Dakota Digital guages, Ammeter bypass, bulkhead changes....

[Kern Dog]

After I was done with paint in 2003, I went to work on the interior. I did a half ass job on the dash then. I just cleaned and painted the parts in place. It looked okay but I decided to do a little better this time. I pulled the lower dash plastic panels to clean and repaint them.

[Kern Dog]

X

[Kern Dog]

I found it strange that the ashtray is smooth painted steel right next to textured plastic. I decided to spritz some rubberized undercoating on the ashtray to simulate the look.

[Kern Dog]

The Dakota Digital brain box was mounted right behind where the guages will be. The new guages are shallow as compared to the stock ones so there is plenty of room.

[lukedukem]

i was gonna ask about the mounting location... good that you can put them back there and save your glove-box space.

Luke

[Kern Dog]

I am almost done!

[Dino]

Well it's about time!  I've developed quite the drinking habit waiting around.   

That looks sweet!  Carbon fiber bezels?  I can't wait to see the dash all lit up.   

[Kern Dog]

While trying to calibrate the gas guage, I ran through the whole sequence and messed up on the last step where I was supposed to SAVE the final setting. The procedure requires the user to first start with an empty tank, then press a button. Add 1/3 of a tank (6 1/3 gallons)Press button again. Add another 6 1/3 gallons for a 2/3 reading, press button, then add the final 6 1/3 tank for the full 19 gallons....Then press button until SAVE appears on the display. Yeah... That is where I messed up. Not such a bad thing in the end. I pumped all the fuel out and decided to take a look at the sending unit. This was a new unit in 2002. 3/8" from Year One. It was spendy back then: $160 ! The plastic float had gasoline in it but I couldn't squeeze it out or get any bubbles when I sunk it in a bowl of gas. I'm going to replace it anyway.

[Dino]

Get the brass float. 

[Kern Dog]

Hey Dino!
Who sells that? On the shelf? I heard that some FORD models had the same float.


These bezels are supposed to be reproductions of the OEM pebble grain plastic. The guages are "Black Alloy".

[Dino]

Those gauges are sweet!  I didn't realize they were stock bezels, trick of the light or too late for my eyes. 

Several places sell the float, the Ford one is the same I think.

http://www.classicindustries.com/product/mopar/parts/479312.html

[Kern Dog]

I like the look too. I bought a dimmer to tone down the brightness. The kit allows 2 settings on its own.   I read that one guy suggested the external switch in case the 2 settings are not enough.
I have to calibrate the speedometer by driving a "Known marked mile". This means that the speedometer is by default calibrated by the odometer. I'll take the wife's 2015 Challenger R/T to measure the mile and mark it with traffic pylons.
There are several custom settings to choose from for stuff like  a shift warning lamp, low oil pressure warning, high temp warning, low fuel warning...
Pretty cool stuff. I'm going to enjoy having a gas guage I can trust. The tach reads higher than the old one did at idle. Makes me wonder how accurate the old one was at 5000 and up !

[1974dodgecharger]

damn you guys with these nice gauges 

[myk]

You're the one with the big honking blower getting mounted on his motor; plenty to be proud about...

[fizz]

Just out of curiosity, what were your ohm readings. I wonder how much these senders vary? I still have to do mine.

[Kern Dog]

I'll do a test through the system. I thought they had an internal test procedure that helps determine if the sensors are working properly.

[Kern Dog]

I didn't get to test the system today but I did get the engine warmed up. The oil pressure reading did drop some once the engine was warm. I'm just used to the mechanical unit that read approx 35-40 at idle in gear. This new one hasn't dropped below 50. I didn't drive the car yet so maybe as the oil gets hot it may read lower on the guage.
I recalibrated the gas guage AGAIN and was pissed when the guage stopped at 3/4 even with the tank full. This was the same crap I dealt with before with the stock guages. The display shows the Ohm readings during calibration. I had 76 at empty, 63 at 1/3 tank, 34 at 2/3 tank and 19 full. I am not pleased at the idea of sucking out the tank and starting over. The other way to calibrate this is to have the sender out of the tank. I'd probably put the wife in the car and put it on the lift, then have her press buttons while I move the sender from underneath.
Anyhow, the guages look nice. I'll calibrate the speedometer soon. The new rear view mirror showed the proper temperature as expected. I have to drive it to calibrate the compass in it.

[fizz]

Interesting. 76 at empty is what our senders are supposed to be but more like ten at full. When I used the Ford sender parameters, which is closed to be close to what ours are and I believe 75 empty and 9 full, I had 4 gals in tank when reading empty and read 3/4 when full. I have to suck dry and do what you are doing.

[Kern Dog]

I looked at the specs in the factory service manual. They list 73 ohms at empty with a range of + or - 12 ohms as being acceptable! At full they list 9.6 Ohms with a + or - 1 Ohm variance.
That is some sloppy tolerances at empty.
My sender float at empty still sits above the fuel pickup. That is good, since I'd prefer the guage to read empty before I actually stall and run out of gas.

[Kern Dog]

Something that was brought to my attention is that MAYBE my fuel pickup is not resting against the bottom of the tank. A guy at Moparts sent me this TSB:

[Kern Dog]

I took my sender out today and laid it on the table. I took a Sharpie and traced the outline on a piece of cardboard. I then bent the 3/8" line several times until the filter end sat too low and caused the top side of the mounting flange to sit off of the tank. I took some of the bend back out until the flange fit right. THEN I pulled it back out to check it against the original shape that I outlined. I had actually bent it 1 1/4" ! Yes, one and a quarter inches. What the hell This probably means that I'd be running out of gas with at least 3 gallons left in the tank. Not now.
The sender tested at 74 Ohms out of the tank empty and 11.8 full. The 11.8 is a bit out of spec but the new guage setup offers the Custom calibration option that should compensate.

[fizz]

Damn it, I guess I'll end up pulling the tank too. Thanks for the info

[Kern Dog]

The guage calibration is complete. The sender in the car read a little different than on the table, but the guage reads right at F with 19 gallons in it.

The display on the guage read 73 Ohms at empty and 14 at full. At least it went all the way to F with the 19 gallons in it. That is better than before and a LOT better than it was with the stock guages.   

[mantoneshyn]

Here is my dakot digitals, I love them .

[Kern Dog]

Cool. We both got the same color and the radio also matches.