Product Reviews1970-1981 Camaro Gauges Dakota Digital VHX Carbon Fiber Blue Light Gauge Dash

There's A Lot To Like, BUT...

Having fully installed these gauges in an LS-swapped 1980 Camaro, and now knowing all the pros and cons, I would probably buy them again. Here are some of the pros: They are very good looking. They are well designed electrically; a single (Ethernet) cable goes to the gauge pod. The other end of the cable goes to a control box that can be mounted on any surface under the dash. All of the sensor wires connect to it. For the most part, the instructions are very good. Their support is good, too; I broke a fitting and they immediately sent me another one at no charge.

To get five stars from me, a few changes would be needed:
(1) Provide a coolant temperature sensor with the right threads for an LS engine. The current setup uses a so-called universal sensor and an adapter. The adapter breaks easily; the manual cautions you about this and we paid close attention, then broke it while following the instructions exactly. The other problem with the adapter is that the sensor is pushed so far out from the engine that the wires are physically contacting a spark plug wire - and that's really a bad idea for any sensor wire!
(2) I was really annoyed to find out that my LS crate engine's UNUSED oil pressure sensor (whose output is already in the interior of the car in the engine wiring harness) could not be connected to the VHX system. Instead, we had to drill & tap a hole on the engine and use Dakota Digital's sensor.
(3) Dakota Digital sells a "Bus Interface Module", or BIM, that sounds like a really great way to monitor your LS engine on your VHX gauges. Sounded good to me, so I bought one. Big mistake. It cannot be connected to the engine's OBD-II (a.k.a. GMLAN) signals while a scanner is attached. Also - and this is really GM's fault, not Dakota Digital's - the BIM is not putting out everything the gauges need. So you still have to hook up some analog sensors AND you cannot have your gauges connected while being emissions tested or using your own scanner. That's why we decided not to use the BIM.Read full review...

Verified purchase: No