New EZ wiring with old gauges.

[couldnt stay old]

I just finished installing a new wire hardness from EZ wire on my 71' F250. But in stuck on the gauges. The new wiring is meant for aftermarket gauges, but i want to use my old gauge cluster. Has any one rewired the truck and kept the original cluster?

[tbone6]

I initially used the original gauges (have since swapped em out) with a KWIKWire harness. Different harness but pretty much the same I think. I will try and find the diagrams I made to get it all hooked back in. Also, I saw your comment about your dome lights on another thread, you can't wire the dome lights the way the new harness says, they will work "bass ackwards" from the original wiring, unless you redo the whole dome light circuit (PITA). I will look in my old files and try to locate the diagrams I used for both and post em here.

[tbone6]

Here is what I used.

The instrument cluster is pretty straightforward, just do a wire for wire swap (change all wire colors to match what you have with the ez wire).

The dome light is a different animal. If you wire it according to the diagram provided by the harness mfg (see sample), you will end up with a non functional dome light. You have a couple of options:
1. Replace the ignition switch with a GM style and rewire everything to match = PITA!
2. Rewire according to this drawing = not too bad.

Obviously, I went with #2. I reused some of the original wire (picked up the dome light wire as it entered the door post and spliced it in there). The red and yellow wires in the dome light diagram are what you want to mimic.

Drawings leave a little to be desired, I had to convert them to jpg to upload them...

Instrument Cluster.jpg

KWIKWire Dome Light.jpg

Dome Light Rewire.jpg

Again, be sure to change the wire colors/numbers to match yours.
Good luck!

[couldnt stay old]

Thank you very much... but now i have another question. on the gauge diagram you posted, that's pretty much i have it too, but on pin 18 (30 V- V CVR) on my cluster shows a resistor wire. Do i not need to put a resistor there?

Here is what I used.

The instrument cluster is pretty straightforward, just do a wire for wire swap (change all wire colors to match what you have with the ez wire).

The dome light is a different animal. If you wire it according to the diagram provided by the harness mfg (see sample), you will end up with a non functional dome light. You have a couple of options:
1. Replace the ignition switch with a GM style and rewire everything to match = PITA!
2. Rewire according to this drawing = not too bad.

Obviously, I went with #2. I reused some of the original wire (picked up the dome light wire as it entered the door post and spliced it in there). The red and yellow wires in the dome light diagram are what you want to mimic.

Drawings leave a little to be desired, I had to convert them to jpg to upload them...

Instrument Cluster.jpg

KWIKWire Dome Light.jpg

Dome Light Rewire.jpg

Again, be sure to change the wire colors/numbers to match yours.
Good luck!

[tbone6]

Is your alternator an old original one with several volts variation in output? If it is pretty stable voltage output, you are probably ok. I think the resistance is there to knock down any spikes. If you want to be safe make a quick trip to radio shack and get an 8 ohm resistor and splice it in line. It would be a shame to fry a perfectly good set of gauges because some bozo (me) gave you bad advice.... I did mine straight in to the cvr with no smoke getting out of the gauges (it worked fine), but I also put in a new one wire alt.

[couldnt stay old]

Yes i do have the original Alternator. Ok thanks ill try that resistor. One more question. I very much appreciate your help. I just want to make sure i'm connecting my ammeter correct since there was no wire for it in the kit, i have to add these wires. But the pin 17 (655 R- R Ammeter) comes from the alternator? or is it pin 1 (654 Y - Y Ammeter) from the alternator? Ether one coming from the alternator were does the other one come from? According to the original diagram both pins have power. kinda confused.

Is your alternator an old original one with several volts variation in output? If it is pretty stable voltage output, you are probably ok. I think the resistance is there to knock down any spikes. If you want to be safe make a quick trip to radio shack and get an 8 ohm resistor and splice it in line. It would be a shame to fry a perfectly good set of gauges because some bozo (me) gave you bad advice.... I did mine straight in to the cvr with no smoke getting out of the gauges (it worked fine), but I also put in a new one wire alt.

[jjdeal79]

this was going to be my next post! thanks for this guys! unfortunately the previous owner took out the connector on the instrument cluster. so the hunt begins! atleast the voltage regulator is still there!

[tbone6]

Red wire from positive post of alt, yellow wire from positive post of starter solenoid should do it. Yes, they are both positive, the ammeter detects the variation. By the way, that ammeter is going to be nearly useless for detecting issues...if you are concerned about it, stick a voltage meter in somewhere.

Good luck!

[couldnt stay old]

Thank you very much, can't wait for the weekend to work on my truck. Thanks. .

Red wire from positive post of alt, yellow wire from positive post of starter solenoid should do it. Yes, they are both positive, the ammeter detects the variation. By the way, that ammeter is going to be nearly useless for detecting issues...if you are concerned about it, stick a voltage meter in somewhere.

Good luck!

[tbone6]

Hope ya didn't burn anything up...any news yet?

[couldnt stay old]

So far so good.. my main concern was on the power source with the resistor, but it seems to be holding up. as far as the ammeter im leaving it alone for now.

Hope ya didn't burn anything up...any news yet?