Autometer Cluster Projects

[timcos]

Oh we care...for sure.

Nice job on rewiring.

Would love to know more about the Molex style connector and how you fit it all together...I love pictorials like this.

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by timcos

Oh we care...for sure.

Nice job on rewiring.

Would love to know more about the Molex style connector and how you fit it all together...I love pictorials like this.

You mean this one...?




Back when I had a Fry's Electronics store just up the street, things were easier.... I just spent some time looking at the wiring schematic, and made sure I understood what all the wires in the factory "flex circuit" connector did. (mostly, it's power feeds, grounds, and the sender wires for individual gauges).

Then I went through systematically, one wire at a time, and cut a factory wire, and crimped it into the new Molex fitting.....all the while making careful notes about each wire and it's position in the Molex socket (there are REALLY small numbers embossed on Molex connectors that you can see if you have good eyes).

Later, when I was doing the gauge wiring.....



...I made sure to use the same socket positions that I had previously selected in the earlier step. It doesn't matter what you choose, as long as it's consistent on BOTH sides of the connector!!

Many of the wires are "ganged" together on the gauge cluster (lots of common 12V wires, lots of grounds) and then ultimately travel through a single connector on the Molex.

The nice thing about having the Molex there, especially with a decent sized "service loop" of wiring harness, is that the whole thing can be removed pretty easily for service or whatever...It's a work in progress (what part of my K5 isn't) so I didn't bother to use a nice bezel yet. Mostly it was a "feasability experiment" that just happened to turn out really nice. When the time comes, I will swap the cluster behind a nicer bezel and do some more work on the gauges to try to make them look more "factory"......needle colors and shapes need to be changed, font style, color, etc.

It never ends.

[timcos]

Makes a lot of sense...your methodology.

Goofy questions here...

Couldn't you find a conector that would mate up to the connector on the wiring harness? O is there some advantage to the Molex style connector?...updated materials? better crimping for beginners? etc?

I used to do a lot of wiring in the Navy...I could see myself using Amphenol brand connectors with metal casings...etc. Yeah we overdid it a bit in the nulclear waepon field...but overkill was good. And they were extremely resitant to water and vibration.

I also take from your pics that you did not use the mylar with the printed wires (or electon flow routes) and you are using your wiring instead.

Cheers,

Tim

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by timcos

Couldn't you find a conector that would mate up to the connector on the wiring harness?
Tim

That would have been sweet, but I don't have those THICK connector catalogs to reference, so I used the Molex that was available at the time.

What's weird about the "stock" connector is that the pins are all on the OUTSIDE of the block....this allows them to make contact with those wide traces on the flex circuit. I suppose with some research there MIGHT be a way to find a compatable female socket for the stock harness .......that would be AWESOME. Any time I can avoid cutting up an original part, I'm always happier.


.

[timcos]

I see...wish I had big fat catalogs too.

So are you using that flex circuit? Or have discarded that in place of your wiring...which quite frankly looks great.

Where in NH are you...I used to live in Dover and Portsmouth...on of my boys was born in Newington.

[mac]

One thing about Mil Spec Amphenol connectors is that for the military "cost is no object". A cheap 7 pin can cost $100 a side. The cost can escalate to as much as $6k for one aircraft pressurized bulkhead connector.

Molex is a great way for all of us hobby truck guys to "get 'er done". Nice post and explanation of how to do it.

Take a look at this site for some ideas www.waytekwire.com

Mac

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by timcos

I see...wish I had big fat catalogs too.

So are you using that flex circuit? Or have discarded that in place of your wiring...which quite frankly looks great.

Where in NH are you...I used to live in Dover and Portsmouth...on of my boys was born in Newington.

The flex circuit is completely gone.... there was not much use for it anymore.

The bottom four gauges, and the center-mounted tach got all new wiring, the fuel gauge has only a single sender wire (which I just replaced with a ring connector and some shrinktube.....and the speedo is mechanical.

Now that I think about it, there was some additional "clever" stuff I had to do to make the backlighting work on the original fuel gauge and speedo. The backlighting uses those 1/4-turn sockets that used to get power from the flex circuit.....so I had to "improve" them to use the same 2-wire system that the Autometer stuff does.

Looking back, this project was a tremendous amount of work.



Oh yes, and the town I live in is called Keene (southwest corner).....home of the film Jumanji, and the previous Guinness World record holder for most carved and illuminated pumpkins in one place (~28,500 of them)

[timcos]

I have been to Keene many times.

When I was a computer software/hardware rep I called on a few places in Keene...then over to Milford to PC Connection.

What was the clever stuff for backlighting...how did you improve them?

I am sure it was all a labor of love.

Cheers,

Tim

[mike nutt]

here's mine

[watahyahknow]

thats a clean looking dash , you could put 2 more gauges in it with this setup

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by timcos

What was the clever stuff for backlighting...how did you improve them?

Well the original sockets use small perimeter contacts that touched the flex circuit (one for + and one for -), so simply attaching them to the housing with the mylar removed does nothing....

What I had to do was drill through the back of the connector and solder wires directly to the bottom and side terminals in the socket to provide power that way. Then, I had to trim off the original contacts to keep them from shorting-out on the bare metal of the gauge housing.

(This is how I remember it anyway....it's been about 3 years and I couldn't find a photo that showed the detail)

Conceptually, at least you understand the objective now and why you can't use the original setup once the mylar is removed.

[kbs71]

You can just go out and get side marker light sockets. They have 2 wire attached. Hook one up to your 12V light source and ground the other end. They fit right in the 1/4 turn light socket areas on our dashes.

[kbs71]

I just priced a 12 pin MIL spec connector $860.00, for both sides, backshell and pins. This doesn't include the special tooling required to crimp the pins (you can't just use a regular crimper, it take a "calibrated" crimper to attach the wires to the pins). So yo guys that are thinking "Hi-tech aircraft parts, COOL", Hope you got REALLY fat wallets. Besides a lot of aircraft manufacturers interior connectors are going to the same type connectors as the Molex, i.e; Snap together. It's cheaper.

[timcos]

Originally Posted by kbs71

I just priced a 12 pin MIL spec connector $860.00, for both sides, backshell and pins. This doesn't include the special tooling required to crimp the pins (you can't just use a regular crimper, it take a "calibrated" crimper to attach the wires to the pins). So yo guys that are thinking "Hi-tech aircraft parts, COOL", Hope you got REALLY fat wallets. Besides a lot of aircraft manufacturers interior connectors are going to the same type connectors as the Molex, i.e; Snap together. It's cheaper.

Not to mention the milspec insertion tool.

I should have taken any handfuls when I left the Navy. I used to clean out drawers of them on the submarine to save space. Can't tell you how many I tossed.

A good joke on junior officers first reporting to the boat was to stand out of eyeshot but within earshot and tell your buddy that you were going to do some amphenols after lunch. It would eventually make it back to the wardroom as the young officer was doing his duty...reporting drug use to the captain.

Oh yeah...and even better is having him go back and get 50 feet of fallopian tube from the womb locker.

I just crack myself up.

Until I made Chief...I acted like a hooligan.

Tim

[76bonanza]

kbs71 the side marker sockets you speak of are they the ones for our year trucks?

[bskylerj]

Originally Posted by 70clone

where did you get this at i want one

I ordered this and the matching glove box door cover from Covans Classics. I then added the boost gage and the shift light.

[kbs71]

Yes the same as for our truck. and most other vehicles up to @ 98.

[jackyl9999]

Here is my gauge cluster that I am working on.

[djracer]

looks good!

[67chevemall]

Very nice! Center hole 4 your klenix...lol

[jackyl9999]

Im having to fab up a aluminum plate to mount my clock in the center hole.

[bobw2867]

Here's mine

[watahyahknow]

did you airbrushed that or used steelwool on aloy

[bobw2867]

Thats a 2in ginder with a scrotch brite pad on the back of aluminum plate.

[jackyl9999]

Completed gauge cluster in the truck.