What should I do with all the old gauge wires

Yellow73SB

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I'm just going to put autometers in and I have a whole shit load of extra wires

If I cut them will everything still function properly?
 
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obviously depends on the gauges going in....mechanical or electric....most sharks were mechanical on the oil pressure gauge, and electric on the temp.....reuse the same sender wire for electric temp, obviously....lights are fed by a gray wire in my '72 so the other side is ground, as most gauges are somewhere, so find a solid black wire for that....

ampmeter wires are shorted together and go to the + of you voltmeter.....

the pink wires are switched hot, and so need go to gauge positives....

there is a tan/maybe light brown wire to the tank sender unit....gotta get a GM compatible gauge for that....

I dunno about anything else...

I need photo a gauge cluster I made up for my '72 these last couple weeks....someday...
 
Thanks for verifying I'll try adapt some of the old wire to my new gauges

It seems like the gray wires going to the lights don't have a ground

So the pink wires are switchable so when I turn the light switch on they work? Same with the grey wires then correct


The only gauges I'm going to be running are oil pressure,water temp, oil temp, water pressure, and a volt gauge. All mechanical

The water pressure and water temp gauges are already hooked up and have there own lines
 
Thanks for verifying I'll try adapt some of the old wire to my new gauges

It seems like the gray wires going to the lights don't have a ground

Correct, the lights in my '72 picked up the ground from the main panel cup which is connected to the black wire ground to frame/bird cage through the 3 prong plug on back of one4 of the gauges.....

So the pink wires are switchable so when I turn the light switch on they work? Same with the grey wires then correct

nope, pink is switched on and off with ignition, same as feeding the HEI....live in start AND RUN.....the gray wires are hot ONLY when the lightswitch is pulled on at least to running light position...and controlled by the dimmer when knob is twisted.....


The only gauges I'm going to be running are oil pressure,water temp, oil temp, water pressure, and a volt gauge. All mechanical

The water pressure and water temp gauges are already hooked up and have there own lines

WATER PRESSURE??? never hear of one....racing crap?? weird....

:bump::bump:
 
you have gone this far why not rewire the thing? you only need a few circuits.
redvetracr

I kind of want to but I think I'll just leave it stock for now. I'm keeping the stock column for now also but making a new mount

And the water pressure is to see how much pressure it's generating and to see if I throw a belt or something. I also a low pressure warning light
 
the more gauges you have the more time you will spend looking at them and thinking about them....OR, the less time you will have with both eyes on the race track and your brain focused on driving....you need a tach, water temp, oil temp and oil pressure gauges....and possibly an exhaust pyrometer gauge.
redvetracr
 
During the auto-x I never really check them, but on the longer straights at sebring I probably will

It's my dad wants to add all the extra gauges, we had to make the cage work with the stock light switch because he wanted it to work, I have no clue why.
 
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Application of the "KISS" principle.. Mount all the gauges so that when everything is normal- oil pressure, temp, volts, etc., all the needles are pointing the same way. Up, down, left, right, whatever you choose. That way you don't have to concentrate on reading each gauge, but a scan will tell you if everything is OK. Just a quick glance and all the needles are pointing the same way, things must be good.
 
I think I'm going to rewire the whole car like redvetracr said

The only other gauges I need to buy are oil pressure and a tach

I have the rest already or on the way

There goes 200 bucks :(


And since I'm an idiot when it comes to relays and stuff I'll have a lot of questions

Edit: I just googled how a relay works and wow does that make it a whole lot easier to understand lol
 
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Application of the "KISS" principle.. Mount all the gauges so that when everything is normal- oil pressure, temp, volts, etc., all the needles are pointing the same way. Up, down, left, right, whatever you choose. That way you don't have to concentrate on reading each gauge, but a scan will tell you if everything is OK. Just a quick glance and all the needles are pointing the same way, things must be good.

I'll do that plus have a warning light for everything
 
Buy mechanical gauges, they are more accurate and the reading will be fine even when you have electrical gremlins.
 
Yeah I ordered all mechanical

But what about the tach? I don't think I can get a mechanical ultra lite
 
just use large warning lights on the dash, for oil pressure and water temp. yes,,,$ I use a trailer marker light for my oil light.
 
I have a led warning light for oil pressure and one for water temp next to the appropriate gauges. The leds are VERY bright and you will notice them coming on immediately.

You can see it in my project topic.
 
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