No guages, all electrical bypassed

[jmac81]

Bought an 86 K10 as a starter pickup for my teen. With the idea that when he moves on to something else I’ll keep it and either restore or daily drive it. Obviously it’s not the stock engine and when they did the swap out they did what their knowledge allowed and made **** work. So the headlights are just direct wired to toggle switches in the dash, and none of the guages work. Any help on where to look for knowledge/parts that would begin to fix this issue would be greatly appreciated. I would like to work on this with my son and not just go hire a mechanic. We have about 8 months before he will get his permit. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tank6x2]

Go to the auto wrecker bring a wagon, make a day of it and enjoy the Saturday, lot of good information in here, quite sure someone has a post about gauges

 

[WP29P4A]

I would start by purchasing a colored wiring diagram and if you don't already have a test light, I would get one. Summit racing has one for $16.00 that lights red for positive voltage and green for negative voltage. It also has a display that shows volts. First thing I would do is check grounds to make sure they are all connected and free of paint and rust. Next I would visually inspect as much of the wiring as you can, looking for electrical that looks like it was done by someone that shouldn't be doing wiring.

 

[75gmck25]

I’ll work on a list of first things you should check, but it will take me a day or two.

Don’t get discouraged up front. It’s very likely that a couple of ground wires and maybe a fusible link will probably fix 80-90% of the electrical issues, and then the truck will run somewhat normally. After that you will need to start checking the remaining items in more detail to get them working.