Gauge Cluster Conversion

[Nate475]

After a lot of tender loving care and time consuming fabrication my gauge cluster conversion is almost finished. I removed the Gen 1 light when I did the 12 volt conversion last year. And as it turns out 2-1/16" aftermarket gauges will fit into this gauge housing with some serious but easy modifications so I decided to go that route instead of replacing everything with aftermarket gauges and a new bezel.

I took a dremel tool with a fiber reinforced cut off wheel and cut out the 3 indicator light tubes. Once I got the inside of the gauge housing sanded smooth I cut 3 pieces of 2 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe and shaped it to fit using a small dremel stone grinding tool. I also had to cut some crude holes in the back of the housing because the gauges needed more clearance. In the end the holes in the back were the same size as the ID of the PVC tubes. I also trimmed the rear mounting studs on the back of the gauges for more clearance. If you are working with high dollar Autometer gauges I would leave the rear posts alone so you can change things later if needed. I chose the cheaper Sunpro gauges so cutting on them did keep the threaded posted tucked inside the housing and away from the printed circuit board and I can always chuck them if I go with a custom dash later. I covered the printed circuit board on the side where I installed the gauges with electrical tape to insulate it and support it now that it's freely hanging off of the back of the housing.

Once I had the pvc tubes perfectly fitted I used a light layer of JB Quick to glue them in place. Then I used JB Plastic Weld which is a taffy roll epoxy with the resin in the middle and hardener on the outside. It has a 25 minute work time and you work it with your fingers. I used 3 tubes on this project with enough left over to fix the broken tab on the left of the housing. With JB Plastic Weld I think I can keep this gauge cluster going for a long time. You can shape mounting tabs with your fingers and add steel to reinforce it. I used it to repair the turn signal hole. The little plastic groove broke apart so I put a dab of JB on it and shaped it with a dremel tool back into something functional again.

I also replaced the dash bulbs with green leds to match the camoclad interior. I should have it back together in a little over a week because I'm waiting on a couple of parts. When I do I'll post the completed pictures of the camo dash and the green lights. I'm also putting a green led light in the 4x4 shifter console. There's a small wedge bulb socket hole present and I found the correct socket to get and led bulb for it. I'll post it in another thread once my parts arrive.

In closing, for those of you intimidated by the wiring, don't be. I wired mine to handle 8 additional gauges and the 4x4 shifter indictor light. All I did was cut the wires going to the voltmeter and I installed 18 gauge insulated wired connectors on them . I then soldered up "T" splice wire harnesses (what I call them) with connectors to create two wires for each of the 4 that were originally going to the voltmeter to create a wire path going in two different directions. A wire path to power the gauge light bulbs and a path to power the gauges. Then I built 4 wire harnesses to handle the job. I learned how to build those by watching youtube videos. You basically turn one wire into several using solder and shrink tubing. And when you get finished you should cover everything up in wire loom tubing to keep the installation clean and to protect the wires. I'll post more pictures once I get my dash back together.

Thanks for all the advice guys and gals,
Nate
P.S. Happy Independence Day!

 

[Drock]

Looks good ,like from the factory! Could you put ah fuel gauge in that last hole, and ah tachometer where the old fuel gauge is?

 

[Nate475]

Looks good ,like from the factory! Could you put ah fuel gauge in that last hole, and ah tachometer where the old fuel gauge is?

I've been pondering the same thing lately. The gas gauge just requires a sending unit and a gauge housing mod like I did with the other 3. The problem is the Gen lights and where and what to do with them. If you cut the ground wire and the power wire for the Gen lights out of the harness you can install them into a rubber aftermarket wedge bulb socket. I bought a few off of ebay recently for a buck each. My plan is to take a 1.5 inch sunpro gauge and cut out the back to gut out the internals. Then I'll attach a back plate to the gauge with a hole cut for the rubber wedge bulb socket. A red colored 194 bulb will replace the red lens from the stock military set up, or I can add a piece of red acrylic over the gauge lens. Then I can mount the Gen 2 light anywhere it will fit.

Once the gen lights are out of the way you just install the fuel gauge like I did with the other 3. Another option is the find the thread on this site that discusses the correct type of resister needed to replace the indicator bulbs. With those you can bypass the bulb all together and wire a small resister behind the dash inline with the bulb circuit. That thread is on here some where so good luck finding it.

You can buy a tachometer from LMC Truck and install it in the gas gauge location but you need to cut out the back of the gauge housing to attach the wires. Another member here did the same conversion so I'm going by his notes. From what I understand the Gen 1 alternator has a diagnostic port that the tachometer can be wired to. And this is the part that you need to make that work:
http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/category_id=287/mode=cat/cat287.htm

There's another thread on this forum about a factory gauge conversion swap. The member who did the conversion used one of those Tachometer interfaces.
My second option is to install this special diesel tachometer from Autometer: http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugedetail.aspx?gid=2602&sid=12
With some mods it should fit behind a panel like a standard gauge. My idea was to install a boost gauge, pyrometer, and that tachometer where the stereo is supposed to go in the bezel and put the stereo in a Tuffy brand center console.

I'm still pondering the whole thing. This custom aluminum dash is the ultimate way to go in my opinion and it's where I'm headed once the restoration of the entire truck is finished and my dash wiring mods are further along to make the install quicker.
http://diy4x.com/cart/index.php?route=product/product&path=38&product_id=148

If anyone is currently contemplating a full factory gauge cluster conversion keep in mind that LMC Truck has stopped selling the gauge cluster housing. The best route is to liberate your gen lights from the factory harness and go with the aftermarket dash bezels that are built for aftermarket gauges or a full custom aluminum dash. Your 4x4, low oil, etc, indicator lights can be replaced with color coded led dash indicator lights if you want to keep them. There's an aftermarket option to keep everything if you know where to look.

 

[Nate475]

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/dys-ku20040bk

Here's a firewall boot that makes the entire job and future jobs so much easier. There's a hole on the passenger side of the firewall that you can install this grommet through and route all of your tubing and wires. It makes no sense to try and run wires and tubes through any of the other grommets when you have an option like this. A stepped bit is best for enlarging the factory hole if needed. I'm installing mine in the next few days.