Hey you electrical nuts -

I'm a little sick of the thin, easily damaged circuit boards on the back of the 70 dash for wiring everything, particularly the lights.

I pulled my cluster out today and a couple lines are scratched and some worn off from stuff rubbing on them, me messing with my hands back there as I tackle different stuff.

I know this isn't a big deal to just replace the circuit board again, but what could go wrong if I just "hard wired" the gauges and lights instead of relying on the circuit board? While it might seem like a pain, I don't think it would take that long to do, and should make the circuits more reliable if I do it correctly.

I can use the circuit board as a template for the wiring, including the ground locations.

I'm not an electrical guy but I can certainly wire and follow a diagram - anyone see problems with trying this out that I might be missing?

You must be bored ? Buy a new printed circuit and clean up all the contacts, it'll be good as new.

You must be bored ?

LOL, well I WAS bored.

Actually came across a problem - if you wire it manually, the contacts become polarity-sensitive. Don't want to mix one or you'll short it out.

Thought of doing the same thing at one time too. How would you make connection at each dash light? They are push and turn types, you would have to replace them with a pronged type holder and similar wattage of bulb. I could see running wires to each gauge, but not the lites.

Mark, It's a lot of work and it will not be as reliable as a new circuit board (this battle was fought by Zenith Television in the late 60's early 70's when Zenith claimed their hand built sets were more reliable than the Motorola "works in a drawer" TV's which used circuit boards. Within two years it was clear that Motorola won. It has never (commercially) come up again.
If you want to abandon the stock dash and do a custom dash with something like Autometer instruments it would be quick, or Dakota Digital where the dash assembly just plugs in (so to speak).

Ron

All I did was solder a wire to the end of each terminal - still plugs in just fine.

Tested the whole thing with a 9V battery, works fine.

This was one of those "wait for a week for a circuit board or do it now (while watching football)" projects. I can change my mind and swap in a new circuit board any time.

Since this isn't a production line where mistakes that happen periodically are avoided by using a circuit board - this is a "lab queen" since I'm only trying one.