wiring for tach and gauges...

[layedout72]

So, what wire do I need? I don't car about color and all that, as long as I can get red/black for hot/ground. dont care about blue and green and all for the tach. Do I need that stuff painless sells, or can I use something available locally? I would like to get her wired up tomorrow after school...

[layedout72]

okay, maybe im a little more confused than i thought! haha. i got wire, just your basic wire. but now im confused on how to use it...

(this may become a long post)

Oil Pressure Gauge- first off, i'm guessing it is electrical....as it has a wire coming to it stock. Alright, so it says drain the fluids below the warning light sender level. Does this mean drain the oil pretty much? Do I have to do this, or what? When the motor was rebuilt, I'm sure I primed the oil pump before hooking up the sender, so whats the deal?

It then says "Remove the warning light sender from the engine and insulate the end of the sender wire if a T-fitting is not being used. Install the gauge's sender in the same location in the block." What the? I'm guessing it means remove the sender itself, but beyond that I don't have a clue....insulate the wire? It says something about an optional T-fitting, but I wouldn't know if i needed on or not. I understand the wiring part, as far as power/ground...but the rest is like greek to me

Water Temp Gauge- Once again, guessing it's electrical.Drain fluids, bla bla bla. Nothing coolant wise is in the motor. no worries. Remove the warning light sender and insulate the end of it. Install the proper fitting, ya ya, install the sender. Im guessing thats the spring style coil wound steel, with a copper type rod in the middle of it. Correct? Has like a little plumb bob looking thing on the end, that seems to sit in the motor, to read the temp. Am I correct when I say that? If so, am I really just deleting the old gauges (which I may use again, not so sure yet) and re-wiring for the new ones with new power/ground, and the new sender?

[layedout72]

look below.

[layedout72]

okay, this deals with all my gauges, so lets get it answered first if possible.

right now, i have my power source for the gauge tapped into the violet wire, and i ran ground that should be solid, i ran one in the cab, and then i just ran it to the core support just to know i ahve a ground, granted the wire was pretty long. either way it didnt work. am i tapped in to the wrong wire? where should i be trying to get power from?

[rjewkes]

are you wiring your old guages into new senders or new guages into new senders?

i would think if new to new you would want power coming from an on with the key and ground going directly from the new sender to the new gauge.

[layedout72]

its new gauges, new senders, new everything for these. i have no clue how to wire them and the instructions are worthless. i want them powered when the truck is on yes, but where do i tap to have power then? and where do i need to ground the,? you said with the sender, but it has nowhere that would "ground" them. The temp gauge has a coiled surrounding (metal) around what looks to be a copper wire. Hooks up to the sender, and that drops in the motor, and a threaded pieces kinda seals it i guess? am i wrong here? no idea....

Am I supposed to ground in the cab somewhere? anywhere that is ideal?

[layedout72]

well, i found me a wire not sure if its absolutely the right one, but it works. I have a feeling (if i remember right) thats its from the old temp sensor . I honestly don't remember. I guess we will find out. Sooner or later the truck is getting rewired so if it works, its fine for now and it will be perfect when the truck is rewired.

[fordman]

i would just tap all of your new guages off of the old wires. follow the wiring diagrams on the site and tap into them. that seems the most correct way to do it. as far as the tach i know nothing about even how they even read without a sensor on the crank. how could they. what do they read from the battery volts going up when the engine is reved? you got me. good luck wiring them up.

[fordman]

so the tach picks up current from the dist side of the coil? and that came see how fast the dist is turning right?

[fordman]

you knew more than i did about them.

[fordman]

sounds kind of like stuff i do. a 6 cyl starter on a v8 but it works for now.

[layedout72]

Now I am completely lost. just great. i had a gauge working (voltmeter) lighting up and everything. woohoo. well I undid it to make the permanant connection (read SAME GROUNDING, SAME POWER) yet.......it doesn't work. I am so lost right now I really don't even want to work on it . I dont see how the same exact connection can either work, or not work.