Dash Suggestions and Questions

[Atchison0341]

Hi Gents,


So I will try and keep this short and sweet and to the point. I am working on a 1964 GMC short bed fleetside pick up. It has been in my family since it was new. My father passed the truck on to me after getting back from Iraq in 2007. It has been used as a DD since then. However shortly before that my uncle had it did a lot of rigging with it to get it working, he and my father no longer speak which makes it hard for me to figure a lot of things out. I know that I believe it has a 350 from a 1989 Chevy Suburban. Everything else to MY knowledge is original. I am only 28 and have done as much reading as I can.

Here is my current dilemma, the fuel gauge has never worked, always reads 1/4 full. So today I decided to try and fix it, I did my reading here following the steps as well as getting me a new OHM meter and checking my sending unit. The unit checked out fine. So I was curious about checking the gauge itself making sure its wires were connected correctly. ANd I came across what is pictured below.... I am no expert but to think that in 1964 they had all the wires together and run together at the back of the cluster seems off to me. So I'm here to ask, what year is this stuff from....and do you guys have any more advice on how I can fix my fuel gauge issue?

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/D1_1.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/D1_1.jpg.html)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/D2.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/D2.jpg.html)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/D3.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/D3.jpg.html)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/d5.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/d5.jpg.html)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/d6.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/d6.jpg.html)

Thanks,

PS I did take out the leaking heater core today and ordered a new.

[Clarke]

Hello,

Sorry, i'm not much help. I have a fuel issue with mine too, so I will be following this thread close. Mine seems to read okay below 1/2 tank, but all over the place above half tank.

There is a wealth of knowledge on this site.

Good luck.

[David R Leifheit]

I am no expert but to think that in 1964 they had all the wires together and run together at the back of the cluster seems off to me. So I'm here to ask, what year is this stuff from....and do you guys have any more advice on how I can fix my fuel gauge issue?



Well, I can tell you that wiring is dirty. And what one would expect behind a 1960-1966 dash. The same gauges are used all 6 years for GMC, so that wiring will look like that all 6 years.

This shows the styles of panels:
http://6066gmcguy.com/cluster.html
In the pickups while the faceplate looks different, the system (wiring and gauges) behind are the same.

I know you said you have read what you can find, is this what you read?
http://6066gmcguy.com/Electrical-02.html

This is the site to go-to for information: http://6066gmcguy.com/
Along with asking here.

As I recall it is a rather simple wiring for the fuel gauge. Which does not mean that troubleshooting it will be easy. :(

[Atchison0341]

Thanks so much for the info David. I'm now at a cross roads, I was looking on LMC and and now debating on weather or not to buy a new pig tail connector(DASH HARNESS per LMC) and just cut the wires and and splice in the new connector. As you can see in the pics the current one is rather old and some of the connects are kind of bent. Electrical stuff has never been a strong point of mine.

Any advice or opinions? I'm all ears.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Mine looked similar when I was figuring out why my dash lights quit on me. A little sandpaper will take it right off and will make your connection great again. (I sound like Trump, haha.) Battery terminal cleaner might work too and save you some $$$.

:goodluck:

[Atchison0341]

Mine looked similar when I was figuring out why my dash lights quit on me. A little sandpaper will take it right off and will make your connection great again. (I sound like Trump, haha.) Battery terminal cleaner might work too and save you some $$$.

:goodluck:

Thanks will give it a try. Out of curiosity does anyone know of anyone who restores or rebuilds these? I've done a fair amount of searching and have found they are somewhat hard to come by for GMC.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Thanks will give it a try. Out of curiosity does anyone know of anyone who restores or rebuilds these? I've done a fair amount of searching and have found they are somewhat hard to come by for GMC.



I'm outside today but I'll try to post my notes in this when I get back. You can do it yourself with the right colors pretty easily and get vinyl overlays to resurface the gauges. I've seen them done and they look great.

[aphaynes]

I'm outside today but I'll try to post my notes in this when I get back. You can do it yourself with the right colors pretty easily and get vinyl overlays to resurface the gauges. I've seen them done and they look great.

I did not have to rebuild my gauges, but I did use the vinyl overlays Fetch is talking about as well as some LED's for entire instrument cluster.

Vinyl...
http://6066gmcclub.com/showthread.php?p=54388#post54388

LED
http://6066gmcclub.com/showpost.php?p=55868&postcount=14

[FetchMeAPepsi]

From my notes when I get around to doing mine:

Disassemble and take pics so you know how it came apart. Post pics if you're a cool guy. Keep them to yourself if you're a psychopathic monster that deserves death. Colors of paint used are Krylon Indoor/Outdoor satin clear for base coat, Krylon Indoor/Outdoor satin jade for inside, outside start with a base coat of Rustoleum High build and sand down the high spots, use SparVar S120 Silver for the chrome areas, and Krylon satin black for the black. Use 3m Adhesive cleaner on the gauges and needles,Florescent Red model car paint to repaint the needle. Clean gauges with glass cleaner and apply vinyl stickers to the gauges to dress up. Poke holes for stop pins, lights, etc in the sticker for the speedometer. Disassemble odo and put vinyl stickers on that too. Reassemble the lights with colored plastic lenses and use clear Avery stickers to re-do the labels like BLINKER, etc. (Just stick over colored plastic you cut. It will show up great). Coat inside of light socket with silver foil tape to really let them POP when they're lit. Use LED lights for gauge cluster for brighter gauges. Clean metal parts with steel wool and clean wires etc with more 3m Adhesive cleaner. Reassemble and enjoy your new cluster.


If I ever get around to doing my interior this is high on my list of things to do. Of course I'll post all the pics and do a step-by-step. My gauges have LEDs already because I had a bulb burn out and just pulled the trigger then, but a total reface would make driving that much more exciting. Good luck! Hope this helps at least a little.

[Atchison0341]

Hey guys sorry for never updating things, last week was a little hectic. Anyway today I was finally able to take the instrument cluster apart more. And these are the pics I found. Does this look correct? I found a NOS gauge on ebay for 95.00.

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/04BEAC7F-812E-4C26-9AFF-F62F9E521B85.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/04BEAC7F-812E-4C26-9AFF-F62F9E521B85.jpg.html)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/C8F766C0-904E-4B63-8142-CB9FA9DB0539.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/C8F766C0-904E-4B63-8142-CB9FA9DB0539.jpg.html)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa328/Atchison0341/6F8CE1C9-6F5C-487C-B4C5-82B411BFDA1E.jpg (http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Atchison0341/media/6F8CE1C9-6F5C-487C-B4C5-82B411BFDA1E.jpg.html)