I picked up a gauge cluster from a larger truck to use in my F100. Well, actually it came from eBay but before that it was on the larger truck.

The cluster has the five gauges in the center and a tachometer to one side and a vacuum gauge on the left. In addition to the two other gauges it also has real gauges instead of idiot lights on the main cluster. Oil pressure and Amp gauges - yeah!

When I took the cover off the cluster I saw that the "oil pressure" gauge was actually a second fuel gauge. Has anyone else seen similar? I guess if they operate in the same ohm range it doesn't matter what it says on the face since the face isn't visible when the cover is displayed.

Pictures will be up later today.

 

The electrical mechanism of the two are the same. You will just need the proper sending unit to make it work. Just make sure the power source comes from the instrument voltage regulator, not just any 12 volt source. (the same as the fuel gauge)

 

Out of curiosity, does the water gauge operate with the same Ohm ranges? I am curious if all 3 gauges are actually the same except for their faceplate.

 

Dang, I would love one of those. It's second on my list after a fridge era 'super duty' hood scoop........One day I will have both, if I'm patient .....

 

New here & browsing around, where's that pict. of your large truck cluster?
Did it bolt right in?
I've been waiting around to find one of those bigger trucks "abandoned" by the side of the road so I could get the panel senders & all.
In the meantime I 'built' my own. See https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=119648
But covet yours. Your temp. gage is cal. in degrees right? And the tach and vac match the others. What does the tach use for input? Just a dist. terminal?
Do you mind shareing what the price was? This may inspire me to persue my passion for this mod. (I've been toying w/ it for 40yrs)

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=119648

 

The cluster is from the F750 and up. Also used on the big C series with an adaptor. Keep an eye out for the big Cs - they used this basic cluster long after 1960, with just some changes in the gauge faces.

Temp gauge if marked C --H, oil pressure 0--80, ammeter D--C, fuel E--F.

Tach is mechanical, driven off of a cable from a distributor with a tach drive built in. The tach I have matches and is 0 - 4000 rpm

 

Opps, I wonder if they made that panel in later models that had an elect. tach? If not I guess I'd just stay w/ what I have rigged up.

 

That's a nice panel! Now I have some ideas. What's the brand of gauges on that? How big are your 'small' gauges? Do you have a high beam light?

 

I wouldn't recommend going this way unless you got lots of time and like doing things the hard way/ or just like to use up old stuff laying around instead of buying. Which is pretty much how I 'built' my truck. (Low Dollar/lot of elbow grease).
I'd get that 'big truck' panel if it fits right in..I didn't get the answer to that. If elect tach was never used in later yrs. you would just have to deal w/ that one item.
But, yes I do have hi beam ind. that is the stock speedo w/ the face painted flat black (Notice the red increments past 85mph!) Just my sense of humor.
The fuel & temp also stock w/ some paint. (I was going to do red on those also but you have to stop somewhere)
The amp & oil were the regular, what 2.5 inch ? add on gages usually under dash. I cut them open & mounted them (somehow) behind the enlarged idiot lite holes. I used these wax? rub-on letter transfers for the text & increments.
Later I realized a lot of Ford gages are pretty much the same behind the panel and I could have saved a lot of sweat hunting those down and mounting them likewise.
The tach is standard for 60s hot rods (Sun Super Tach)that a guy gave me for working on his 51 Chev. in hi school, but again to keep the bezel looking right I cut the hole to allow just the smaller ring to come through from the back.
That vac gage is an "evolution". It started out as an anologe elect. clock but when I added the AM/FM I got a digital clock so I 'gutted' the clock & adapted the 2.5 in. S/W Motor Minder as the hole for the clock was greater than 2.5.

 

Opps, my memory failed again, those were 2in. gages I 'gutted' not 2.5in.
I private mesg. someone on this- hope they get it here 'cause I can't figure out how to find my sent messg. to see who it was.
Is this site that hard to 'navigate' or am I that tech challenged?

 

On the 57 to 60 F Series the clusters are interchangeable - one from an F850 will fit the F100.

The C Series trucks used the same basic panel with an adaptor bolted on. Remove the adaptor and it will fit the F Series. The C Series 750 and up usually had amp and oil pressure gauges.

In all of these, on the 750 and up, if the truck had factory air brakes the cluster has an air pressure gauge. If no air brakes, a vacuum gauge was available. A tach was available with governed engines, always cable driven. I have seen many different combinations over the years.

Another way to get an amp and oil pressure gauge is from the 67 to 72 (also maybe a few years beyond) F500 and up. The panel was bigger and will not fit, but if you disassemble it the main cluster (speedo, and 4 small gauges) will fit in the space on the 57 to 60 panel. On the 750 and up these could have the tach, vacuum gauge, or air pressure gauge. These could be used in the 57 to 60 panel with some cutting (proper size round hole).

 

So, do you or Number Dummy know if the later ones had elect. tachs ?
And if so did they need a sender or just a 'dist' connection.

 

In the years that will fit the 57 to 60, only mechanical. Ford did offer some electric tachs in the parts books, but they were add-ons (dealer installed), not even close to the in dash models.

 

One of these days I'm going to find one of these panels.