73 dash swap

[DBZ Charger]

I have a 73 charger se with the typical dash with no tach. I will have in my possession soon a dash from a 73 rt that has a tach. my question is...is this just plug & play and everything on the rt dash will work just fine or is there some wiring modifications needed to make everything work ? Thanks for any help.

[ODZKing]

First, there was no RT in 73.
But more important, is which instrument panel do you have now? If it is rallye to rallye dash, no issue you will simply have to run a wire for the tach.
If is the standard dash there may be some compatibility issues however I know folks have done it so it is not impossible. For example, the rally has a gauge for oil pressure    which is a different sender on the engine than for idiot light and so on.

[Nacho-RT74]

there are several threads about this but I have several questions:

What do you call as "tipical dash with no tach"? If you say your 73 is an SE, it SHOULD have a Rallye cluster. Maybe as you say, without a tach, so the Basic Rallye cluster ( there was 3 options for rallye cluster setup ). So what do you call a "tipical dash without tach"?

This?


or this?


as you can see, there is a Rallye cluster WITHOUT clock or tach.

I have learnt recently you could get an SE with Standard cluster ( rectangular speedo ) even it was not the standard equipment for an SE. Never have seen one but some ppl has testified they have seen them. Really weird thought

[Nacho-RT74]

So, if you have the rectangular speedo setup ( so called standard cluster ):

wiring harness is diff between standard and rallye

It can become on rallye cluster ?

Yes, depending on your skills and tools, you need to get the parts for it... about a dozen of bulb sockets, some bullet kind terminals, spade terminals, wires to make splices etc... Standard cluster gets a round 12 ways multipin conector to plug into a printed circuit board. rallye cluster doens't have printed circuit board so gets every source individually wired into gauges and bulbs.

That's aside of course also what it was mentioned about the oil sender change, from idiot light to a full sweep gauge. Piece of cake and is available.

It is WAY easier get a full underdash harness to make a full conversion. HOWEVER from 71 up to 74 there are some differences on harnesses. Some are small some are bigger differences. To make it easier, you'll be better getting a 72 or 73 Underdash harness for your 73 ( if 72, probably will need to swap some wires around at bulkhead to meet your engine bay disposition... easy to do ). 71 and 74 are diff monsters. They float around somehow regulary and not too expensive. You have the option to get it new though from Year One ( made by M&H harnesses ) on $500 rate


NOW...

If you got the basic Rallye cluster ( which really should be at least the one on an SE ) and you get one rallye cluster with Tach ( or clock which is basically the same cluster just changing the gauge itself ) you will need JUST to make the harness for the tach. They are available as repro, but actually is pretty much easy to make it. It ises just two wires, one for the coil signal, and the other one from the keyed 12 volts signal.

[DBZ Charger]

I guess I should have been more specific. I forgot about the rectangular dash in the chargers. yes I have a rallye style gauge setup in mine. The parts I'm getting are off a 73 (bubble hood,manual 4 speed,steering coumn,couple of engines & rear axle housings & gears & the dash) The dash has the tach where the oil pressure gauge & fuel gauge are. So from what I've read it is not a direct plug in & will need to do some rewiring to make the dash the work. I'm not sure if the guy has the harness still or not but will try to lay my hands on that too.

[randy73]

If you are getting the rallye dash with a tach, lookup the wiring on M&H website and go buy the harness on yearone. This is the simplest and easist way to do the swap.

[DBZ Charger]

got it...thanks

[Nacho-RT74]

The dash has the tach where the oil pressure gauge & fuel gauge are. So from what I've read it is not a direct plug in & will need to do some rewiring to make the dash the work. I'm not sure if the guy has the harness still or not but will try to lay my hands on that too.

like this.



same harness just need to add the tach wires. They were an added harness on wiring. You can get it ( ebay, or mentioned sources ) or simply build it by yoursefl... piece of cake really

attached ( from 71 diagram but works allmost the same for what you want to know ) the wires you'll be needing, and shows differences between the basic non tach/clock cluster from the tach or clock setup

[paspau]

Great picture.
I am installing my dashboard (with clock) and there is a few wires that I don't where they should go.
That picture does not show wire colors. How do I know those colors?

[Nacho-RT74]

codes/abreviations on diagram

take in mind this is 71... 72/73 and 74 change some

[paspau]

Thanks for reply.
Is there somewhere clear code/color list?
How do I read those codes?

[Nacho-RT74]

eeem... easy to read these codes

if you see a wire coded P1-18BK it means circuit P1 18 Gauge black wire

Circuits denominations are in importance order... the letter means how important is, the number is what splice or leg from that circuit

If you read lets say B2-14DBL* it means Circuit B2, 14 gauge wire, Dark blue color traced... The * means wire is traced. If not color before the * it means the trace is black or white ( higher contrast color from the main one )

But lets say you read D4-18BK/Y* it means is D4 circuit 18 gauge black wire but traced yellow. Trace color needs to be specified on this because commonly they can be traced in any other color and not just white... and in fact you can find black traced wires with green, red, etc...

of course you need to know the colors abreviations
GN green
DGN dark green
GY gray
BL blue
P pink
etc...

The problem is the diagram I posted is not really a good definition one to clearly read every code.


( codes posted are just out of my mind, not saying they actually exist )

[paspau]

Thank you very much!
That helped a lot!

[BMOTOXSTAR]

All I had to do for my 71' to 73' swap swap was ground the tach on the coil and send power to the tach via the fuse box. Very easy. All the lights and wires were pretty much exact.