Floyd Brothers 70 Challenger

[Dave999]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303703417137 ... dWEALw_wcB

check these fit your gauges 9-10 mm hole

1 wire cut short and tied into the gauge mount for negative will work if you mount the mounting plate to a metal part of the dash
OR
otherwise just strip and twist all 3 together crimp on a ring and clamp it under a mounting screw to act as earth

1 wire left long which goes to the light switch feed, you could tap into the wireing for the dash or any other gauge light

5 watt bulbs will last and not melt anything and the current drawn is low so should not bother original wireing

the 10 watt ones melt the GELL (coloured acetate dome) that gives the gauge its eerie green glow, well it does on the standard dash modern gauges might be better equipped

standard press fit wedge 501

wedgies https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284207167236 ... Swex5gQRST

Dave

[mygasser]

oil pressure as long as the fittings on the gauge are the same is fine. temp capillary is part of the gauge so has to be used as a unit complete unfortunately. they have mercury or suchlike in the tube that goes into the gauge itself so a sealed unit.
re illumination a wire from any of the dash illumination bulbs can be run to the new gauges (from one bulb to the next and so on). the bulb holders almost always earth through the gauge body and dash, if the bulb holders have just one wire that's correct, if they have 2 the other simply goes to earth which again you can link all of them together.
neil.

[Dave999]

your volt meter just needs to be connected to any 12 volt feed
ideally a swicthed one

plumb 1 wire (red or + ) into the switched part of the fuse box and the other to earth

your fuse box will have 2 fat wires coming in to the back of it, one is a 12 volt feed all the time ignition on or off and one is only a 12 volt feed when igntiuon is on i.e it comes from the igntion switch

bunch of fuses in top section and a bunch of fuses in the bottom section for each type of feed

work out which end is which with meter or a bulb and 2 bits of wire

you will have space to add you NEW thing unless your car has every option going

Dave

[Blue]

Dash lighting wiring is orange. There will be probably be a spare lighting wire where the radio was. Hooking into that your gauges will light up and dim like the other instruments. One of these is very handy when doing electricals… https://www.ebay.com/itm/372644340041

[Stu]

Thanks Chaps

Dave, the new gauges came with tiny bulbs on bell wire, just got a surprise when I found they had been completely left out of the old ones, just ‘oles there! I suppose I could just whack the new ones in the same, but I’m trying to do jobs properly as I go.

temp capillary is part of the gauge so has to be used as a unit complete unfortunately. they have mercury or suchlike in the tube that goes into the gauge itself so a sealed unit..

Balls, I was hoping that wasn’t the case. Thanks for the info though, Neil.

Dash lighting wiring is orange. There will be probably be a spare lighting wire where the radio was. Hooking into that your gauges will light up and dim like the other instruments. One of these is very handy when doing electricals… https://www.ebay.com/itm/372644340041

Ooohh! Like it! Bit pricey for a laminated map of the tube, though.

[mygasser]

if you can get a haynes workshop manual (i got the valiant one from ebay) it'll have all the wiring diagrams in it. mine had about half a dozen different diagrams for different spec cars so all options are covered. the wiring was all i bought it for really but it can be handy for working out how awkward jobs are done too.
neil.

[Dave999]

Oh yeah not using the ones you took out are ya

OOps been one of those days


my lighting wires are austrlian so they are purple

what year is yours

manuals here https://mymopar.com/service-manuals/

will have wireing diagram

Dave

[Stu]

I’ve got a service manual, cheers. Downloaded one from an ebody website a couple of years back and spent the next few weeks printing it out double sided 20 pages at a time, so now have a lever arch file hard copy.

Only problem is, I really have no clue what I’m looking at in the leccy pages. I’m not kidding when I say the last time I did anything to do with electrics I was in the 3rd year at school and I wasn’t paying attention then. Chemicals I can do, electricity flummoxes me.

It’s proper gibberish to me.

I came across this today that my brother bought me a few years ago before he got ill. I think it’s probably time I read the electrical section now.

[Blue]

Electrics on these old cars is as basic as it gets. Just find something online that explains simple wiring circuits and armed with a decent wiring diagram you can do a lot. Making yourself an electrical test light is a good starting project when you’re starting from scratch.

[MattH]

Electrics on these old cars is as basic as it gets. Just find something online that explains simple wiring circuits and armed with a decent wiring diagram you can do a lot. Making yourself an electrical test light is a good starting project when you’re starting from scratch.

I agree. Its follow the coloured wires on the drawing. I swear by my multi-meter with has a continuity checker that makes a sound when there is continuity, (i.e. the wire is connected). This helps when finding where the break or poor connection is in something.

[Stu]

Willing to give it a go. Keen to learn what I’m doing, so will plough on.

Took a pic of the current gauges from behind this evening and made me laugh and shake my head at the same time. When these were installed, they clearly came out of the packet and bolted straight in, no wiring, no nothing, just the bare minimum. Not even bolted to the bracket properly! When I opened the new gauges straight out of the packet they were only held on with 1 nut on each gauge, just like the existing ones now. Clearly whoever fitted them just lobbed them straight in without even putting the extra supplied nuts on.

Don’t know why I’m surprised given everything else that’s come to light over the last 10 years on it…

[Stu]

In other stoopid questions for the day, I followed the temp gauge through to see where it was routed and aside from having a small heart attack when I saw the jaggy hole carved into the firewall that its passed through, I’d never really realised that it was laid across the top of the manifold / rocker cover. Does it matter where this is run in terms of temp / reading accuracy?

[MilesnMiles]

Just fitting a set of gauges too, Stu. The coolant tube to sender runs down the inlet manifold as there is no other option.

[Stu]

Ta. Figured as much, but questioning everything as I go.

[Dave999]

if its wires and electical probably not, the resistance of the wire increases with temperature but not enough to imapct the reading much
the senders resistance is in series with the wire resistance so it will create a minor inaccuracy as it all heats up

if its some kind of sealed capilary tube with themometer mercury or alcohol in it yes it will

the sender is supposed to supply the heat that mades the liquid inisde expand and move the pointer. you will be getting heat from the heads as well. so gauge will always read as a combination of heat from the water at the sender and heat from the head.

Dave