For the tach and speedo, I used the 5" gauges.....You can get 3 3/8"
For the other gauges I used 2 5/8".........You can use the 2 1/16"
That alone would net you some more space.
Just a thought. Trying to give some ideas.
James

 

mclaughlin, thanks for the help, but if I have to wire in the new sending units i porbably won't change out my gauges because it's too much work to have to drop the gas tanks and then have to try and fin all the other sending units. so I guess i won't be putting in the new gauges after all I could hook them up no problem but dropping the gas tanks is just too much work to have to do. but thanks for the help anyway I think that I will think it over for a while.

 

Iceman,
I have to apologize to you, you do not have to drop the tank, as long as you get the right gauge, you can use your stock fuel sender....I was thinking about the gauges for the motor and not the gas. Sorry, my fault.
james

 

ok so then the only gauges that I need to use the new senders for is the oil pressure gauge, temp gauge, volt meter gauge, and the tach that I will be adding then right.

 

Right, and the senders come with the gauges. It's never easy doing something diffent
James

 

Iceman,

I just made my own custom dash and it was a heck of a lot easier than I thought. I used a flat piece of plexiglass painted Ford blue from the back side. It screws on flat to the face so the guages are on a bit of an angle, but still clearly visible.

You can get 12v LEDs from Radio Shack for a buck or two each. I got two green ones for the turn signals, and a blue one for high beam. I also made new electronic gear shift indicators for the tranny and t-case. The automatic tranny indicator has red, white, green, blue, yellow and yellow LEDs for park, reverse, neutral, drive, low 2 and low 1. T-case also has colored LEDs for each gear. These are all on the dash, too.

For the heater controls, you can remove the original bracket and cut a flat one out of sheet metal. You can screw it on to the dash so the face of the controls is flush with the back of your new dash.

I also got a few wiring wiring connectors from Radio Shack, cut wires from the stock harness and made new ones for the new dash. I spent a few hours figuring out which wire was for what and I wrote it down to save others the pain. If you look at the harness, there are small numbers printed by each wire that coincice with this chart. This is on a 78 F150 4x4, but it should be the same as yours. Hopefully this will help.

Kevin K.

Pin Nimber - Wire Color - Description
1 RED/YELLOW BRAKE WARNING LIGHT (-)
2 --NOT USED-- --
3 --NOT USED-- --
4 PURPLE/WHITE BRAKE WARNING LIGHT (+)
5 PINK SEAT BELT WARNING LIGHT
6 GREEN/BLACK HIGH BEAM INDICATOR
7 WHITE/GREEN RIGHT TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR
8 RED/WHITE WATER TEMP GUAGE
9 BLACK DASH LIGHTS (-)
10 LT. BLUE/RED DASH LIGHTS (+)
11 YELLOW/BLACK AMMETER (C)
12 RED/ORANGE AMMETER (D)
13 GREEN/WHITE LEFT TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR
14 BLACK FUEL SENDING UNIT (REAR)
BLACK/GREEN FUEL SENDING UNIT (MID)
15 ORANGE FUEL GUAGE (EMPTY)
16 --NOT USED-- --
17 WHITE/RED OIL PRESSURE GUAGE
18 --NOT USED-- --

 

kjkozak2, do you have a pic of your dash panel installed in the truck that I could see just so I could get an Idea of how I want to do my panel. thanks.

 

Hi Iceman, I looked at several trucks that had custom panels put in but only a few took the time to mount them on an angle. I took an old dash pod and gutted it, mounted a speedo (not the bathing suit) on one side and a fuel gauge and LED's for blinkers and high beam on the other. The monster tach sits on the column and blocks the view of the center so I blanked it off. I'm just about done but I could send a pic(s) if you are interested. This all sits behind the normal cover. Every time I get frustrated I look at some of the fine work posted here and get back to work on it. Good luck.

John.

 

I have pics at home. I can send some tomorrow.

I'm thinking I'm gonna redo the whole thing and tip it back cuz I can't get the speedo cable to hook up. I also ran into problems with the heater controls hitting the ducts. Even though it looks nice IMO, it's a hack job. I rushed through it to see if it would work and I plan to redo it right.

I used the stock fuel guage and adapted it into an old tach case so it looks better. I also used the original speedo mechanism in a home made case. I didn't have a numbered background plate so I used a Miller Lite coaster from the local bar for the time being.

Like I said - hack job.

K.

 

Ok. check out my 'justpix' gallery. I put a pic of the dash in there this morning.

K.

 

ok one more question, if I don't have to change the sending unit for the fuel gauge why do i have to put in new one's for the rest of the gauges?

 

The fuel gauge is measuring a level, the gauge is meant for a ford or chevy ect.. depending on OHMs. The rest of the gauges come with sending units. My question for you is, why spend $400 on gauges and not use the new sending units that come with the gauges........The work involved in fabbing up a gauge panel is a heck alot more work than what is involved in changing out a few senders. You sound like you already have your mind made up. If you don't want to change them out, best of luck.
James

 

ok guys, I found two of the sending units on my engine yesterday the one for the temp in on the front of the engine below the water neck, and the one for the oil pressure in on the back of the intake manifold behind the carb, but where is the sending unit for the voltmeter? I know that it's probably on the silinoid that's by the battery but which sending unit is it because I think that there's two sending units on the silinoid.