The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 69 Chevy Inst. Panel - Rewire

I've got a rewire just about whooped but the instrument panel has got me stumped. This is an EZ wire universal kit. When I got to the instrument panel I found a cluster that plugs into the back with 12 wires coming from it. I have a total of 7 wires (instrument power, rt. turn indicator, lt. turn indicator, high beem indicator, temp sending, oil sending, and cluster power) in the kit that seem to be dedicated for the instrument panel. I believe that 2 of the 12 wires in the cluster connection are ground. Can anyone confirm this? I have the wiring diagram, but I'm not positive on how to read it.
Here are some other qustions I have:

Is Cluster LP. the power to the cluster? Why are there 4 of these on the diagram leading to the cluster connection? Do I need to splice the one "cluster power" from the kit?

If I have oil pressure tubing running to the instrument panel do I need the oil pressure sending?

The lay out and wire colors on the wiring diagram are not the same as the cluster connection. Why is this? Could it be I have the wrong diagram?

Thanks for your help!

"cluster LP" should be lighting(LP for lamp). If you have guages the oil pressure is mechanical(no wiring). Welcome to the world of "universal" wiring harnesses. Brian

You have a universal harness & there is going to be some variations. This model used the harness as a shunt for the ammeter. There are 2 small black wires that go to the ammeter gauge. If you have your old harness you will find 2 short rubber fuseholders in the engine comp. section. They almost look like connectors. You need to run wires from those locations to the ammeter. There is one ground wire on the cluster.

Wrenchbender,

Wrenchbender,
I have the old harness, I'll search through it and see what I can find. Once I find it, run it from where to the ammeter? Does it splice into something?

I was a little rushed this morning so i didn,t take very much time. There are 2 of these. One is usually spliced in where the harness connects at the fire wall. The other one will be around the junction block. Run 2 wires to the connector where they go to the ampmeter. I believe that model has a printed circuit. Look at the back & follow the copper lines. The power wire will go to allthe gauges. The dash light wire is usually grey. You probably are using the original connector & splicing on to the wires.

64Fleetside, Hit the nail on the head. "Welcome to the world of "universal" wiring harnesses." I'm sure the Mfg. left in any wire they could for the various panels, Idiot light, Gauge and ????.. Since they don't have to conform to factory wire color coding used what ever they felt was good.

Wrenchbender, has you headed in the right direction, but I would thunk the Mfg. would provide instructions for modifying the harness for a particular panel.

Larry

I find that the easiest way for me to do a universal harness is to lay the old one out on the garage floor. Spread it out in roughly the same layout as if it were in the truck. Use the wiring diagram and go through every wire and label every stinking wire so that you don't forget what it is. Lay out your new harness in the same shape/layout. Then identify the corresponding wires in the new with the old. With care you can cut the wires to the proper length add the connectors and tape it up there on the floor.
There are two dashes and both have a plug that plugs into the back of the inst panel. Yours has gauges (it would seem) and the other has only idiot lights. The differences can be a mess on some diagrams.
On my '67 the Amp wire goes across the top of the radiator. One of those small fuses is located on each side of the radiator. There are other things to look for. There is a resistance wire that goes from the firewall connector over to the Ign switch. You would identify it by following the wire from the #3 on the regulator plug, into the firewall connector and it's on the other side. It isn't copper, so it can't be soldered.

Well, I work so it's difficult to contact the manufacture during normal hours. I suppose that I'll have to take a day off and stay on the phone if I hope to get any help from ez wiring. Not so EZ right now.