mechanical to electric oil pressure

[bmtsheets]

Im planning to buy an 84 gauge cluster for my 76 c10.

any advice on swapping over to the electric oil pressure gauge?

I'm going into this without knowing much about these gauges....I just need a working cluster...nothing currently works on my truck.

thanks guys.

[mongocanfly]

Do you currently have mechanical gauges? On the 86 dash panel you are getting the electric gauges are operated thru a plug and wired thru the wiring harness..not to mean you can't make it work but you would need to have a basic knowledge of wiring gauges in and installing electric sending units..unless you are restoring/building a show truck I would just run aftermarket mech or electric gauges. You can install aftermarket gauges in the existing gauge holes on you original dash.

[bmtsheets]

I currently have mechanical gauges. I would reuse my old cluster but its pretty much useless with all of the broken mounting tabs.

Any advice? Im open for anything

Could I just use the 84 shell, and put a 76 circuit board on it and drill out a hole for the mechanical oil pressure and mount it up where the 84 electric inputs go?

I know the speedo cable has an input for a sensor on the 84 too... Im at a loss on what to do.

[mongocanfly]

Not sure what part of your cluster is broke but you can use the new gauge holder that comes with the gauges and mount them under the dash. Here is what has been done before http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=670381

[wilkin250r]

An 84 gauge cluster on your 76?

The dashboard changed in 81, and instrument panel along with it. Everything from 73-80 is one group, and 81-87 is another. The differences are very subtle, they LOOK similar, but they don't mount exactly the same. It's possible to use different components here and there, but often it requires other changes as well, like wiring the cluster connectors, changes to gauges (as you are seeing) and other things.

In short, this is NOT a simple plug-in application, and might possibly be more hassle than you're willing to undertake.

[bmtsheets]

I'm pretty glad that you responded before I bought the "73-87" gauge cluster off ebay.

I'm thinking that the Dakota digital gauges will be my most hassle free option.

My current cluster has 2 mounting tabs broken and none of the gauges worked when I bought the truck.....I JUST WANT TO HAVE GAUGES!!!!

[wilkin250r]

I'm lucky, here on the west coast we have a string of junkyards called Pick-N-Pull, where you bring your own tools and pull your own parts. Their arrangement makes it easy to inspect mutiple vehicles to find intact parts, but it doesn't look like they have a lot in your area.

Not every junkyard is willing to let you browse the lot yourself, but I would ask. To me, that seems a MUCH better option than trying to retrofit a different set of gauges.

[1774btcrew]

Originally Posted by bmtsheets

I'm pretty glad that you responded before I bought the "73-87" gauge cluster off ebay.

I'm thinking that the Dakota digital gauges will be my most hassle free option.

My current cluster has 2 mounting tabs broken and none of the gauges worked when I bought the truck.....I JUST WANT TO HAVE GAUGES!!!!

I have a very nice instrument cluster out of a 77 with no broken tabs. Send me a PM if you are interested

[hatzie]

Be alert.

The 81-86 cluster plug is terminated differently from the 1976 plug. You'll need to play musical wires.

The TEMP gauge will read differently if you don't get the right 1984 sender for it. I'm not sure where the year splits are but the TEMP senders changed at least twice and maybe three times between 1973 & 1991.

The oil pressure sender should be fairly easy to retrofit. Just use the same cavities in the bulkhead connectors that the 76 OIL lamp uses on the idiot lamp cluster. If you can find a 73-76 base model truck in a pick N pull you can liberate both halves of the oil sender wire that GM used for the OIL lamp. I'd liberate the cluster ground and power wires on a mid 80's truck too.