Heres my situation..I have a 52 F1,Bought with a 350 engine.(I know i don't even want to mention it!)..I installed the EZ wire kit (wich is 12v)that supplies the individual power wire to each gauge.Now ive seen a lot of threads that show how to convert over from 6 to 12v by using voltage reducer,and a great post that shows how to convert to mechanical gauges By Julie..My thing is i know how to hook it up at the gauge end,and do the conversion from 6 to 12v, but not how to hook it up at the sending unit end,as a matter of fact i dont have the sending units for the oil,temp,& volt(i have individual mechanical aftermarket gauges hooked up,except for the gas..i want to use the stock gauge)..the only sending unit i have is the fuel one(aftermarket one for the stock tank).Am i suppose to buy those(dont want to sound dumb,but no one has mentioned this part of the process) and then hook them up?Where and how?My thought was to by some gauges and use the sending units from them and toss the gauges,but im not sure if thats what i should do,or if they would even work?!!Thanks in advance for anyone that could help me with this!..Don

 

The fast & least expensive way what we have done is to get origional
senders for a 52 and reduce the plus side of the gauges. The next option
seeing these are K.Seely you can use in the 1970s early 80s gauges by
simply changing the face plates and housing and using senders from them.
The ampmeter (loop) doesnt care. The usual problem always the temp.
gauge. Having a 1951-1952 round cluster gauges, remember they were
used in P (parcel) trucks very late into the 12vt days. I still see bread
trucks roaming around with the same gauges so they are around.
And then I have seen people use SW mechanicals carefully changing the
faceplates with success. Nothing beats the look of origional gauges.

 

I liked my origianl gauges too, but then when I saw some new gauges from Woodward I used them.

They look old but have new reliability and senders and they fit right down in the orginal holes. Google Woodward 4-3/8" QUAD GAUGE AND SPEEDOMETER KITS. They have a 3 N 1 with a tach, turn signals and high beam built in also.

 

The aftermarket sender you have for your truck will not work with the original fuel gauge as the sender and gauge must be matched.

IMHO, I would go with aftermarket gauges and forget about using the originals. You already have a modified truck since it has the Chevy 350, EZ wire, and 12V so why try to use 60 year old gauges?

 

I'm using my original gauges, but I have a Ford engine and I don't know about ch**ys. But, I got the original sending units for engine, temp for the engine I used, hooked them up to the original gauges (through volt reducer) and they work. Don't know if that would work with your engine.

 

Gentlemen,Thanks for all the replys and suggestions,really appreciate them!This site is Awesome!!

 

I ran the original guages for years with 12 v positive ground when my 49 ran a 56 Buick nailhead. I installed individual dropping resisters on the back of the fuel, temperature and oil pressure gauges and used the original senders. I am repowering with a 383 stroked motor and will continue to use the original gauges and senders. I used my 6v/12v battery charger to get the running amps and then sized the dropping resisters using E=I X R. I did this over 30 years ago, so sorry, I don't remember the resister sizes!

 

I'm like you. Yes, Chevy 350 under the hood but I think the stock instrument dash will look cool. This page has good info on the fuel gauge. Fuel Tank Sending Unit Tech - FORDification.com Looks like the original gauges used 5 volt input and that is why you see volt reducer mentioned. I wonder if this guy has a similar page for the other gauges. I'm too cheap to buy new gauges so I'm looking at putting all the gauges out of a 89 Astro van in my dash. It will take some tin bending to fit the gauge into the existing opening but they will work with the senders. My primary reason for looking at the Astro instrument cluster is this is the vehicle that the 700R4 tranny came from and using the speedometer from that vehicle will be a ton cheaper than anything else for getting a speedo to work with the electronic VSS.