Another IVR Question...

I thought I would try a simpler no solder approach (except for the the an IVR connector) and ordered an adjustable regulator and a vreg board.  Problem is I buttoned up the dash and haven't gotten back to trying this out but should work the same as the one in the Gary's Garagemahal link I posted earlier.  Ordered from Robotshop and came in about 4 days.

Yes vegas please keep us posted. I’m going to have to bite the bullet and start this project as well, this banging and smacking on the dashboard to get the gauges to drop to normal is getting old fast.

In the spring I installed what I thought was an NOS IVR, but obviously was used. Word to the wise—BEFORE you complete a project, MARK BOXES / WRITE UP THE REPAIR in your Repair Log Book, etc. AFTER your repair there’s too much chance you’ll get caught up in something else and forget, or leave out information.

Yeah, order minimums aren’t fun. I understand how for many companies selling/picking/shipping one resistor/capacitor etc. is not cost effective (I usually order several just in case I somehow screw one up), but the average hobbyist has little use for 1000 of any component.

OP - How did your adventure end up?
Me, I ordered a new switch & plug because mine had melted. As I was installing it I realized my resister wire had simply broke free from the other wire on that port, there were 2 Gy/Y wires sharing the same port. To my amazement, there was an unused port on the plug right next to the one my wire broke from and the port was live with key on. I simply soldered a terminal (supplied with the new plug) to the resister wire, stuffed it in that port and it was fixed. I did find the correct solid state parts but they came in the day after I buttoned it all back up. I would like to use them and maybe tune the needles to point more to center gauge but it seems every time I take anything apart inside the car, some 33 year old piece of plastic wants to break. I'm letting sleeping dogs lie for now.

Well I got sidetracked since I unexpectedly won an auction for a 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP M6 and have been preoccupied with that. Back to 3 cars so I'm really going to need to show a little more self discipline!!!

The GXP and Turbo Coupe are so different in the feel of the clutches it's almost like relearning each time I switch.

I'm hoping I'll get around to the turbo coupe soon, have a wiper motor and this IVR to do... I keep thinking about getting rid of the turbo coupe but it's too dependable and simple stupid to keep running... along with probably not worth too much so, three cars it is!

Finally got around to this... was actually pretty easy with the hardest part getting the gauge cluster out and then back in again.

Used an old IVR and gutted then soldered wires to each connector, slotted the IVR cover to run the wires through and crimped it back on.  Attached a ground wire to the IVR mounting bolt and connected it back to the cluster and mounted with the bolt that also is the ground wire for the variable voltage regulator.

I connected up the vreg/solderless board to the battery to set the initial voltage... was 7.4v out of the box and I set it down to 5.4v as mentioned in the other linked article.

Once connected to the cluster and the car running, the gauges were reading low... could really only go by oil pressure to start since the motor was cold.  After warmed up I settled at 6.0v for now as that seems to be pretty much in the normal ranges with the major assumption being that the car is running normally which I'm quite confident in.

I'll test things out more before I button it all up but for now it seems good.

Before the temp would never get much into the normal range and at times not even reach the bottom of normal.  Heater was hot so the car was running at temp, tried a few different IVR's and finally seem to have what this cluster seems to want.

       

Finally got around to this... was actually pretty easy with the hardest part getting the gauge cluster out and then back in again.

Used an old IVR and gutted then soldered wires to each connector, slotted the IVR cover to run the wires through and crimped it back on.  Attached a ground wire to the IVR mounting bolt and connected it back to the cluster and mounted with the bolt that also is the ground wire for the variable voltage regulator.

I connected up the vreg/solderless board to the battery to set the initial voltage... was 7.4v out of the box and I set it down to 5.4v as mentioned in the other linked article.

Once connected to the cluster and the car running, the gauges were reading low... could really only go by oil pressure to start since the motor was cold.  After warmed up I settled at 6.0v for now as that seems to be pretty much in the normal ranges with the major assumption being that the car is running normally which I'm quite confident in.

I'll test things out more before I button it all up but for now it seems good.

Before the temp would never get much into the normal range and at times not even reach the bottom of normal.  Heater was hot so the car was running at temp, tried a few different IVR's and finally seem to have what this cluster seems to want.

Great job, Vegas! Looks like it’s on my list of future projects.