center gauges pic's

[Don C]

You can see my economy gauge installation, using my non-gauge center section, here:
https://7173mustangs.com/threads/my-dash-center-section.34419/

 

[delawarebill]

I purchased the center dash panel from Don at Ohio Mustang (yes, it was pricey), and then used a dremel to slightly modify the gauge openings to allow the VDO gauges to fit. Once they were secure, I made a wiring harness to allow the gauge cluster to plug into the aftermarket wiring harness. Hopefully a few pictures will give you some ideas.View attachment 84430View attachment 84431View attachment 84432

with looking at before/after pic. the opening below the gages ?? did the orig piece come off and screw right into that opening. ?? that's where i don't know how to fill that opening. this will be a spring time project. cold in garage.

 

[73MustangCoupe]

with looking at before/after pic. the opening below the gages ?? did the orig piece come off and screw right into that opening. ?? that's where i don't know how to fill that opening. this will be a spring time project. cold in garage.

Yes, there is a smaller separate bezel for the radio and heater control that fits into the larger opening below where the three gauges mount.

 

[Mel Lenet]

Hi All, after reviewing the other great posts on this thread I decided to add the triple gauge setup to my stock 72 convertible with 351C which I've had for about 20 years. I've always liked this look and it turned out really well overall. I also added the correct clock and original console. The clock had the original wiring harness and the car had the correct connector which was great. I was really happy to find that Ecklers actually sells the original medium ginger paint which was used on the new (original) gauge bezel and console.

I've attached some images here to show the initial setup, the progress and then the finished look.

I needed to cutout the metal behind the original bezel to make room for the new tri gauges. Also, modifications were made to the original wiring harness as my car didn't have the internal connector for them.

I do have a couple of issues that cropped up that I could use some help and input with, if anyone has some insight. First, for some reason the temp gauge is pegged all the way at hot. Initially I thought the sender was faulty so I replaced it but I'm still getting the same result. The gauges were all just calibrated by D&M so I don't think it's that. Must be the wiring then or the pigtail connector, right? Has anyone else experienced this? Second, what is the rectangular thin open space for at the upper part of the tri gauge bezel that faces downwards? I couldn't find any images showing what this space is used for.

Thanks,

Mel

 

[Don C]

Are you getting the correct sending unit for gauges? There are two sending units, one for turning on the idiot light when the engine gets hot, the other one for a temperature gauge. The idiot light sending unit will cause the gauge to go to full hot. Does the gauge register anything between cold and hot?

 

[Cleveland Crush]

@Mel Lenet
"Second, what is the rectangular thin open space for at the upper part of the tri gauge bezel that faces downwards? I couldn't find any images showing what this space is used for."

That space was for a factory option package map light. Cars without this option simply had this plastic block off plate:

 

[Steve73QMach1]

In addition to what Don says about the sending units, what did you use for power to the temp and oil pressure gauges? That needs to be the 5 volt constant voltage source located on the back of the main cluster. What did you do with the left pod of the main cluster? Are you going to get a tach? If not, are you planning on still using the warning lights with the gauges? Again, you will need separate sending units for those and you need to get creative with that. I would recommend that you get that ammeter converted to a voltage meter by Rocketman at RCCInnovations. I just completed this gauge installation on my non gauge convertible including the tach and I’m curious as to what you had to cut behind the bezel. There should have been no mods required there. That open area at the top of the center gauge panel is for a map light option.

 

[Mel Lenet]

Are you getting the correct sending unit for gauges? There are two sending units, one for turning on the idiot light when the engine gets hot, the other one for a temperature gauge. The idiot light sending unit will cause the gauge to go to full hot. Does the gauge register anything between cold and hot?

Hi Don, I thought so but will definitely review this to be sure. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[Mel Lenet]

@Mel Lenet
"Second, what is the rectangular thin open space for at the upper part of the tri gauge bezel that faces downwards? I couldn't find any images showing what this space is used for."

That space was for a factory option package map light. Cars without this option simply had this plastic block off plate:

Thanks for this info, appreciate it.

 

[Mel Lenet]

In addition to what Don says about the sending units, what did you use for power to the temp and oil pressure gauges? That needs to be the 5 volt constant voltage source located on the back of the main cluster. What did you do with the left pod of the main cluster? Are you going to get a tach? If not, are you planning on still using the warning lights with the gauges? Again, you will need separate sending units for those and you need to get creative with that. I would recommend that you get that ammeter converted to a voltage meter by Rocketman at RCCInnovations. I just completed this gauge installation on my non gauge convertible including the tach and I’m curious as to what you had to cut behind the bezel. There should have been no mods required there. That open area at the top of the center gauge panel is for a map light option.

Steve, thanks for your comments. I do have a separate tach as I've still got the base main cluster. I did repla ce the cloudy lenses and all the lights a couple of years back. t
The senders are wired to run through the firewall with the power source coming from the main cluster like you mentioned. The volts gauge was converted from amps by D&M and seems to be working fine. The metal area behind the original stock bezel was cut out with a small power saw so that the gauges would fit. The triple gauge backs need more depth so space needed to be created. I'm not really planning on using the idiot lights at this point.

 

[Mel Lenet]

Are you getting the correct sending unit for gauges? There are two sending units, one for turning on the idiot light when the engine gets hot, the other one for a temperature gauge. The idiot light sending unit will cause the gauge to go to full hot. Does the gauge register anything between cold and hot?

Don, is this the correct sending unit to be using? This is what I have. There is another version that indicates "with lamps".

 

[midlife]

Regarding your temp gauge reading as being pegged: that usually means that the wire from the gauge to the sending unit is grounded. Remove the connector from the sending unit itself and test again: does it read all the way low or all the way high? If the latter, the wire is definitely shorted. If the former, you either have the wrong sending unit or a bad unit.

 

[Steve73QMach1]

Steve, thanks for your comments. I do have a separate tach as I've still got the base main cluster. I did repla ce the cloudy lenses and all the lights a couple of years back. t
The senders are wired to run through the firewall with the power source coming from the main cluster like you mentioned. The volts gauge was converted from amps by D&M and seems to be working fine. The metal area behind the original stock bezel was cut out with a small power saw so that the gauges would fit. The triple gauge backs need more depth so space needed to be created. I'm not really planning on using the idiot lights at this point.

Mel - the standard 3 gauge cluster will fit to the dashboard of a non gauge car with no modifications. It looks like your interference came from your ALT gauge. From your photo, it looks like that gauge is on the outside of the white 3 gauge panel and it has three terminals on it. The factory ALT gauge fits inside of the white housing so Im wondering what you have done there. Why is the gauge body on the outside of the gauge housing? Attached are photos of my installation. Take a look at the rear of my 3 gauge panel and not that the ALT gauge has two terminals and that the gauge is completely contained inside the gauge housing. This fits onto the non-modified dash panel easily.

 

[Steve73QMach1]

Don, is this the correct sending unit to be using? This is what I have. There is another version that indicates "with lamps".

Here is a comparison of the senders for the lights versus gauges. The oil pressure sender for the gauge is the big bell shaped device on the right compared to the one for the light on the left of the photo. For the temp sender, the one for the gauge is the small one on the right and the larger one is for the light.

 

[Don C]

Don, is this the correct sending unit to be using? This is what I have. There is another version that indicates "with lamps".

Yes, as Steve said and showed, the small one is the correct one for temperature gauges, the opposite of oil pressure gauges.

 

[Mel Lenet]

Regarding your temp gauge reading as being pegged: that usually means that the wire from the gauge to the sending unit is grounded. Remove the connector from the sending unit itself and test again: does it read all the way low or all the way high? If the latter, the wire is definitely shorted. If the former, you either have the wrong sending unit or a bad unit.

Thanks for the input, much appreciated and I'll be checking into this.

 

[Mel Lenet]

Here is a comparison of the senders for the lights versus gauges. The oil pressure sender for the gauge is the big bell shaped device on the right compared to the one for the light on the left of the photo. For the temp sender, the one for the gauge is the small one on the right and the larger one is for the light.

This is an excellent reference and thanks for this information.

 

[Mel Lenet]

Mel - the standard 3 gauge cluster will fit to the dashboard of a non gauge car with no modifications. It looks like your interference came from your ALT gauge. From your photo, it looks like that gauge is on the outside of the white 3 gauge panel and it has three terminals on it. The factory ALT gauge fits inside of the white housing so Im wondering what you have done there. Why is the gauge body on the outside of the gauge housing? Attached are photos of my installation. Take a look at the rear of my 3 gauge panel and not that the ALT gauge has two terminals and that the gauge is completely contained inside the gauge housing. This fits onto the non-modified dash panel easily.

Steve, thanks for these images and info. I'll have another look into this. I thought all the gauges were correctly seated. Fortunately, the cut out doesn’t show with the bezel installed. Looks like I could have saved myself some aggravation though

 

[Mel Lenet]

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and Happy 4th! I got back into this center gauges project again today. Added a 12 to 6 volt step-down converter which was recommended for the oil and temp of not connecting through the IVR and this worked perfectly I had 12v going to them for a very short time initially and was worried they might have been fried but they still seem fine aside from some slight warping on the face of the temp gauge. Maybe too much heat somehow. Will be working on hooking up the map light addition next once I can locate a glove box light socket, anyone know where I can find this?

Looking around I didn't see any existing harness input for the map light so I'll plan a workaround. I'm going to add the map and glovebox lights at same time. Will be great having more light at night Appreciate all the helpful comments