[66brit]

good evening all this is my first posting.
i own a66 el camino [my third] im from london now living in los angeles and for whatever reason im obsessed with el caminos.
heres my dilema.irecently installed anew dash harness with the warning light setup then came across anice set of gauges.my question is,can i modify the harness i just put in or do i have to spring for a new one
thanks
jason
s.c.c.c.c#411

 

[John_Muha]

Anything can be modified. Problem you have is you won't have the connectors for the gages. If you can locate some connectors it could be done. If you are not in any hurry maybe look for a good used harness.

 

[Anthony Nedwick]

The gas guage should hook right up.

The oil guage is mechanical, so run the line from the engine to the guage...

The temp guage will require a different sending unit (check for a 66 Vette, etc. if you can't find a Chevelle one... But you don't have the connector etc for that one... You could always run separate wires to the temp and amp guages, or just not have them hooked up...

I run an aftermarket temp guage under the dash, so I have never had my temp and amp hooked up... No one else will know, and how often do you need the amp guage?

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What's that knockin' on my knee? Why that's only my Tach...

 

[TW]

Jason, I don't have my wiring diagram in front of me, but I believe you can take the wires that go to the temp light (green and pink I believe) and add female spade connectors to them to match the temp gage male connectors (you may need to add a short piece of wire to each to reach the gage). The pink wire goes to the top terminal of the gage and the green to the bottom. As the others mentioned, you will need to replace the sending unit. These aren't hard to find through the resto catalogs. I wouldn't bother with the amp gage. If you are using a high output alternator, you can't use the gage anyway. To use the amp gage, all power has to be routed throught the gage and then through the rest of the harness.

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Tom Wood
Gold Member #66
502 Powered '66 SS

Some pictures of my '66 under construction;
http://home.attbi.com/~tkmwood55/

 

[shooter]

The amp gauge on a 66 is wired in "parallel" not series like an aftermarket gauge. It reads current flow on the charging lead between the alt. and the battery.One 14 ga. wire goes to the horn relay red wire main power lug and the other side is a 14 ga wire to the small junction block behind the battery. The temp light light green wire goes to the ign switch and then to the sender. Not sure if this will affect gauge. Factory gauge diagram shows green wire from gauge straight to sending unit.

Hope this helps

Rene
66_Malibu

 

[John_Muha]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by shooter:
The temp light light green wire goes to the ign switch and then to the sender. Not sure if this will affect gauge. Factory gauge diagram shows green wire from gauge straight to sending unit.

Hope this helps

Rene
66_Malibu<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The temp idiot green line goes to the ignition switch to get grounded as a lamp test. That's what makes the TEMP light come on as you start the car. There is no ground wire shown. The switch body is grounded.
You don't want to use this line for the ammeter. Grounding one side of the ammeter, at the igntion switch, will make some smoke.

 

[TW]

John is correct with regards to the grounding through the ignition switch as a light test. I forgot about this. This should not effect the operation of the gage (I think it will just pin the gage at start up). You could remove the green wire from the ignition plug to be safe. If I get a chance, I'll pull my wiring diagram out to have a look. I'm using a painless 18 circuit universal harness, so I didn't route the green wire to the ignition for my temp gage. I am also using aftermarket gages under the dash (mechanical) with a voltmeter. I didn't hook up my factory ammeter, since I'm using a 100 amp alternator, which would fry the gage.

------------------
Tom Wood
Gold Member #66
502 Powered '66 SS

Some pictures of my '66 under construction;
http://home.attbi.com/~tkmwood55/

 

[66brit]

thanks to all
thats a lot to digest [electrical not my forte]
but it sounds straight forward.and doable sure is better than buying another new harness

 

[66brit]

thanks to all
thats a lot to digest [electrical not my forte]
but it sounds straight forward.and doable sure is better than buying another new harness