Gauge Cluster Swap

[Galane]

I upgraded an 82 from the speedo and large fuel + idiot lights to one that's speedo and large fuel + battery, temp, and oil gauges. Got the wiring diagrams and had to move a bunch of pins around. The other ends of the wires formerly going to the idiot lights got connected to gauge sensors.

GM could have made these so they would have only needed two wiring harnesses, for with and without air conditioning. Or they could have used one universal dash harness and made all the instrument panels plug compatible. Instead they had to make different wiring harnesses, or at least pin the connectors differently, for many different combinations. One harness for all, though being "extra cost" on trucks with the basic cluster and no AC, overall it would have saved them money because they never would have run out of or had excess inventory of a particular harness configuration. Assembly would have been easier, grab harness and install, then check the build sheet to see what other components to install. The way they did it, if a basic truck came down the line in 1982 and they'd run out of the basic harness, things would have to pause while a harness was brought to the line. Perhaps that happened rarely, or through complex feats of supply logistics it never did, but it would have been simpler to make it so that sort of planning wasn't needed.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I upgraded an 82 from the speedo and large fuel + idiot lights to one that's speedo and large fuel + battery, temp, and oil gauges. Got the wiring diagrams and had to move a bunch of pins around. The other ends of the wires formerly going to the idiot lights got connected to gauge sensors.

GM could have made these so they would have only needed two wiring harnesses, for with and without air conditioning. Or they could have used one universal dash harness and made all the instrument panels plug compatible. Instead they had to make different wiring harnesses, or at least pin the connectors differently, for many different combinations. One harness for all, though being "extra cost" on trucks with the basic cluster and no AC, overall it would have saved them money because they never would have run out of or had excess inventory of a particular harness configuration. Assembly would have been easier, grab harness and install, then check the build sheet to see what other components to install. The way they did it, if a basic truck came down the line in 1982 and they'd run out of the basic harness, things would have to pause while a harness was brought to the line. Perhaps that happened rarely, or through complex feats of supply logistics it never did, but it would have been simpler to make it so that sort of planning wasn't needed.

I think every few years adding something or functionality, such as diesels, when they switched diesels, dummy light vs gauges(dummy lights shouldnt even come in a truck, or just in addition to gauges.), speedo changes, etc. still, hindsight still shows they could have made it a heck of a lot more simple or universal so there was far less to change, but in 1973-1987 i dont think they saw a generation of guys and girls who loves these trucks to death and want to keep em going forever, because back in the day this is just what a pickup truck was. Simple, did the job, and did it well. No one really saw the late 90s or early 2000s or even the nightmares of infotainment and mall crawl luxury we have out on the market today. Hell, even mid to late 2000s pickups really werent bad, they fixed styling mistakes of the early 2000s and late 90s while improving electronics(but not filling it with them head to tow) while making meaningful safety and quality of life improvements, but you could still buy them cheap with a stick, no add ons, and a simple engine that could do some work.

Id be surprised if a new pickup can be had with crank windows, even fleet models.

 

[Ron Sebastian]

i try to find a C60-C70 cluster for tach with small fuel gauge!

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If you don't have the clock in your cluster, you still have a blank space.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Sounds like I will have to find a wiring harness from a gas truck to make this work without having to re-pin connectors. Maybe I will save myself the headache and get the dakota digital dash.

 

[eskimomann209]

Repinning the connectors is easy peasy.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Assuming all the pins are there. But as I said mine was the diesel CUCV and everything seems to be different.

 

[TPISly-C10]

If you don't have the clock in your cluster, you still have a blank space.

yes but so much easy to have the fuel gauge in the tach to fit in place on the big fuel unit!

 

[cowboybob]

i try to find a C60-C70 cluster for tach with small fuel gauge!

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That is a great-looking setup and I’d like to have the same thing. Did you ever find one?

 

[TPISly-C10]

nope but don't have anymore a blank space!

 

[TPISly-C10]

IROC Z28 look good too on square!

 

[Turbo4whl]

@TPISly-C10

Never really thought about it, but even the oil and temp gauges are metric....

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Where are you going to find a metric tachometer?

 

[TPISly-C10]

@TPISly-C10

Never really thought about it, but even the oil and temp gauges are metric....

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Where are you going to find a metric tachometer?

humm in a metric C70 ? loll

 

[Turbo4whl]

Not a good picture, here's mine. Turbo boost gauge in the lower left.

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[cowboybob]

nope but don't have anymore a blank space!

That looks great.

Do you happen to know what vehicles/years came with that c60-c70 gauge package option?

 

[TPISly-C10]

not shure but '73 to '87...for mine period correct is '81 to '87