My silly mk5 dash idea

[STOIE]

Hey all,

I am having one of those, what if type moments...

Mk5 cluster into a Mk1... how would one go about using the cluster...?
Reason I ask is, I miss my R32 cluster (which in my op is the best cluster ever made, not forcing judgment).

Where would one even begin in relation to having a Mk5 electronic cluster connected to in my case an ABF with Wolf3D ECU?

I'm scratching my head since I can never see this working, but, perhaps some electronics wizz kids out there know of a way you could essentially make like a controller for it?!? And run it off the diagnostics out of the Wolf3D?

Guys either help me out here or tell me to turn away and run... FAST! lol

Cheers,
Aaron.

[STOIE]

I should also add, I don't expect the MFD to work...

All I really care about would be somehow getting the main gauges going... tacho, speedo.
Although the fuel and temp would be nice...

But, again not sure if ANYTHING is even remotely possible...

Basically the gauges is all I am after, anyone got any ideas on how you would "use" a set of mk5 GTI gauges in a mk1 cabin... dude my head hurts...

[Rob Burns]

All the info supplied to the dash in an Mk5 is through Kombi-CAN bus so would be extremely difficult to get to work. If the Wolf ECU can supply information via Bosch CAN Bus then I imagine a gateway module to then translate from Drivetrain CAN to Kombi Can could possibly work. Then it would all have to be coded amongst other things.

If you have enough money I guess anything is possible.

Alternatively it might be possible to gut the cluster and put normal gauges behind the front while keeping the needles and such. No idea how you'd get the odometer to work. There's plenty of places that can then calibrate gauges. There used to be one in Marrickville about 15 years ago. No idea if it's still there. Cop cars used to have their gauges calibrated to be 100% spot on so I imagine these kind of places are still around. The calibration would need to be done even if you did get the CAN bus to work.

[Stan]

you need to put in sensors etc to get the electronics to run, but i am a fan of doing bonkers stuff to cars, so dont listen to me.

Give Jmac a PM, he is the wiring tech guru, asnd helped me a lot - he should be able to give you some perspective on the reality of this. ( he is on holiday at the moment, so might be slow to reply, but worth the wait IMO)

[Valver.]

Honestly, you won't get it to work. Just fit a Racepak panel. Assuming that engine is much the same as when I had it, there are a myriad of different sensors, none of which will be suitable for OE instruments, unfortunately.

You'd be far better off investing the money on the engine internals. I pulled all the good stuff off that engine before I sold the car it was in, so there's plenty of power in there waiting to come back out!

[STOIE]

Yeah I very much thought this would be the case...

I am kind of tempted to switch the Wolf to a SM4, but, again would mean I still need to "translate" the output...

Thanks for the info though guys, I have learned as I was not aware the gauges speak using Kombi-CAN.