[McDeezl]

A bit of a story around dash indicator panel lights.
I decided to go with a bit larger and nicer looking led panel lights for the dash, seemed simple enough and pretty common, found a set on Amazon. Installed those and plugged it all in for first power up, blew the fuse for turn signals right off the bat. First instinct was problem in the steering column so went through process of branch isolation and all ok in the column .... thank God. Narrowed down quickly to the dash and found that the flimsy termination at the led pins on the back either breaks to open circuit or in this case shorts across the pins and grounds. Tried to solder and heat shrink better termination but more of the same. So thought about going with a sturdier light setup I found at a local electronics supply store but they were 1/2" and didn't quite look right so stopped myself before I drilled those holes out .... thank God x2. So now what, I've got 5/16 holes that are larger than the original 3/16 leds that came from Classic Dash and kinda hard to make that grow back . More online searching and found some solid light assy's (Ron Francis) that are 5/16 and a diffused lens so not as bright as the leds that were a bit too intense, another issue. Found out that the led's are available in both low and hi intensity after the fact but still, want to be careful with how the terminations are done on the back.
So in the photos below to give you an idea, left to right ...
1/2" with diffused lens - well built but too large in my opinion
5/16" led - fragile wire termination and a bit too bright, nice looking
3/16" led with original dash kit - small, unsure about wire termination, wanted better look
5/16" with diffused lens - solid wire termination, looks good (to me)
So wiring is done, everything works and fuses all good.
For anyone doing the aftermarket or custom dash thing ... not all panel indicator lights are created equal, shop carefully especially online.

On another note - alternator charging.
The sbc turnkey crate came with a Delco CS series alternator which they call a "one wire" setup. Wired it to what I assumed (never assume) was correct with main power to battery and the "S" sense wire to the power post, the other 3 wires are unused options. No charge. Read back through manuals and the "L" wire normally used for the alternator light in the dash needs to be connected to ignition source with a resistor inline if no light connected. 14.6 volts. So by my counting which ain't always the greatest but ... that makes 3 wires to get this "one wire" alternator charging.

Got a set of Hella H4/H1 hi/lows to fit the headlight pots and built a breaker and relay setup to power them. Will post pictures of that shortly when it's all wired up.