1969 Dodge Charger wiring issues, no brake lights, bezel lights, flasher, dome

[rikubot]

Haha! "Luke-warm blonde" got me laughing.

I do have a sender, any tips/experiences? I have to drain the tank too as I just filled it up before it got cold  

Edit:

I should say that on a full tank, my gauge BARELY moves up to just before "empty"

[Dino]

Unless you want a different type of sender you can probably keep it.  Remove it to make sure it works though.  You can drain the tankwith a transfer pump from harbor freight.  If you remove a fewgallons through the filler tube, you can remove the sender and drain the rest from that hole.  Put the car on stands and lower the axle to get good access.

Put the sender on the workbench and check for damage.  If you don't see any, take a multimeter and measure the resistance.  Float all the way up should be around 10 ohm, all the way down around 73 and halfway around 24.

More than likely the issue with the fuel gauge is the gauge itself, but they're easy to calibrate.  Find the midway point of the sender by using the ohm value (look them up on the board or in the book because I could be wrong about it), and by measuring the travel.  Hook up the fuel gauge and use a small flat blade screw driver in the small holes in the rear of the gauge housing to move the internal cam until the needle is at the halfway mark.  There's two cam's with teeth in the gauge and you grip the teeth wth the screwdriver.  Use one side to fine tune the low end and the other to fine tune the high end.  I think there's pictures of it in the shop manual.  It's really not that hard to do, but you do have to remove the gauge from the cluster.  By the way, you can tune your oil and water temp gauges the same way using the sending unit as they all work on the same ohm values.   

[rikubot]

My car sat for 5 or so years on empty, is there any way it froze up? I bench tested the gauge with the double A battery method and it read out the same as the other two gauges.

[Dino]

I doubt it, there's nothing there to lock the needle.  It's a bimetallic strip that moves the needle when heated.  The little arms holding the needle may need rebending.  If they're loose the needle won't move as it should.  It happened with one of mine, the needle would rise to about a quarter and drop back down.

[rikubot]

How about the arm on sender? Do they ever tend to rust up?

[Dino]

They do but they can usually be cleaned up easily.  Just throw it in evapo-rust for a night.

[myk]

About 24 years ago.  

I restored cars from '91 to '07.  

Well you've definitely got a trade and a skillset available.  

"DIRK's Restorations and Custom Classics" has a nice sound doesn't it?

[Dino]

Do I get my own TV show?

[myk]

Can I be in it? 

[Dino]

Of course!

[rikubot]

I'd be tuning into that one every time it aired!

I got my bezel covered with the trim paint, and I'm very impressed. If a product can look good even AFTER I've come in contact with it, then it's good stuff. Your advice was sound, as usual. Warmed the cans and bezels and shot them in my bedroom lol. I'm excited to do the metallic paint, but I am keeping my hopes low as far as it having a chrome-like finish. As long as its shinier than the paint marker that I was going to use, I'll be super happy.

I bought some frog tape too. It looks just like the blue painter's tape, but green? Says it won't bleed. Did I get the right stuff? I'm currently looking for my white paint marker...

[rikubot]

The cat knocked my marker under the couch haha!

Got the lettering done, and I have a somewhat silly question:

Where do I mask the bezel for the outer trim? I think I see where you did it in your thread but I'm not sure.

[Dino]

You shot it in your bedroom?  Damn!   

Frog tape is great, you'll love it.   

The outer trim is chrome all the way up to the textured part.  There's a fine border between the smooth and textured parts.  This picture is the best I have to show it.

[rikubot]

That's perfect. All I needed to know. And again, "WOW!"

[myk]

I know right?  That's quality workmanship there...

[rikubot]

Hells yes. And I forgot to say thanks earlier 

[Dino]

No need for thanks, it's my pleasure to help.  Folks here help me out all the time and I just pass it on.

Thanks for the compliments fellas.   

[rikubot]

Sorry I've been MIA, I've been MASKING A '69 CHARGER gauge bezel!!!! Haha

It's about twice as difficult as I imagined, and I imagined it was going to be really difficult! The round shapes are fully intense to mask. I'm about half done with the gauges. I got the other two sprayed and I'm pretty happy that I went with the metallic instead of the silver paint marker. Definitely not chrome, but its quite reflective and looks pretty good to me. That SEM + the adhesion promoter is the bee's knees. I'm gonna tape a little more tonight and hopefully spray it tomorrow or the next day.

Other news, a buddy is giving me his old toolbox for Christmas. That will help a lot, I'm always looking for my tools when I work on cars.

[Dino]

Masking is 1/4 technique, 1/4 art and 1/2 patience.   

Yeah the metallic is nice.  It may not be chrome, but it's a good looking paint, kinda like silver on steroids.   

SEM is good stuff, always loved their paints.  Funny enough, today was the first time I had a less than stellar experience with a SEM product.  I was spraying their high build primer surfacer on my grille.  The issue is not with the primer itself which turned out to be 10 times better than what I had hoped for, but the can itself was crap.  I could not get a decent stream to come out of that can.  It worked out though, I just used a few more thin coats and it built up very nicely.  But it shouldn't have been this hard.  I also used their color coat Titanium silver for the first time and it was awesome!  Great flow and super coverage.  Trim black is just about my favorite rattle can black.   

I can't wait to see pics of your work buddy!   

[Dino]

Masking is 1/4 technique, 1/4 art and 1/2 patience.   

Yeah the metallic is nice.  It may not be chrome, but it's a good looking paint, kinda like silver on steroids.   

SEM is good stuff, always loved their paints.  Funny enough, today was the first time I had a less than stellar experience with a SEM product.  I was spraying their high build primer surfacer on my grille.  The issue is not with the primer itself which turned out to be 10 times better than what I had hoped for, but the can itself was crap.  I could not get a decent stream to come out of that can.  It worked out though, I just used a few more thin coats and it built up very nicely.  But it shouldn't have been this hard.  I also used their color coat Titanium silver for the first time and it was awesome!  Great flow and super coverage.  Trim black is just about my favorite rattle can black.   

I can't wait to see pics of your work buddy!   

[rikubot]

I got her all taped up and sprayed last night. It came out pretty good! The paint didn't run under ANY of my taping, which surprised the hell outta me. It will need some touching up where my tape job was less than perfect haha. But honestly I could be happy with it as is. Lemme see if this site is gonna be a good boy and let me upload a couple pics...

[Dino]

Excellent!  Good job my friend!   

Now every time you drive that car you will look at this and feel mighty good that you did this yourself.

[rikubot]

Yes sir I will! Maybe down the road I'll find a nicer bezel (this one is pretty beat up) and do the vacuum plating deal. But for now I'm happy you convinced my to do the metallic paint and that Trim Black is so awesome I might paint my whole damn everything in it haha! Thanks again for the guidance and advice, I'll post up when I plop that baby back in.

[Dino]

My pleasure, I'm glad to be of help.

I know how you feel about trim black, it's exactly the reaction I had.  I was just looking for stuff to paint!   

I'll be doing my grille with it in the next few days.   

[rikubot]

Ooohh I sure hope you post a progress thread on that sucker! Mine needs a prettying up too.