| during a post regarding repairing a speedometer I had mentioned that I was working on reproducing the speedometer board. Well, I ran into a little snag which held that idea up. There are three ICs that do the processing on the speedometer board. I searched and searched and searched and these ICs were no where to be found. I literally spent hours in many evenings trying to find a source for them. I could not find data sheets or anything. It seemed as though they just never even existed. During this exhausting search I at one time found a supplier that had ONE of the parts listed in their list of parts. When I went to look at the details and the ordering info I was met with disappointment. The part listing said discontinued/ NLA :( But what good would that have done me anyway since it was only one of the three ICs that were needed. I was finally coming to the conclusion that these parts were just a thing of the past. This kind of made sense since they were made to perform a specific function in the design for which they were meant to be used. Learning how each IC functioned made me realize that out of the three, I could see maybe one of them being used for something else in some sort of electrical circuit. The other two seemed to have specific functions which required specific components. Such as the one that was able to be configured for either MPH or KPH output and had drive outputs to operate a mechanical motor gauge which in itself must have been designed to react in a specific way according to this ICs output. I thought, how many other car manufacturers used the same exact mechanical gauge motor to deflect a needle in the same scale of display. Um, probably none! So then I decided to make one last ditch effort. What if I called someone at Yazaki Meter. Crazy right? I took a look at their website and found a ton of listings in many places. It seems that Yazaki Meter is a strong thriving company that has parts of its company all over the world. Their website says that they have over 200,000 employees and they make not only vehicle instrumentation but many other things as well. I wasn't sure where to begin so I just started making calls. Some people were helpful and others were not. Eventually I ended up talking to someone who actually remembered the days when they had made the gauge clusters for the Z32 300zx. I explained why I wanted to find the parts and for what purpose and they thought it was pretty neat. At least they seemed to sound that way anyway. They had told me that their way of making gauges for gauge clusters is far different then what it used to be years ago. But he did have some info of where I might find what I needed. I thought, could this be true? Is it a real possibility to finally find a source for these seemingly non-existent parts? I was given information on where and who to talk to and another phone number. After talking with them I quickly made another call. I again explained what I was looking for and why and about the person at Yazaki Meter that gave me their information. They put me on hold which seemed like a lifetime and then they came on and said they would connect me to someone who could help. A few moments later I was finally talking to GOD, lol. After exchanging all the information of what I needed and of course my payment information (and BTW, since the parts were discontinued they were a real bargain!) I placed my order. This was one week ago. Today I received a package in the mail. Impatiently I opened it, almost tearing it open like a kid on Christmas day. When I pulled out the contents I was amazed! But was it what I wanted? It was in a long dark silver sealed antistatic bag. It was three tubes but I couldn't see what was in them. I cut open the end of the sealed bag and pulled out the tubes. Damn! Due to my eyes not being able to see as good as I used to, not to mention the numbers on the chips being so small and faint against the dark background of the chips I still couldn't see the part numbers. I said, damn it! So I ran down stairs to my work dungeon (as I call it) to retrieve my magnifying headset so I could take a better look. I was practically tripping over myself trying to get back upstairs. I sat down at my table and slipped on the headset and looked down in amazement. It was them! All three ICs! 20 each just as I ordered. I didn't want to order to large of an amount because I was still in doubt that this could be true. I couldn't believe it. So now I can continue to do as I was hoping to do which is to create a reproduction of the speedometer board out of a higher grade PCB such as G10 glass epoxy. I just wanted to share what was to me, an exciting experience. Thanks for reading! 
 
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