anyone played with boxster gauge cluster? Options

[skeates]

Hey guys - I'm not sure if this is a subject that has been beaten to death before (I certainly wasn't able to find any threads on it), but has anyone here ever attempted to make use of the boxster or cousin 996 gauge clusters in a conversion? I was able to find a pin-out diagram for the boxster cluster which makes it look doable. Just curious if there was any fancy shmancy communications between the cluster and the ECU that would need to be worked around?

[skeates]

@ Dave_Darling: I figured anything 2004 or newer would be strait-up CANBUS, but I'm holding out hope for the first gen clusters.

So, below I've attached the pin-out diagram for a first gen boxter ('97 986). I also managed to locate some pdfs of what I assume is the factory service manual with additional info on diagnosis/troubleshooting of the instrument cluster.

I know going into this that the speed and odometer functions and their derivatives all use an input signal from the ABS system that would need to be replicated. Pretty sure that's just gonna be some sort of PWM. Aside from that many of the remaining pins seem to be binary (hi/low) inputs? Right now I'm thinking these pins are the possible "problem" pins with signals to be dealt with:

- ASR/ABO info (Plug I, pin 3)
- ASR/ABO-SILA (Plug I, pin 4)
- Speedometer A (Plug I, pin 13) ??? <- this may just be for the speed warning indicator?
- K diagnosis (Plug I, pin 21) <- could be for output?
- KVA DME (Plug II, pin 13)
- TN Signal speed (Plug II, pin 15)
- Information system in (Plug III, pin 6)
- Idle period (Plug III, pin 26)

I suppose I'd also need to figure out which pins need a signal for the cluster to operate at all vs. which ones can be left blank (albiet at a loss of some functionality). Anyone versed in Boxster electrical wiring?