help on changing instrument cluster.

[slugish]

I know there have been a number of posts on this subject . Can any of you help me locate one . Ive got the cluster with the huge fuel guage & idiot lights . Got one from ebay with the tach & small guages . Never done this before . Am at the point of trying to get the speedo cable disconnected. Dont have a clue of what to do . Please help .

[Prong]

If you look at your new cluster, you'll see a spring tab where the speedo cable goes through. Push on the bottom of that tab towards you and gently pull the cable out in reverse at the same time. I assume you have new oil and temp senders as well? They're different than the idiot light versions.

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Did you try searching I know theres more then a few threads about this. Heres one hope it helps.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...gauge+clusters

[1984Silverado4x4]

Its not to hard to change to a tach cluster. I didnt have to deal with idiot lights on mine but disconnect the speedometer cable like described above, take out all the screws holding the cluster in. Then disconnect the thing with all the wires sticking out of it thats plugged into the back of the cluster. It has a clip on each that you just squeeze to disconnect (I had some trouble getting mine disconnected and ended up breaking off some chunks of the cluster housing to get mine disconnected). It can be a bit of a squeeze getting the clusters in and out sometimes.

On mine there was a pink, black, and white wire coming out of the tach. The black one was ground im not sure on the other two any more but I think the white wire goes to the distributor and the pink one goes to a terminal on the fuse block.
The one that goes to the fuse block has to go to a terminal that only gets power when the ignition is on.

Other then the tach the new cluster should go in the same as the old cluster

[slugish]

thanks for the replies everybody. this is more detail of what I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH . I have a tach which I ORIGINALLY HAD SETTING ON THE LEFT CORNER OF MY DASH . Since Ihave bought a new dash pad Idont want to drill a hole in it . Ihave the wires still hooked up to my msd box . Ithought Iwould just get an aftermarket tach , cut my cluster housing to make it fit & use existing wires to the tach I HAD SETTING ON DASH.

But the large question is how do I WIRE the fuel guage . Now its on the printed circuit on the right hand side of cluster ( large guage) over to the other side of cluster using the small guage .
Since I ALREADY HAVE TEMP, VOLT & OIL PRESS. GUAGE IN APOD UNDERNEATH DASH , Im going to leave them there & just have the guage faces for looks in the cluster , but I NEED THE FUEL GUAGE.
iREALLY DONT SEE HOW THE FUEL GUAGE WOULD WORK IF i just installed the cluster I BOUGHT TO REPLACE THE ONE WITH IDIOT LIGHTS.

hELP FOR A DUMMY PLEASE

[1984Silverado4x4]

It dosent matter where the fuel gauge is it will still work. Just plug that connecter back into it and it should still work.

[Captkaos]

What year is the truck out of and what year is the cluster?
You need to verify the pins on the connector to make sure they are correct before you just go plugging in a cluster.

[slugish]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

What year is the truck out of and what year is the cluster?
You need to verify the pins on the connector to make sure they are correct before you just go plugging in a cluster.

got it off ebay / pretty cheap / seller said it was for a 81-87 (Ithink)

my truck is a 84. What are the pins on the connecter? IM totally a novice at this . Also the cluster I BOUGHT has only the tach wires on it / all others are missing. Or maybe all the rest of the connections are on the printed circuit??.

[boxrodz]

Originally Posted by slugish

got it off ebay / pretty cheap / seller said it was for a 81-87 (Ithink)

my truck is a 84. What are the pins on the connecter? IM totally a novice at this . Also the cluster I BOUGHT has only the tach wires on it / all others are missing. Or maybe all the rest of the connections are on the printed circuit??.

slugish-
Yeah, the connections to all of the other guages/indicator lights/lamps on the
tach cluster is accomplished through the printed copper film...

Revised the 'Clear as mud' explanation:

I think I follow what you're trying to accomplish. You had a gauge cluster with (no tach and) the large fuel gauge on the leftside. You're now wanting to run a gauge cluster with a tach where the fuel gauge (small) is now located on the rightside.

I took a pic of a late 80s gauge cluster with the large fuel gauge similar to what you originally had. In the first pic, I've highlighted the three terminals of the large fuel gauge and indicated the function of each of the the three terminal (GND - ground, IGN - ignition power & FUEL - fuel sending unit signal)). I've also indicated what pins on the connector that these three terminate (GND - pin 9, IGN - pin 3 & FUEL - pin 1). You can trace the copper runs to verify this on your original cluster as I highlighted for the FUEL terminal.

The second pic show a mock up of the same gauge cluster but with changes to the pinout to compensate for a gauge cluster with a tach where the fuel gauge is the smaller version. The gauge/tach cluster now uses pins 11, 12 & 13 for the smaller fuel gauge instead of the pins 9, 1 & 3 respectively for the large fuel gauge. You trace the copper runs of your gauge/tach cluster to verify this. To user the smaller fuel gauge of the gauge/tach cluster with your original connector, the wire/pin (pink?) going into the pin 1 position will need to be moved to the pin 12 position. You will also need to supply a ground wire into the pin 11 position. You may be able to use a jumper wire between the wire/pin 9 (black?) and pin 11. The pin 13 position is the ignition power for the smaller fuel gauge of the gauge/tach closer. But, it should already be wired up (pink/black?) for ignition power. That should get you going. But, I'd double check my layout with your setup to verify that it is correct.

[slugish]

thanks boxrod . Im dazed 7 COMFUSED. I will try & figure this out .

Just to make sure you are on same page as me , the new tach cluster is the one with the taxch at right where my old fuel guage was 7 MY FUEL GUAGE IS IN LOWER RIGHT CORNER.
Sorry , old & burnt brain cells.

[boxrodz]

Originally Posted by slugish

thanks boxrod . Im dazed 7 COMFUSED. I will try & figure this out .

Just to make sure you are on same page as me , the new tach cluster is the one with the taxch at right where my old fuel guage was 7 MY FUEL GUAGE IS IN LOWER RIGHT CORNER.
Sorry , old & burnt brain cells.

Alright, slugish. Let me try it again.
I've edited my previous post and included a couple of pics.
Hope this helps.

[slugish]

Thanks so much boxrod. Ihavent got to trying what you said to do yet . But I Just want to say THANK YOU!