Modding My Cluster

[3r!c84]

whats that AIR for?

[BLE 'BURBAN]

Air tank for my train horns and on board air source for airing up tires on long trips if needed.

[3r!c84]

ohh nicee how did u make it look stock like that?

[BLE 'BURBAN]

Originally Posted by 3r!c84

ohh nicee how did u make it look stock like that?

You haven't read the entire thread, have you?

[3r!c84]

no its to long lol ill read it later

[JEM]

Hmmm...just gone done doing something similar for my '91 Sub. In my case I kitbashed pieces of about three different late clusters - a '90 electronic-speedo cluster from the local pick-n-pull, a tach (no fuel gauge) from some late '80s 6cyl truck that I had a local speedo shop recalibrate for the V8, and the standalone fuel gauge for the lower left hole from something-I-don't-remember-what.

I didn't have a usable cluster shell with a gauge pocket at the bottom left, so it took some quality Dremel-and-pliers time to clean out the idiot-light partitions down there, and I had to fabricate a mounting boss for the left end of the gauge from some scrap ABS plastic. And of course I had to cut the hole in the back of the cluster for the tach wiring.

You can solder to the traces on the printed circuits if you're careful about it. In my case I soldered some 22AWG wires to the fuel-gauge traces (+/-/sender) near the stock pie-plate fuel-gauge location, three matching wires on the back of the gauge, with the gauge in place the wires go out an unused idiot-light hole and mate to the wires from the printed circuit with a 3-pin mini Molex plug.

The truck's still apart for some other work (alarm updates and I've got a set of power mirrors on the shelf...) - I'll try to get some pics.

[BLE 'BURBAN]

By all means lets see your work!! Either add it here or start your own thread! Always interested in other peoples mods. Always inspires ideas for me if I like what I see...

[JEM]

Originally Posted by BLE 'BURBAN

By all means lets see your work!!

Here's the end result, no in-progress pix and I didn't feel like tearing it back apart right now:

I managed to break the gas-gauge needle, salvaged one from another gauge but it's just sitting loose right now until I can test empty-full positions with the sender:



The 22awg jumpers that run from the gas-gauge terminals to the new gauge location are soldered to the copper traces in the printed circuit, that's all covered with tape. I put a 3-pin .062 Molex plug in the circuit; if I were doing it over again I might just have made the wires long enough that the gauge could be pulled out and the wires unscrewed from the terminals on the gauge:

[68Timber]

I love this mod. Hat's off to y'all for the good work. I'd love to do it myself if only the factory tach went to 6000 rpm. Or better yet, 8000 rpm. Nice work.

[JEM]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

I love this mod. Hat's off to y'all for the good work. I'd love to do it myself if only the factory tach went to 6000 rpm. Or better yet, 8000 rpm. Nice work.

I can think of a couple shops that can probably recalibrate a factory tach for whatever redline you want, and even reletter the face. The recalibration might even be halfway reasonable $; I don't know about redoing the face.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by JEM

I can think of a couple shops that can probably recalibrate a factory tach for whatever redline you want, and even reletter the face. The recalibration might even be halfway reasonable $; I don't know about redoing the face.

If someone did the complete conversion for you including supplying the tach, I'd spend the money if it were reasonable. But I do not want it bad enough to start bidding on these truck tach's hoping they'll work.

I've got an Auto Meter tach waiting for install.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by JEM

Here's the end result, no in-progress pix and I didn't feel like tearing it back apart right now:

I managed to break the gas-gauge needle, salvaged one from another gauge but it's just sitting loose right now until I can test empty-full positions with the sender:

Any guesses as to what the gas gauge came out of?

I have never seen one that I can think of that it came from.

[JEM]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

Any guesses as to what the gas gauge came out of?

It came from the same cluster the tach did, IIRC, a mid '80s 6-cyl C10 I think.

John.

[MrBeast]

I've got to hand it to you man, you did a mighty fine job assembeling that thing.