[IDMiller]

Ok so I'm trying this gauge conversion thing. What I can not seem to find is what the pins on the back of the gauges are. I know three of them should be BAT, GND, SIG whats the last one, shared ground?

Fuel works, it's still factory
Battery voltage works, that one was obvious
coolant temp does not work, only spins around to the 5 o clock position
oil pressure does not work, only spins to the 5 o clock position

Now I've been looking for the actual cluster schematic but so far no joy. i ran out of daylight and my laptop died. so i gave up for the night. if someone has a picture of a circuit board or what each item is. would be great.

Once someone tells me what each one ..... you know what i'll go take a picture and post it with what i do know so far and maybe you all could fill in the blanks.

 

[IDMiller]

With picture

With picture now.

This is what I know so far,

A1 no connection
A2 Batt
A3 Ground
A4 Signal from fuel sending unit

B1 no connection
B2 Batt
B3 Ground
B4 no connection

C1
C2
C3
C4

D1
D2
D3
D4

If someone could fill in the blanks i'd greatly appriciate it. it's driving me bonkers. i've tried multiple combos but not successful.

More info.

I used the existing wires for the idiot lights. I just replaced the switch with a sending unit for the coolant and i added an oil pressure sending unit to the side of the motor above the oil filter. I can read 12 volts on my meter when using the bat and the signal as a ground. I havn't heated the car up to much yet. and i didn't test to see wha the resistance was after it idled for a few.

any clues?

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Does the "pod" you are using have all these metal connectors in it?

these are what the gauges fit into and make contact on the full gauge printed circuit in order to send the proper signals..


picture of printed circuit for full gauges..

 

[IDMiller]

no metal prong pod just idiot light version. i was under the impression it was doable since they all shared a common hot and ground.

thank you for the pictures gonna blow em up and see if i can see the common connections.

 

[O. D. Showtime]

I'm not sure it can work...here's a pic of a warning light circuit.. just not enough connections for the gauges...

 

[IDMiller]

for the missing traces i'm using jumper wires. they all tap the same + and ground. so you can use the jumper wire to put them in parallal. then the signals only needed for the oil and water. so i bridged off the connector for the light and re purposed the other end of the cable to the approprate device.

I do see what I think is my error. following the traces on your pic of the gauges. (thank you by the way) i can see all of my terminal tips and how they relate to one another. i can honestly say i do not believe i have ever wired them or thought of wiring them this way. will test this out tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Sounds like you know what you're doing....:dontknow: glad to help with the pics.

 

[DONE DEAL DONNY]

If you can wire off that pic. then your GOOD!!!:nanawrench:
Donny

 

[greywolf]

Like the fuel gage, the oil pressure and water temp each have a 12V feed, ground, and signal lead to the sender. The senders for the idiot lights need to be replaced with gage senders.

 

[IDMiller]

O.D. Showtime,YOU ARE THE GREATEST:You_Rock: because you posted those two photos I was able to view the circuit board and deduce what pin on the gauges did what. here for future refrence this will help everyone.

What I failed to do was lable the devices.
Top left = Volt
Top right = Fuel
Bottom left = Oil
Bottom right = Water

 

[IDMiller]

To make the removal easier I made most of my connections on the gauges them selves. I used jumpers from the bat and gnd off the fuel gauge to each of the other gauges. then soldered 2 pig tails from the circuit board to attach to the water and oil gauges.

Now to figure out why my tach still will not work.

It has bat and gnd and they are reading 12ish volts. (matching battery voltage)
the signal goes to the tach filter, then to a wire to the dist on the post called tach.
has anyone ever tried to read a signal from the tach post on the dist? I'm thinking about breaking out the fluke or maybe seeing if I can get a silly scope to see if it's even producing a signal. So does the tach pulse 8 times per revolution or just once or twice? Looking at the innards of the dist I would assume 8 since it shows no sign of a seperate device to count with.

so if I'm at 2000 rpm's then i should have 16000 pulses a min. divide that by 60 seconds and i have 266 hz ball park. my fluke can measure up to 2000 hz, i'm thinking I could just do it that way.

But if someone knows how many pulses it counts then i would love for that info.

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Cool...glad I was of some help on this.

At this point are you running seperate wires for the tach or trying to run it through the printed circuit?


You may know or have already found this...on the full gauge cluster circuit there is a connection to the back of the tach bracket that is not on the circuit for warning lights...I've circled it in red on this pic....

I believe this one is the connection to the coil?

 

[pbouker]

I highly recommend painting all those blue areas with white spray paint for plastic.

Will really brighten up those dim gauges at night. :smileyb: Like NIGHT & DAY.

 

[O. D. Showtime]

I highly recommend painting all those blue areas with white spray paint for plastic.

Will really brighten up those dim gauges at night. :smileyb: Like NIGHT & DAY.

Good point! I had my cluster apart last fall and painted the back of the black gauge blackout cover white...made quite a difference in night time lighting.

Great time to do it while it's apart.

 

[IDMiller]

I highly recommend painting all those blue areas with white spray paint for plastic.

Will really brighten up those dim gauges at night. :smileyb: Like NIGHT & DAY.

did it with high reflective silver paint. will find out tonight how well it did.

Cool...glad I was of some help on this.

At this point are you running seperate wires for the tach or trying to run it through the printed circuit?


You may know or have already found this...on the full gauge cluster circuit there is a connection to the back of the tach bracket that is not on the circuit for warning lights...I've circled it in red on this pic....

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/227/p8100003y.jpg


I believe this one is the connection to the coil?

yes you were the reason it was successful. your image was awesome and i was able to follow the traces with ease. and yes i know about that and my signal wire isn't on the trace. it is my understanding that little circle was for the clock option in the cars. i may very well be wrong , i don't need it so i didn't trace it out.
the power for the tach comes off the film circuit the signal is ran directly to the filter then to the dist.i'm wondering though.... now you got me thinking. i can hear my elky screaming no more disasemble johnny 5.... i might take the tach back out and wire it to battery and signal directly in my hand at the engine compartment before reinstalling it.


oh and a pic of the finished product

 

[Beepster]

"did it with high reflective silver paint. will find out tonight how well it did."

Well, I sprayed my with metallic silver, and didn't really like it. I then sprayed it with white. Much better. I also painted ALL black areas black to make sure that that combination works to the best. I have the lights in, and I've had to dim them as the light was pretty bright at night. Sooo, maybe the sliver will work for you. I just wanted as much reflection as possible.

 

[pbouker]

NICE JOB! I would kill for a speedo without the UGLY disfunctional trip meter.
I still recommend the white for your lighting. It seems an illusion, but the silver is a darker tone and the metallic dust in it usually corrodes and darkens.
Good luck!

 

[HISandHERs]

"i can hear my elky screaming no more disasemble johnny 5...."

Dude i laughed my ass off as soon as i read this, cuz now everytime i approach the cars, thats the first thing i hear in my head

 

[IDMiller]

"i can hear my elky screaming no more disasemble johnny 5...."

Dude i laughed my ass off as soon as i read this, cuz now everytime i approach the cars, thats the first thing i hear in my head

ROFLMAO Glad you liked it,

Update, The gauge install is completed and After a few *multiple set backs from other systems* it has been fully tested.

The fule is perfect the oil is perfect the water temp is right on! *was running into issues not trusting it but after some serious number crunching temp/ohms and metering and ir thermo it's been verified to be accurate within about 6 degrees. not bad for analog

the tach still no workie i have tach filter and verified the connections over and over and still nadda. maybe it's time to look for a new tach.

Also was having serious over heating problems. to the extent i feel it might have damaged the motor. replaced cooling system except radiator which was fine. 8 gallons of antifreeze later i'm running pure water till i'm 100% certain it's fixed. bought a performance racing thermostat 160 degree full opening. because the chances of getting 3 bad thermostats in a row.... well it happened no lie. after the second bad one i brought in professional help. they too verifed bad thermostat but anyway. all "seems" to be running well. Got more to do but getting there 20$ at a time

 

[HKDUP87]

ROFLMAO Glad you liked it,

Update, The gauge install is completed and After a few *multiple set backs from other systems* it has been fully tested.

The fule is perfect the oil is perfect the water temp is right on! *was running into issues not trusting it but after some serious number crunching temp/ohms and metering and ir thermo it's been verified to be accurate within about 6 degrees. not bad for analog

the tach still no workie i have tach filter and verified the connections over and over and still nadda. maybe it's time to look for a new tach.

Also was having serious over heating problems. to the extent i feel it might have damaged the motor. replaced cooling system except radiator which was fine. 8 gallons of antifreeze later i'm running pure water till i'm 100% certain it's fixed. bought a performance racing thermostat 160 degree full opening. because the chances of getting 3 bad thermostats in a row.... well it happened no lie. after the second bad one i brought in professional help. they too verifed bad thermostat but anyway. all "seems" to be running well. Got more to do but getting there 20$ at a time

I wasted a couple of hundred on the cooling sys. buying cheap thermo. Finally bought a failsafe and it's fine. I now have a nice 4-row that I took out before I found the problem for next time. I went through 3-new thermo's before I got the right one. The 160 works great but I put a 195 till summer.