Need to replace my dead fuel gauge in the cluster my question is short of loosing 50 LBS and becoming a contortionist how the heck do you get up under that dash to see what you are doing? I have removed the 3 small nuts holding the gauge to the dash (blindly) and now need to remove some of the wires so I can get the gauge to drop out so I can get to the gas gauge am I missing something here or is this just a blindly work and feel job? Thanks
Lay with your head between the brake and gas pedals. Reach up and remove the 4 3/8 nuts. There should be enough room to pull the guage cluster back from the dash and twist downward. Now go from the dash side through the hole for the guage and make your disconnections. Reverse for re installation. Much cramping and swearing is usually involved. You should be able to drop the guage far enough that you can perform the change without completely removing the guage. BE VERY CAREFUL OF THE TEMP SENDING LINE. If you kink or bend it too far, the magic genie comes out and it don't work no more. It is actually a gas tube. It is a good idea to disconnect the battery, if you connect the 2 poles of the amp guage, you now have an arc welder and makes some neat divots in your ratchet....ask me how I know.
What he said plus: Be careful of the oil pressure line too! Too much twisting and/or crimping of that line and you've got a slow drip of oil onto the back of the guage pack, on the floor, then, OOPS, I CRAPPED MY PANTS! Here's a tip that I picked up having had a couple of wives, 4 daughters and 1 grand-daughter. Lighted Make-up mirror! They are awesome! One side is magnefied, one is regular, both lit! If you are trying to replace old, original guages, remember that they are old and brittle (kinda like my old bones). I always found that color-coding the terminals and wires with paint or finger nail polish ensures proper re-connections. Advil works good too, as well as alcohol, both rubbing and the "other" medicinal kind!
Wow make up mirror, nail polish hope the guys in the shop don't catch me with all of this might be hard to explain. Thanks guys for all the advice makes sense. If I could just talk the wife into doing this it would be much easier 5' tall maybe 100lbs soak and wet of course when she sees me leaving the house with her nail polish and mirror I am sure she will follow me to the shop. Merry Christmas to all!!!!
Gauges When under the dash I find it better to wait until finished and make sure it works before drinking beer. If it works I have something to celebrate!
What the %^$% happened, I replaced the original 6v fuel gauge with a new 12 volt fuel gauge hooked everything up the same and when I hooked up the battery and turned on the switch I get smoke, the hot wire from the switch to the fuel gauge burned up pretty bad (new project) anyone have an idea of why this happened of what the heck I did wrong? Thanks Mike
