i have a 70bu and recently picked up a tach dash from a 72 monte.. my question is this.. will the plugs on the malibu go right on the new dash.. or am i gonna have to make some custom wiring?

thanks,

You need to modify a few of the wires, and you will need the circuit board for the tach dash, too - do a search in electrical forum on this, look for Jim Endrud (spelling?) he's got a site with great instructions on how to do this.

ok.. thanks for the info.. also.. i have the complete dash.. im just gonna swap it as a whole.. glove box radio hole.. everything..

If you have a 70 malibu then you will need a new dash harness to hook up the tach dash. The harness from the 70 malibu is not even close to what you need to hook-up rally gauge dash.

Sorry, my bad - I was thinking from an idiot light SS dash to a tach/guage SS dash. Malibu dash is different.

Your best bet may be to get a wire harness from an outside source, like Ground Up or painless.

hmm.. could i just take the one from the monte?

The one from the Monte is not a bolt in. There are many wiring differences at the bulkhead connector. You need the wiring diagrams for both to see all the differences. Your other choice is to cut off the gauge connector from the monte then splice in the malibu wires.

ok.. so this isnt a quick project.. either way its gonna take some real time and effort..

thanks for the help..

I have the opposite problem. Would you be willing to trade harnesses. This would save us both the headache.

70 Chevelle would need the GREEN tint gauges, 71-72 Monte/Chevelle has white tint gauges.

Matt,

Your underhood wiring (engine, and light harness) has to match the underdash harness that you are using. If you have 70 underhood wiring, then you need a 70 dash harness from a SS dash. The idiot light SS harness can be modified very simply to work with the SS gauge cluster. The big thing is the the wiring inside has to match the wiring outside.

John W.

Originally posted by Yello72:
I have the opposite problem. Would you be willing to trade harnesses. This would save us both the headache. i sent you a mail about the harness.. please reply to mballinger1@cox.net thanks..

another question.. to everyone.. if i use the harness from the 72 monte.. can i splice and make it work? i understand it wont look factory.. but im not too worried about that.. i just want the dash to work..

If you use the 72 monte tach dash harness no splicing needed. The major differences are the 72 has TCS realy, seat belt light/relay, and the pinouts to the forward lamp and forward engine harness is different.

72 forward harness

If you look closely at the wire side of the dash harness bulkhead connector (separate the fuse block from the bulkhead connector) You should see letters marking the rows and columns. The rows are A,B,C and D. The columns are S,T,U and V for the forward lamp harness and W,X,Y and Z for the engine harness. The following instructions will refer to these coordinates.

Forward lamp harness
AS – No wire
BS – Tan wire (for brake warning light) -From DU
CS – Light Blue wire (for left hand direction signal) NO CHANGE
DS – Yellow wire (for windshield wiper power) -From CY
AT – Black wire (ground from steering wheel horn button for horn relay) -NO CHANGE
BT – Brown/white wire (from ignition switch to voltage regulator) -From CU. --Two wires on light harness. The second, Brown is from the GEN light.
CT – Dark Blue wire (for right hand direction signal) NO CHANGE
DT – Light Blue wire (for windshield wiper) -From DY
AU – Light Green wire (for headlights high beam) NO CHANGE
BU – Brown wire (for running lights) -From BU
CU – Dark blue wire (for windshield wiper) -From CZ
DU – Black wire (for windshield wiper) -From DZ
AV – Tan wire (for headlight low beam) NO CHANGE
DV – No wire

Engine harness
AW – No wire (engine harness has black wire to trans switch for TCS)
DW – Red wire (main power feed from horn relay/starter) -From DV
AX – No wire (Would be a tan wire for TCS)
BX – Pink wire (connects to a brown or white/orange/ppl resistance wire to coil +) NO CHANGE
CX – Black/White wire (for amp gauge) -From DT --No wire on light dash harness
DX – Black wire (for amp gauge) -From DS--No wire on light dash harness.
AY – Brown wire (for tachometer to coil -) --No wire on light dash harness. On the 71 gauge dash harness this wire passes through the firewall.
BY – Dark Blue wire (for oil pressure switch) NO CHANGE
CY – No wire
DY – No wire
AZ – Purple wire (to starter solenoid) -From AW
BZ – Orange wire (for heater blower not used on air conditioned car) NO CHANGE
CZ – Dark Green wire (for engine water temp sender) -From BS --Temp switch on light harness.
DZ – No wire (would be dark blue for TCS
solenoid)