stock gauges vs aftermarket

[jscott]

I ended up just putting in a Bosch volt meter with the stock oil and temp, will install new sending units for those and see how they work.

here is the bosch meter: https://www.jegs.com/i/Sunpro/885/FST7985/10002/-1?gclid=CjwKCAjwwMn1BRAUEiwAZ_jnErhzhGcBA5PIciR8RdSI2Gyw8dEUbMpCfEUklU3jx5Hiaqnr-sXJtBoCYLgQAvD_BwE

 

[Robsweden]

I went with Speedhut gauges , made my own custom style

I also added AFR Innovate metering and Vacuum metering.

 

[turtle5353]

It depends on if you want to have both the gauges and idiot lights functional. If you don't care about having the lights functional and aren't trying to be concourse I would repurpose the wiring to the idiot lights, same color coding whether lights or gauges. I had originally repurposed mine and hung aftermarket gauges under the dash, but my next iteration will be to reactivate the idiot lights and install Rocketman's tachometer conversion. I made my own panel for aftermarket gauges:

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-my-dash-center-section?

So if you have idiot lights and want to add the 3 gauge center cluster, you can just unhook the idiot lights and extend the wiring to the center cluster? Do you need to change out the sending units?

 

[73pony]

It depends on if you want to have both the gauges and idiot lights functional. If you don't care about having the lights functional and aren't trying to be concourse I would repurpose the wiring to the idiot lights, same color coding whether lights or gauges. I had originally repurposed mine and hung aftermarket gauges under the dash, but my next iteration will be to reactivate the idiot lights and install Rocketman's tachometer conversion. I made my own panel for aftermarket gauges:

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-my-dash-center-section?

So if you have idiot lights and want to add the 3 gauge center cluster, you can just unhook the idiot lights and extend the wiring to the center cluster? Do you need to change out the sending units?

The sending units are different. I kept my idiot lights, ran new wire for the gauges, used a T for the oil pressure to keep both sending units and used a port on the water pump that had a vac switch that I was not needed for the additional temp sending unit. I'm not 100% positive you can just extend the wires from the idiot lights after changing out sensors, that might be a question for midlife.

 

[turtle5353]

Just curious because the car I'm looking at has idiot lights and no gauges. My wrecked car has gauges and a tach. I was going to swap them but didnt really want to swap entire wiring harness if i didnt have to.

 

[Stanglover]

Could you tell us what the part # is for the Bosch volt meter? I think I want to install one as well.

I wanted to comment on the led lights and the filters.I sent a email to Hipo parts asking that very question.....should I pull the filters out because the leds are just not bright enough?. His answer was NO.

His first question was what Leds do you have in there? I told him Mustang project sold through Kentucky mustang. He giggled a little and said those are knock offs of our bulbs but done very poorly.

I was still skeptical as to his bulbs being brighter. He went through a lot of info about there bulbs so I went with them. He was right with the proper bulbs , blue leds pointed in the correct positions you dont need to pull the filters. Going with there elite series 2 set they work good, they have 15 leds in each bulb pointed in different directions.. Certainly way brighter than Mustang  projects bulbs. They carry a good guarantee or warranty as well. 

By the way the owner of HIPO parts owns a 1971 351 boss. His first bulbs made was for that car.

 It seems like someone FINALLY paid attention!! Cudo's to you.

 A couple of years ago when I was redoing all my lights, inside and out, I had the same conversation with Bill and later by many emails. Bill got me everything I needed to literally "brighten up my day". I can't go into all the details of the bulbs used, but take it from me, Bill knows his stuff.

When I did my gauges, I sort of built my own blue filters and use white SMD's. It was a bit of a fiddle to make the blue caps and glue them on, but the result was worth it. I actually used some extra blue 71-73 domes I had on hand. I bought some 69-70 one from NPD. but they are not the same at all. As long as the 71-73 blue domes are not totally messed up. use them for that original look.

Here's a pic of what I came up with.

 

[Stanglover]

Just curious because the car I'm looking at has idiot lights and no gauges.  My wrecked car has gauges and a tach.  I was going to swap them but didnt really want to swap entire wiring harness if i didnt have to.

73Pony did exactly the same as me. I'm sure you've read about this in past threads. Also I just posted a pic to jpaz of where I chose to drill a 1" hole to get both oil and temp sender tubes through for the mechanical gauges, see Oil Pressure post #28. I chose to use the redundant vac switch port for the idiot light wire as I don't need the accuracy. The Temp sender tube was installed in the original position.

Yellow arrow idiot light wire , red, temp tube. AND yes it's tight in there!



upload img

 

[Don C]

For Turtle5353, if you use aftermarket gauges and don't want to keep the idiot lights functional you can extend the existing wires to the aftermarket gauges. The sending units must be replaced, the ones for the idiot lights are just off/on switches. The ones for gauges provide variable resistance.

However, if you plan on using the OEM gauges you must use the correct underdash harnesses. OEM gauges receive their positive voltage from the instrument voltage regulator that is part of the main instrument cluster. Unless you have a lot of experience reading wiring diagrams and rewiring cars I would not recommend trying to do it without the correct harnesses.

 

[machattack]

I ended up just putting in a Bosch volt meter with the stock oil and temp, will install new sending units for those and see how they work.

here is the bosch meter:  https://www.jegs.com/i/Sunpro/885/FST7985/10002/-1?gclid=CjwKCAjwwMn1BRAUEiwAZ_jnErhzhGcBA5PIciR8RdSI2Gyw8dEUbMpCfEUklU3jx5Hiaqnr-sXJtBoCYLgQAvD_BwE

Thank you for the gauge info. I appreciate your help and trial and error.

 

[turtle5353]

For Turtle5353, if you use aftermarket gauges and don't want to keep the idiot lights functional you can extend the existing wires to the aftermarket gauges. The sending units must be replaced, the ones for the idiot lights are just off/on switches. The ones for gauges provide variable resistance.

However, if you plan on using the OEM gauges you must use the correct underdash harnesses. OEM gauges receive their positive voltage from the instrument voltage regulator that is part of the main instrument cluster. Unless you have a lot of experience reading wiring diagrams and rewiring cars I would not recommend trying to do it without the correct harnesses.

Thanks Don. I do have the correct harness from my car that I could switch over. I was just trying to be lazy and just extend the idiot light wiring. And i Will be using my factory gauges.

 

[Hemikiller]

Thanks Don. I do have the correct harness from my car that I could switch over. I was just trying to be lazy and just extend the idiot light wiring. And i Will be using my factory gauges.

You have to dice up the harness a bit to make the idiot light harness play nice with the factory gauges, and the ammeter will not work. Tach cluster plug is different, you need a pigtail w/mating connector for the center gauges and tach.

My car currently still has idiot lights and my plan is to retain the idiot lights, but send the cluster to Rocketman to do a tach conversion on that pod. I'll be either using a factory center gauge panel, or making a custom pod for the aftermarket gauges I'm installing. This way I have both idiot lights AND gauges. The only thing I'm losing is the trip odometer and I really don't care about that. If I retained a factory tach, I'd need to spend $80 on an MSD Tach Adapter, so it helps wash out the cost of the conversion by Rocketman.

 

[midlife]

Just curious because the car I'm looking at has idiot lights and no gauges.  My wrecked car has gauges and a tach.  I was going to swap them but didnt really want to swap entire wiring harness if i didnt have to.

You are much better off swapping the dash cluster and all wiring forward of the tail-lights.