look at my gauges (what a mess)-pics

[bigarmzz]

well, i've had this truck now for several months....and there was always something that irritated me.....there was covers over two of my gauges....so i decided to take them off and see what was going on

wow...what a mess

anyone have any ideas???

the previous owner really "botched" this up, bad

i'm just kinda scratchin my head on this one...its so bad, i dont know what to do...my gauge lights are so dim, they might as well not even work...and i seem to missing a "few" gauges and connectors

i think i need to make a post in the wanted section for a complete gauge cluster...its the only thing i know to do...just try and replace the whold mess

[tgh117]

Yea I would agree, it would be the easiest to just replace the whole mess with another cluster, then you don't have to worry about bad wires, or the circuit board on the back being messed up, and it will get rid of the whole hassle. You should be able to locate a cluster fairly easy, and it will keep the truck looking much nicer. Good luck!

[f.monroe]

What year is the truck ? I have a gauge cluster out of a 1983 I think . If you want it , I will send it to you . I dont know what the condition of the gauges is , but its complete . Frank

[bigarmzz]

Originally Posted by f.monroe

What year is the truck ? I have a gauge cluster out of a 1983 I think . If you want it , I will send it to you . I dont know what the condition of the gauges is , but its complete . Frank

my trucks a 85...i'm not sure to be honest, what years are the same?

anyone know?

(anythings gotta be better than what i got now)

[Russell]

Anything from 78 - 86 will fit your truck no problem.

In 80, they switched from the older style blue ringed 100 mph speedos to the newer 85 mph speedos like you have right now, but other than that, the temp, oil pressure, and volt gauges are all the same. Just different fonts / needle styles.

Prior to 78, trucks had a amp meter, and prior to 77 or so, they had mechanical oil pressure gauges.

Oh, and when you get a new gauge cluster, do yourself a favour, and go buy a can of chrome spray paint, totally dissassemble the cluster, and spray the inside of it chrome. It makes a stunning difference on how bright the lights are. I did so on my GMC, and I actually ran my gauge lights at a reduced rate becuase they were too bright after that!

EDIT: Here is a picture of the new gauge cluster I just built for my 80. Its running a 79 speedometer, that has been modified to accept a speed sensor from a newer speedometer, a 76 tachometer, fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge, and finally, a pair of 78 volt and temp gauges. Has the brake light under the tach, and a check engine light / 4x4 light under the speedo. I deleted the seatbelt light as I always wear them anyways, and I still have the buzzer for it anyways.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Russell

...Prior to 78, trucks had a amp meter, and prior to 77 or so, they had mechanical oil pressure gauges......

One minor correction here. This should read prior to 77 trucks had an amp meter. In other words 73-76 had AMP gauges, and 77 up had VOLT gauges. Yes, 77 was the last year for mechanical oil pressure gauges.

Of course none of this is relavent to Bigz needs...

[bigarmzz]

wow russell....thats a nice lookin setup ya got there....

thats ultimately what i want....someday

thanks for the info

Originally Posted by Russell

Anything from 78 - 86 will fit your truck no problem.

In 80, they switched from the older style blue ringed 100 mph speedos to the newer 85 mph speedos like you have right now, but other than that, the temp, oil pressure, and volt gauges are all the same. Just different fonts / needle styles.

Prior to 78, trucks had a amp meter, and prior to 77 or so, they had mechanical oil pressure gauges.

Oh, and when you get a new gauge cluster, do yourself a favour, and go buy a can of chrome spray paint, totally dissassemble the cluster, and spray the inside of it chrome. It makes a stunning difference on how bright the lights are. I did so on my GMC, and I actually ran my gauge lights at a reduced rate becuase they were too bright after that!

EDIT: Here is a picture of the new gauge cluster I just built for my 80. Its running a 79 speedometer, that has been modified to accept a speed sensor from a newer speedometer, a 76 tachometer, fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge, and finally, a pair of 78 volt and temp gauges. Has the brake light under the tach, and a check engine light / 4x4 light under the speedo. I deleted the seatbelt light as I always wear them anyways, and I still have the buzzer for it anyways.

[beaterC10]

Originally Posted by Russell

EDIT: Here is a picture of the new gauge cluster I just built for my 80. Its running a 79 speedometer, that has been modified to accept a speed sensor from a newer speedometer, a 76 tachometer, fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge, and finally, a pair of 78 volt and temp gauges. Has the brake light under the tach, and a check engine light / 4x4 light under the speedo. I deleted the seatbelt light as I always wear them anyways, and I still have the buzzer for it anyways.

Russel have you had a chance to try the speed sensor adaptation yet? Wondering if there will be a problem with the fact the speedo is 100 mph and the speed sensor speedos only go to 85 mph.

[784X4GUY]

I can vouch for that 78's do have the volt gauge not amp. I thought it was 76's and older that had the amp gauge. I cant wait to do that chrome paint on the bezel of my next truck......Mike

[smokinn]

Looks kinda like my mess. My plastic cover is so bad i cant even read the gauges. Any one have just the plastic cover for a 79?

Jason

[f.monroe]

Bigarmzz, this is Totally off the subject but I thought you might like to have a look at this truck I found on ebay . Frank

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1982-...QQcmdZViewItem

[bigarmzz]

Originally Posted by f.monroe

Bigarmzz, this is Totally off the subject but I thought you might like to have a look at this truck I found on ebay . Frank

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1982-...QQcmdZViewItem

nice lookin ride....

looked alot like mine at first

[79BIG10]

Just bite the bullet like I did and get some Autometer's

[cliffsta]

haha wow the extremes on the volt gauge are red? mine are faded to orange, as have all the extreme ranges on my guages... never been tint on my truck and it was rarely in the shade, lots of direct sunlight. Gonna try and repaint them in the not too distant future...

[f.monroe]

Bigarmzz, I just checked and I do indeed have the entire cluster and there are no broken mounting tabs . I am going to remove the shift indicator (od indicator)but the rest is there . If you PM me an address I will send it to you . It wont cost you a dime . Reward for your hard work on two trucks , plus its in my way and I would rather send it to you than throw it away . Frank

[Russell]

Originally Posted by f.monroe

Bigarmzz, I just checked and I do indeed have the entire cluster and there are no broken mounting tabs . I am going to remove the shift indicator (od indicator)but the rest is there . If you PM me an address I will send it to you . It wont cost you a dime . Reward for your hard work on two trucks , plus its in my way and I would rather send it to you than throw it away . Frank

Score for bigarmzz!!

This is the kind of stuff that I love about this forum!

[bigarmzz]

Originally Posted by f.monroe

Bigarmzz, I just checked and I do indeed have the entire cluster and there are no broken mounting tabs . I am going to remove the shift indicator (od indicator)but the rest is there . If you PM me an address I will send it to you . It wont cost you a dime . Reward for your hard work on two trucks , plus its in my way and I would rather send it to you than throw it away . Frank

holy crap!

thanks monroe!

things like this is why i love this board.....ya got a pm

(and if there's ever anything i have in the future that you need...well, ya know)

[wedgemon]

Allright Russell, Where'd the 160 Speedo come from???

OOOhhh, Km.

(pay's to look close)

[bisquik65]

Originally Posted by wedgemon

Allright Russell, Where'd the 160 Speedo come from???

OOOhhh, Km.

(pay's to look close)

You dont need a speedo when you drive by the tach....6 = 60 mph? and up...

[f.monroe]

Bigarmzz ,
I sent you a PM with the tracking link . Have fun .
Frank

[bigarmzz]

Originally Posted by f.monroe

Bigarmzz ,
I sent you a PM with the tracking link . Have fun .
Frank

man, do i ever owe ya one

[784X4GUY]

Wow....I didn't even see that. Yeah, were did that 160mph speedo come from?.....Later....Mike

[Army_Dude]

Sorry to hijack...but.... Where can I get ahold of some white face guages? Overlays for the ones I have are fine. I'm thinking of using black crinkle paint on some of my interior and the white guages would look killer! BTW, 85 Silverado. Thanks!

[Russell]

Army_Dude -- Ebay is your best bet We had a forum member at one time who made them herself, but I have not seen her in a very long time.

To everyone who thinks I've got a 160 mph speedo -- I live in Canada, so that is just a 100 mph speedo, lol! I have sent a couple of these down to guys in the states though, cause most people mistake them for mph, and since it has the mph readings on the inside of the ring, you can still use them. Still have your odometer in mph too, just need to grab a 100 mph gauge, and swap face plates with a km/h faceplate

Beater -- I haven't tested the VSS yet, but I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work.

The speedometer works by having the cable spin a pair of magnetic "blades" around in a sort of a cup (sorry, hard to explain without pics) as they spin, they make the cup turn to a certain calibrated amount. This cup is attached to the speedo needle, and depending on how fast the magnetic blades are spinning, the speedo tells you how fast you are moving.

Now, to get the VSS to work on the 85 mph speedo, the magnetic blades are made of a shiny material, and as each of the two blades whips by under the infared optical head, some of the infa-red light is sent back to the little reciever on the optical head, causing the little green box to send out a VSS pulse. Since there are two blades, the VSS sends out two pulses per rotation of the speedometer cable.

To make it work, I had to cut a small rectangular hole into the back of the speedo assembly (take the whole thing apart so you make sure you arn't cutting through anything -- I bought three different speedos till I found one that I could use) then paint the blades with chrome paint. They were dark grey / black before. I then drilled a small hole in the back of the gauge, and used one of the 1/4 screws that hold the gauges into their housing to secure the optical head, along with a shot of hot glue. To get the speedometer back into the housing, I had to cut a small square hole in the housing. Since it is an older housing, with the mech oil pressure gauge, it had just a very small hole to put the speedo tail shaft into, and a clip on the back of the cluster to hold the cable. The newer ones have a far larger hole in the back, and the cable fits directly onto the back of the speedometer.

If I had a working ECM set up infront of me -- I could technically test it for you, but that'd be a fair bit of work, so I am thinking we'll just have to wait till I get my truck in a running condition, then I can let you know

[Army_Dude]

Well, my momma said no stupid questions right? So I gotta ask... either Russell or 784X4guy, what is the benefit/purpose to the chrome paint? I ask cause I'm not sure, can you see any of that piece once the dash is all installed? Thanks.

Disregard last transmission... I reread the post. Got it. I'm a lil slow.