Wire diagram?

[DadsCharger00]

So I just heard my new gauge cluster for my 68 is done!  Pry pick it up tonight.  Only problem is...I have 3 aftermarket gauges in my car as of now. The only gauges on my dash that were connected were just an aftermarket tach, and speedo. SO, the aftermarket gauges were a vaccum gauge, oil pressure, and temp. I want to hook everything back up to the gauge cluster....HELP!

[Dino]

You can't really mess it up.  First of all, disconnect the battery or better yet remove it or you're gonna have an early 4th of July.  

Fuel, oil, temp and amp gauges are simply bolted to the cluster housing.  The first three run through a circuit board (so no wires) and the voltage limiter.  Make sure you have a new solid state regulator, do NOT use the original style.  EVER!

The amp gauge is hooked up to the thick red and black wires.  Voltage runs through this all the time so when you put the battery back in these have to be hooked up to the gauge.  It's marked on the housing which goes where.  

There's a single wire going to the clock (orange I think).  

Take all the wires with bulb sockets and pull them toward you one by one, making sure they're not tied up to anything.  The orange wires are the lighting for the gauges and when they are free you should be able to spot which goes where easily.  The red wire with the socket goes into the speedo and will light up the tiny lens in the speedo when you hit the brights.

The last wire with socket goes to the brake system, that's a green wire if I recall.

The brown wire coming out of the dash goes to the wiper switch and the short brown wire connects that switch and the washer switch.  You should only have one spot to stick that lose wire when the connector is on the wiper switch.  Washer switch will only work when the pump is grounded as well so check that first.

Everything else are connectors that can only go in one spot.  Be careful with the vacuum connector that goes to the light switch.  There's a metal bracket on the vacuum frame that you have to open up a bit to remove so be careful with it.

If you want to test everything before you install the cluster you need to have ground.  The cluster is only grounded when screwed in place so you'd have to connect the cluster frame and dash frame with a wire.

Again, before you do anything you want to test the voltage limiter.  12 volts go in but only 5-6 can come out the other end or the fuel, temp and oil gauges will be history.

If the car has A/C, try to hook up the speedometer cable before sliding the whole thing in.  If you don't have A/C then you have plenty access from underneath after the cluster is in.

It's a 68 so that means you shouldn't have to mess with the steering column at all but if it get's in the way, remove the bolts holding it to the dash frame and the 4 bolts holding it to the firewall, the column should drop a few inches now.

Do remove the steering wheel though or it's going to be ticking you off in no time.

As with every job, go in thinking that everything will go wrong and it won't be so bad.  

Good luck!

[DadsCharger00]

Maybe I missed this....what do I do with the hoses running to the back of the aftermarket gauges?

[Dino]

Maybe I missed this....what do I do with the hoses running to the back of the aftermarket gauges?

That depends.  If you want nothing but the stock gauges then remove the hoses and lines.  The stock gauges are electrical, not mechanical.  If, however, you would like some backup and more acccurate gauges then reroute the hoses below the dash or wherever you want aftermarket gauges and bolt them in place.  One of those kits with 3 gauges would work, although I don't recall seeing one with a vacuum gauge.  Then agian, I never looked.  Usually it's oil, temp, fuel.

[DadsCharger00]

So ill be picking ip my gauges today! Pretty excited. One other question. You said to check the amps outs.  So as dumb as it sounds do I hook up the amp gauge then the battery and then measure the other wires?

[Dino]

So ill be picking ip my gauges today! Pretty excited. One other question. You said to check the amps outs.  So as dumb as it sounds do I hook up the amp gauge then the battery and then measure the other wires?

When you put 12V to the voltage regulator it should only let 5-6v come out the other side of the circuit board so measure where the gauges would connect.  Do this without gauges installed just in case.

[DadsCharger00]

SO after long delay, I need to get these gauges in the car and it needs to happen soon (I need to move the car, kinda hard to do without it being able to run. These cars are heavy if ya didn't know  ) So I read the post by Dino, and I guess I'm just not picking up on a couple of things. Here the situation perhaps a bit more clearly. I have three aftermarket gauges in the car now.  Oil pressure, temp, and vaccum. The Oil pressure and vaccum lines are like a tube....run through the firewall, and attaching to their respective places on the engine. But I know that the dash uses wires....SO....my question is do I need to buy some sort of a harness to replace the tubes that are currently there? Because I don't see where the individual who ran these aftermarket gauges left me my wires.....and If I need to....where can I get the harness so I can rerun the factory gauges properly

Hope all that makes sense. Happy Sunday everyone....work tomorrow...  enjoy the day and thanks for the help in advance

[Dino]

SO after long delay, I need to get these gauges in the car and it needs to happen soon (I need to move the car, kinda hard to do without it being able to run. These cars are heavy if ya didn't know  ) So I read the post by Dino, and I guess I'm just not picking up on a couple of things. Here the situation perhaps a bit more clearly. I have three aftermarket gauges in the car now.  Oil pressure, temp, and vaccum. The Oil pressure and vaccum lines are like a tube....run through the firewall, and attaching to their respective places on the engine. But I know that the dash uses wires....SO....my question is do I need to buy some sort of a harness to replace the tubes that are currently there? Because I don't see where the individual who ran these aftermarket gauges left me my wires.....and If I need to....where can I get the harness so I can rerun the factory gauges properly

Hope all that makes sense. Happy Sunday everyone....work tomorrow...  enjoy the day and thanks for the help in advance

The tubes are for mechanical gauges only.  If you're not keeping the aftermarket gauges and you don't intend to install other mechanical gauges then remove the tubes.

There's no individual wires for the stock oil and temp gauges as they bolt directly to the circuit board.  That board's power is controlled by a voltage limiter on the back of the circuit board.  It's a small silver colored device which looks like a rounded box and if it's original it has a short wire running from it to a small cylinder.

The power for the stock gauges comes from the bundle of wires with the 5 or 6 pin connector (I forget how many).  There's only one that fits the circuit board.  There would be no reason to cut that connector off but you never know.

[cdr]

get a picture of your harness & post it,that might help!!

[polywideblock]

don't foget to remove/replace senders when you remove tubes or you'll have a vac/oil leak

[DadsCharger00]

SO I put in my new gauge cluster, and radio and radio bezel this weekend, and low and behold.....I have a working clock, speedometer, gas gauge, and amp gauge! It's amazing. Car fired right up. Couldn't be happier! HOWEVER...I don't have a working temp gauge, or oil pressure gauge. My assumption is that the previous owner DID cut something on the wiring harness. The aftermarket gagues still work, so that's good, but was curious...if I was to look to get those two gauges working, what color/wire am I looking for that is likely been cut?

[DadsCharger00]

OH YEAH...I'll get pictures up as soon as I can get some in good light! 

[Dino]

SO I put in my new gauge cluster, and radio and radio bezel this weekend, and low and behold.....I have a working clock, speedometer, gas gauge, and amp gauge! It's amazing. Car fired right up. Couldn't be happier! HOWEVER...I don't have a working temp gauge, or oil pressure gauge. My assumption is that the previous owner DID cut something on the wiring harness. The aftermarket gagues still work, so that's good, but was curious...if I was to look to get those two gauges working, what color/wire am I looking for that is likely been cut?

I'll have to check the wring diagram but I think Chris has it on the 69 registry page.  It may not be the wires, usually the pins in the circuit board get loose and don't make contact so check that first with a continuity tester.

Also check continuity on the circuit board itself.  They are around $50 used if you need another.