is so sick....I cant imagine getting into my car everyday and getting to look at that...man they are SICK ... nice gunmetal color

 

Yeah they look nice but if ur province is anything like my state... Because uve changed clusters, and thus mileage information, ur title will need to be changed to "True Milelage Unknown" which will wack atleast a G off ur resale value, if not more....

 

the only problem with them is that they arent bright enough.

 

That is a matter of personal preference. I use the dimmer control to turn the brightness down.



IMO mileage becomes irrelevant once you swap in a non-stock engine from a different vehicle. Also I consider myself an "end user" so resale value is a non-issue.

 

did you also hook up the switch that operates the mpg/temperature and etc?

 

Yes. Last sentence of post#11.

 

How many & what size bulbs are in the 03 max illumination. I just upgraded to 5 way Blue LED and would like to do the swap also, I just wanna know if I gotta order new LED's

 

03 cluster uses four 3W bulbs for illumination.

 

well done. Could you show me how to do the wiring please? thanks!