I didn't get but maybe 2 hours to work on the truck today, but I did get a major breakthrough.
To all of us using a Mustang fuel tank, we obviously can't use the original chevy fuel gauge, as chevy uses a 0-90 Ohm gauge and Ford used a 75-10 (backwards!) Ohm gauge until apparently 1986...
I was originally going to adapt the original fuel sending unit from my truck in the mustang tank, and bend the float to match that of the mustang unit. This would probably work just fine, but I have like 6 gallons of fuel in the tank, so pulling the sending unit isn't an option at this time... there creates option B...
I went to the local pick-n-pull junkyard in search of a fuel gauge, and came up with two. The first was about a 1964 ford f100. Looked good, but I wanted another choice so I kept looking. Then I came up with what I think was a 1974 Ford pickup. Brought both gauges home and started working. Because the later gauge looked to be in a little newer shape (obviously) I decided to work with it. Now I am sure some of you want a more stock looking end result, and if I simply order the decal kit for the 55-59 gauges I could put the sticker on the gauge to make it look more stock, and also change the needle if I wanted... but I simply dont care. I left the original ford needle and print because I know it will be most accurate to the gauge. I may paint the tops of the E and F later, but again, for now I just want a gauge that works! and I am thrilled with the outcome.
I drilled out new holes for the new gauge and used tin snips to cut excess gauge background, test fit it and found that I needed to space it up so I used a couple nuts to space it up.
After I was happy with the fit i cut some cardboard off of a piece of packaging do prevent the gauge from grounding out on the cluster.
Again, my crude methods may not be original or clean enough for some, but you all are welcome to take from my experiences what you wish! I will wire it into the dash tomorrow and see if everything works!!!!!
Now for the pics...
This is a photo of what the gauge cluster I tore apart for the gauge I used. This photo is an ebay auction item and it says 1973-79 Ford truck gauges... all I know is the truck was from the '70's
The other MAJOR breakthrough was finding the ONLY 1960's chevy truck (it was a dual headlight stepside but I was more focused on the harnesses of every truck then the years...) it had the EXACT harness setup I needed for my dash lights, turn signals and gauge power setup. It has an extra bulb socket that i will just tape off and leave on there...
Here are the gauges I bought. The one i used was the 70's gauge on the right.
holes drilled, i eventually hogged them out a little larger for adjustment in the opening
Gauge in place for test fit
