Yes, they typically left a bit in the bottom of the tank. Typically. But, Dad had a 72 Mustang Grande that ran out when the gauge hit E. I borrowed it and, not knowing about that issue, I drove it home thinking "I'll have to get gas on the way to work tomorrow." As it turns out, it apparently ran out as I turned the key off as it got me home that day and would not start the next.

 

Here's a shot of the 81 wiring diagram which shows the ammeter and the shunt. But, more importantly it shows the splices to the shunt - S201 & S202. Further, the book says those splices are "In 14305, near starter motor relay". And the second picture shows something about 14305, which appears to be part of connector C209, which is the one into the alternator. But, I don't understand that because I don't have a connector there, just lugs.

So, maybe we can get someone like ctubutis that has an EVTM to help us. I think his book may show the connector or 14305.

 

I do not have alot of scrap material laying around but I did have this old trans tunnel deal which is brob 16 or 18 gauge and will work I believe just fine I laid out my holes that I needed for access to bottom screws, drilled these and hole sawed out center hole.

Cut outer hole with a cuttoff wheel knowing that I could dress it later once welded to bottom portion.

I ground this and dressed the welds without getting to crazy, I dont want any leaks

Fits on their good

And now I only need to run to Ace to get the attaching screws, nuts and lockwashers tomm when they open.

I will bolt the sending unit to adapter and then set it down in the tank with all the proper gaskets installed and hope for the best.

 

Thanks for taking the time, if you and anyone else can show me what to get and where to put it I would be most grateful. You are way over my head with these diagrams and lingo. Thanks again

 

Looks like it'll work. Good job.

 

Thanks
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I think a 14305 is a type of connector; down at the bottom of the Wiring Diagrams page(s) are drawings depicting the various connectors illustrated on the pages, I believe referenced as Cnnn.

I might be able to look later tonight or tomorrow.

Maybe Ralph (81-F-150-Explorer) can help? I shall ping him....

 

Thanks. Yes, as shown in the 2nd picture, my wiring diagrams show something about 14305 and C209, but I don't understand what it is trying to tell me.

 

The diagram is confusing because they show two different style trucks all in one, the trucks with gauges and the trucks without.

If you look at the diagram, the bottom leg of the shunt runs over to the solenoid, and that's the only connection for 12v to the whole truck. So the shunt monitors everything going in and out of the battery(except the starter motor). That other yellow wire coming off the solenoid in the diagram has a note "with IND lamps only". That means that wire is not there when using the ammeter/shunt system.

I have thought about mentioning this in some other posts where the guys have eliminated the shunt, but it would call for some experimentation. As you can see from Gary's calculations, the resistance you need would be very very small. I was going to suggest just using a regular piece of wire as a shunt.

Do you have a battery charger or 12v power supply? If so, get it out, and hook it to a load of some sort, like a car battery(just like you are going to charge it). But instead of hooking the + battery charger cable to the battery +, hook it to a piece of 10 gauge wire, about 3 ft long. Also hook one side of the ammeter up at the same place.

On the other end of the 3ft piece of 10 gauge, hook the other side of the ammeter up, and then touch it to the car battery to charge it, and see what the gauge does. If it pegs the ammeter, take the ammeter off and if your battery charger has a ammeter in it, see what amps you are pulling when you touch to the battery. Lets' say it's 10 amps.

If when you hooked the truck ammeter up it pegged, cut the 10 gauge wire shorter and try it again. If it didn't read at all, the 10 gauge wire will have to be longer. Keep experimenting with the length of the 10 gauge wire till the truck ammeter jives with the charger ammeter(the "10 amp" reading).

Is any of this making sense?

 

You made sense to me. But, here's a link to a web site that shows how to make a shunt. And, from that site:
Since my calc's said that we need a .002 ohm shunt, then we need twice what is shown above. IOW, for a 10 gauge wire it would need to be 2 feet long, or for a 12 gauge wire it would be 1 1/4 feet long. (Don't sweat the precision as these ammeters are very, very inaccurate. Out of the 4 I tested I had a wide range of voltage required to make them go full scale. And, two of the meters required a lot more to go one direction than the other.) My calc's using their formula and data says that 9.5 inches of #14 wire would give .002 ohms, and I think that's about as small of wire as I'd want to use for 60 amps.

And, by the way, these #'s are for 60 amps to the full scale mark, but the meters will swing quite a bit further. However, if you are going to use a larger alternator then either do your own calc's or send me a note and I'll calc it for you. But, there is no reason to ditch these ammeters.

Edit: Is anyone feeling the need for a sticky on the gauges? It could include the resistance values for the senders to give full, mid, and bottom scale readings. And, the voltage that works for an ICVR as well as the how-to on making one. Further, the info I gleaned today on what it takes to make the ammeter work as well as these shunt calculations - or maybe a table showing the wire size and length needed for various max amp readings.

 

Each time someone in the 80-86 forum wants to make one of these things work, I always tell them it's not worth the trouble. They hardly ever worked very well originally anyway.

I was skimming through some of the recent posts in this thread, and I may have missed it, but why not use the original ammter for the old truck? It doesn't care what the voltage is. The one on my old 53 actually read the current going through the wire, by just looping the wire through the back of the gauge. When I re-wired mine, that's what I did, just looped my main wire through the back of the original gauge.

 

14305 would be a style of connector and has its own Engineering ID and Part Numbers, e.g. E0TA-14305-A and is installed as Connector #209 in the wiring diagram. The drawing is just so you can see what it looks like and can identify the real thing and the wire colors. I did quite a bit of this in the Taurus this past summer.


Yes, Ford combines multiple configurations into one diagram, one of the reasons why I refused to try and figure out the with-gauges-or-with-idiot-lights wiring via those diagrams. Somebody here did it, though... Rogue_Wulff? Archion? ArdWrknTrk? ri_truck_guy? Somebody else? I forget.... Wasn't too awful long ago, I'd say within the last 2 or so years.

 

Maybe I was not clear enough, I am planning to use the original 52 ammeter gauge. That will be the only gauge that will be original for the truck. I decided to use it because

A- the 1980s ammeter gauges are about twice as thick if considering the bucket size front to rear so it will not just fit into the 52 bezel like the others have and
B- I read on an earlier post made by a Jules something or other when a question arose about using a 52 Ammeter gauge with 12 volt .........The ammeter needs no conversion-you can use it as is. You just need to run the wire carrying the load through in the opposite direction............This sounded like it was a no hassle solution.

Gary does not agree that this will work so we are trying to figure out how to make it work

 

Wait a minute. I have missed the part where you are using the original ammeter. My apologies! I thought you were going to use the 80's era one, and that's what I've been working towards. Sorry.

 

No problem at all, you made my night knowing I do not have to mess with it like I thought I was going to have too.

If you could tell me how to use this 52 gauge within this diagram of 80s gaugesI would very much appreciate it. Simpler terms and drawing with little stick figures work well for me

Just to reiterate I only have one wire powering up all of the gauges as seen in all the wiring diagrams I have attached within this thread and as shown in my drawing above.

I get the feeling though that these 3 gauges and my ammeter gauge are not going to be in any way wired into each other but maybe I am incorrect. Thanks again everyone for your time.