I have a 1992 Flareside XLT with the 5.0 302 V8... it already has the premium guage package including tach and all of that... but is it possible to connect the guage panel from an L1 lightning and it will work??

 

seems like it would work. I don't think they made them work any different did they?

 

Well, there are several things to consider on my part... first is, will the new guages retain my mileage when they come on... next is, will the speedometer be correctly calibrated, due to the lightnings having 17" wheels and regular f-150s have 15", then there is the whole connector thing.... but i think the connectors are the same

 

umm, i heard frederic talking about the mileage thing awhile back. he said you could take out the little mileage module and switch them. are the speedo's on those electric or mechanical?

 

all of the guages in the cluster are 'lectric

 

try pm'ing frederic or just wait and he might reply to this one. I know hes done alot of tinkering wiht guages.

 

The mileage can be corrected at a dealership, they're able to program mileage. I had to get a new cluster for my old truck and they programmed the mileage for me, I think it was $50. I've heard of people moving the mileage up with a radio, but this is just an electrical trick and I'm not too informed about it. Speedometer calibration can be changed unless someone has already changed it several times. Ford gives you I believe 8 calibration changes before it is not able to be changed again. The only way you'd know is if you had the cluster hooked up, and you checked by putting it in calibration mode. Check our tech articles section on this, it's titled something along the lines of "reprogramming the 92-96 speedometers" or something of that nature.

 

Programming the module, at a cost from the dealer, isn't worth the effort. All of the speedometers from 92 through 96 are absolutely identical electronically, so the easiest, past of least resistance, is to swap your complete speedometer module from your old cluster, to your new cluster. Face, needle, PSOM module, et al, move it all over. When you take the clear lens off the cluster (six screws), all of the gauges pop out fairly easily. If they resist your effort, use a plastic spatula, not a metal one, to avoid denting the gauge faces from behind.

I have not seen a lightening cluster first hand, and if they aren't the traditional 92-96 black gauge like the rest of the trucks, your surgury efforts just got 5% more difficult.

What you do, is remove the needles from the old speedo, and the new lightening speedo, then remove the PSOM module from the back of both speedometers, which is held on with three tiny screws each. Swap them, screw everything back together, install in truck.

But if they are both black, just swap the entire speedometer, its a little less work.

Mustang - the procedure you're talking about has nothing to do wtih retaining the current odometer reading, but instead how to compensate for larger, or smaller diameter tires than what is there now.

You cannot adjust the odometer reading via the radio controls, or flashing blinkers, or any other such nonesense. You either swap modules as I've suggested, *or* you make yourself a homemade PSOM programmer, and drive the on-board eeprom the mileage that you want it start off with.

 

Well....... I plan to take the entire cluster from an L1 to put in mine... I assume it is all one piece.

I have this information so far...

1> The mileage can be retained by (i guess) switching out the PSOM

2> I will have to have the speedo calibrated by someone at Ford

now, what I want to know is..... is it really worth it? I was really expecting plug-n-play here.

 

You'd program the mileage (not the tire calibration) at the dealership. If your speedo says 100k and you buy a new cluster and want it to say 100k, you'd have it done at a dealer unless you're able to do it some other way (like the radio idea). The radio idea works, I've heard of it sucessfully accomplished by another FTE member, I just don't know how to do it. You basically are tricking the module into thinking you're driving and it'll accumulate mileage until you reach the desired mileage.

The lightning speedometers are different, they go to 120mph and have a different design style. They may function electronically the same, that's what we're trying to determine. You can't swap the PSOM modules, that defeats the purpose of doing the lightning cluster swap.


The procedure I described....described both the odometer adjustment AND the tire size diameter change. The tire size is calibrated into the module, the odometer reading is not considered a "calibration", but in order for it to read correct mileage it will have to be programmed (which is why I suggested a dealer or alternative).

 

Nope, the mileage can't be retained by switching out the PSOM in this situation of a lightning cluster swap. The PSOM is the actual speedometer/odometer module, PSOM stands for Programable Speedometer/Odometer Module. You can't change it because, thats the speedometer, and the whole point is to use a L1 speedometer unit.

You do not have to have the speedo calibrated (to tire size) by a dealer, you need the odometer mileage programmed by the dealer or by someone who knows how. The tire size calibration can be done on your own, which is why I told ya to go check out the tech articles of our site, we have an article describing how to do that, very simple.

I cannot tell you if it's plug and play, you won't know unless you try it or find someone who's sucessfully done it. My suggestion is to just find a L1 gauge cluster, try to put it in and see if it works...if it does...then have the odometer and tire size changed accordingly. If it don't work, than you've only lost about an 1hr worth of work and you can sell the L1 cluster to someone else to get your money back on the purchase of the cluster. It's a piece of cake to take the clusters out...


Just re-read what I've said so far, I think frederick misunderstood me and it's making it a little more complicated.

 

I did misunderstand you, my apologies.

The mileage is in fact stored in the PSOM module, however. Off to the side, there is a dip header that's used to reprogramming the mileage, which drives the LCD that's surface mounted to the PSOM module.

I didn't realize, having not seen one, that the lightening cluster goes to 120mph. And if that is the case, swapping modules would skew the reading as the needle swing arc is the same on both the 85 mph cluster as well as the 120mph cluster.

But, the mileage is in the PSOM module on the built-in flash chip.

 

OK...a little input from a GEN 1 owner
\We GEN 1 Lightning guys can make changes to accommodate aftermarket tire sizes/changes. We can go to a smaller or larger tire and make the changes ourselves, but we only able to make 6 six changes though....and this is without the dealer too. I don't know that you can do this since you don't have one of the C3 or ICY PCM's (these are speed density PCM's and the AKC0 is a MA PCM), so that may be the determining factor.The E4OD program within the L's PCM does play a factor with the performance of the GEN L's: speed, shift points, TC lockup, and vehicle speed. So having one of these may (or may not) be helpful. Another thing that can be help is having DCL output from the PCM. In many ways that can help you in tuning your rig.