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jamyers · 11-04-2014, 08:14 PM

Started on the interior wiring harness (from American Autowire, iirc). This is when I realized that the harness doesn't have anything for a voltmeter because the OEM gauge is an Ammeter and the new harness has no provision for an Ammeter (go figure, seems that it'd be easy enough to do...).

So I hacked up a $15 voltmeter from O'Reilly's autoparts and trimmed off the lower edge of the housing like the OEM gauge for lighting - I'm not using the supplied gauge light, hopefully the OEM gauge lighting will be sufficient.

I also cut the printed circuit board and drilled / ground the holed in the back of the instrument cluster housing to fit the new gauges flat spade terminals.
Then I used the cardboard insulating piece to insulate the mounting screw into the back of the new gauge, although I'm not sure it's needed.

The finished gauge looks close to stock, has numbers, and reads voltage instead of amps plus/minus. I know the white surround looks out of place, but I'm waiting until I get a battery hooked up to see how well the gauge illumination works at night. I can always go back in and paint it black.

11-04-2014, 08:14 PM	#27
jamyers Registered User Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Buffalo Gap, TX Posts: 216	Re: 1969 C10 Longbed BubbaTruck Started on the interior wiring harness (from American Autowire, iirc). This is when I realized that the harness doesn't have anything for a voltmeter because the OEM gauge is an Ammeter and the new harness has no provision for an Ammeter (go figure, seems that it'd be easy enough to do...). So I hacked up a $15 voltmeter from O'Reilly's autoparts and trimmed off the lower edge of the housing like the OEM gauge for lighting - I'm not using the supplied gauge light, hopefully the OEM gauge lighting will be sufficient. I also cut the printed circuit board and drilled / ground the holed in the back of the instrument cluster housing to fit the new gauges flat spade terminals. Then I used the cardboard insulating piece to insulate the mounting screw into the back of the new gauge, although I'm not sure it's needed. The finished gauge looks close to stock, has numbers, and reads voltage instead of amps plus/minus. I know the white surround looks out of place, but I'm waiting until I get a battery hooked up to see how well the gauge illumination works at night. I can always go back in and paint it black. Attached Images __________________ My Chevy Truck Project Build Thread '62 Ranchero - 200 I6, 3-on-the-tree, power nothing. '71 LeSabre - 455 Stage 1, power everything.