The 1987 V10 4x4 Custom Deluxe Project

[BlackChevy]

Greetings,

This is my first post on this site, please let me know if I'm missing anything. To start with, I'd like to say with respect to all that I've researched as much as possible to the best of my ability before posting this (in the range of months), and it would be great to have detailed answers if possible, and not be sent on more google goose-chasing or "look it up yourself" comments, although if you think of some search terms I didn't that would be fine. One of my primary concerns on this is getting information form the people that know, and I am enthusiastic about this site, it seems to be full of people who have lots of experience with my particular generation of truck. My questions are rather specific and I havent had much luck finding the answers, or at least, not answers that speak clearly enough or are complete enough to be useful.

I have a project going which is also my Daily Driver (pictures later). It is a 1987 Chevrolet series V10 Custom Deluxe 4x4 (V10 is same as K10) with a 1993 305 TBI engine (originally 350TBI, swapped original ECM for a 1991 305 ECM) and newer TH400 with overdrive. Now with the basics covered, I am currently doing a mild restore and customize on it. My primary focus right now is the dash and the things behind it (may have more questions later, I hope for this to be a good project thread). The most immediate point of concern is the instrument cluster. My original cluster has the big gas gage, 0-85 speedo, volt meter, electric oil pressure gage, and temperature gage. That means there's a blank in the bottom left, and I hate blanks. That, and I couldn't find a new oil gage that has 0-30-60 on it like the original (which quit working), so I decided this would be a good time to change it. I stumbled upon this - Evil Trailblazer SS's Tach Dash - and absolutely love the guy's cluster. Specifically, it has the correct font and graphics (matches mine exactly) and of the many styles of factory tachometers I've found, that one is my favorite. Evil Trailblazer SS's configuration is my dream set-up. I have been desparately trying to find one for a while now but, of the three I have purchased so far, non fit the bill. I bought two that turned out to be 70's style (and in need of rust removal from the light refractor) and the most promising I have is (as the seller says) from a 1983 C60.
The C60 cluster has all the correct fonts and graphics with one exception on the tach - it also has a tiny gas gage and no redline graphic, and there is also some type of air gage in the lower left of the small gage bundle. The oil gage reads 0-40-80, but more range is all the better, right? The seller sends me one email, saying the air gage was a vacuum gage, and hasn't responded back. Since then, I believe I've identified this air gage as a pressure gage for air brakes. Having never seen the dash in a big truck of this era, I don't know. But I was hoping there was something it could be used for, as it is a neat looking and unique gage. It has dual needles, and the scale is 0-150. The needles are painted like the 70's gage needles and the top one is supposed to be orange but has faded, while the one underneath is white. While trying to research this particular cluster configuration (and mostly coming up with nothing) it seems to be that this is a very rare factory cluster (or so I've read), having the tach with the gas gage built in. Considering that, I was thinking about foregoing my original dream in favor of this C60 cluster, since it would be a very unique thing to have in a V10(K10) truck. The problem is, there are less contacts on the printed circuit of this gage cluster than there are on my original, and I dont want to plug it in without knowing if anything else is different and possibly fry something. So here is the important question - Will my C60 cluster work with the current harness in my V10? Second, was there a certain year of truck that needed a "tach filter"? All I learned about them so far is they smooth out the signal, but I read on a repair page about tachs that the tach will, as he put it, "blow up" without one, so I definately want to be sure of that. And third, Is there any way to use my dual needle air gage for something?

Please let me know if there is any information missing, I will be more than happy to provide as many details as I can. I will try to attach a picture of my cluster here too. My dash is heavily disassembled so I can poke around in there if told where to look and what to do. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated and I'll send you cookies and good karma! Thank you!

Hopefully this image will show...

This was the best I could get at the moment, the pic makes it look better than it really is. Its quite dirty, leading me to believe maybe it came from a yard dog or some similar application.
The only things I don't like is the lack of a redline on the tach like Evil Trailblazer's, deletion of the 4x4 light, and whatever other light was over there where that gas gage is covering up. I hope to find some factory-looking spot to place those lights (suggestions welcome on that too).

[RandyP]

Your 87 will require a hook up for the VSS on the back of the speedometer. Just be sure you can do that with the new cluster and all will be ok. Might have to change your speedo out with whats in the tach cluster and modify the housing a hair.

[379redneck]

You could get one of the diesel dash bezels and put them in the spots above the speedometer and tach. The air guage was probobly for a primary and secondary tank.

[BlackChevy]

Thank you very much for your replies! I looked on the back of the C60 cluster and there is already a spot for the VSS. Is there a site which I can get a new diesel cluster bezel? I haven't run across a diesel specific bezel yet.

[Corts60]

You more than likely are not goin to find a diesel bezel, especially not new but if you want I can get you the dimensions off of my bezel and you can cut out your bezel and then find a little light cluster to install.
Posted via Mobile Device

[BlackChevy]

If you wouldn't mind, that would be great! The first owner already hacked the bezel to put in an aftermarket radio, so its worth a shot. Cant get too much worse
I'm thinking about replacing it too, so it wont hurt to get some practice on this one. Also if someone has a wiring diagram of the harness, I'd love to get a copy - that'll help with hooking up the extra lights remotely.

[motornut]

wire diagrams
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...?topic=11766.0

[BlackChevy]

Does anyone know about the tach filter? I wasn't able to find out myself if its required. Some info I saw says the needle may float or bounce and one article says something will blow up, then some articles say nothing about it. I don't know if the 80's tachs have some such thing already built in or not but none of the clusters I found with tach wiring has one, so do I need to build one? I did find an article on how to make your own using a capacitor and resistor...
Thank you!

[Corts60]

Hey blackchevy here are the measurements for the diesel light cluster above the speedo and gas gauge. These were taken while it was installed in the dash, so when you find a light cluster, just measure the thickness of the edges and subtract those from my measurements and that will give you exactly where you need to cut your bezel.

[BlackChevy]

Thank you very much for the light cluster measurements! I am looking at getting a Mazda information center for the indicators that are missing from the C60 cluster. Hopefully they'll be a way to trim a hole in the bezel that looks good enough to affix the appropriate indicators behind it. I wasn't able to find a two-light square cluster like the one you have, so mine wont have any trim. Can you think of anything that might be good for using as trim or should it just be a cleanly cut rectangle in the bezel?
Thanks!

[BlackChevy]

Okay, future reference for anybody else who may be doing something similar to what I'm doing:
After some looking and over $500 later, I did a side-by-side comparison of a C10, C30, and C60 Chevy truck cluster. The printed circuit on the back of the C10 and C30 was identical, so if you're swapping a C10 non-tach cluster for a C30 tach cluster, the harness will be the same. You'll need to look and see if you have the same light indicators in the gages - if not, just swap out the light filters. The tachometer will need its own wiring. The C60 (tach with gas gage built in) is different, but only because its missing the leads for the two lamps that would have been in the tachometer. Instead there is a small gas gage there. The missing leads in the printed circuit go to leads 13 and 17 on the harness, so you could regain those lights by using a splice connector and running a remote light cluster like Corts60 has pictured. I don't know what to do about finding a light cluster like that though, I just looked on eBay and found the information center from a Mazda, and plan to just cut out the lights I need from it and somehow make it look right on my bezel.

I hope this gets put in a sticky or information post somewhere so somebody else doesn't have to spend so much money to find this out. I could not find anything anywhere that would come right out and say what will work and what the differences are or how to deal with them.