Well I bit the bullet and bought the rally gauge for my 70 Cutlass. It's an original restored gas,oil,temp, and battery gauge. Also bought an original clock. The clock should be a no brainer but swapping from idiot light to gauges might be interesting. I bought the water and oil senders and plumbing and I know where everything goes, my question is has anyone done this and if so provide some insight on the wiring?

 

It takes less time to try SEARCH...

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https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ac-gauges.html

 

Thanks Joe, I dug into it last night and I figured it out. Mostly just rearranging the pins in the connector and installing the new temp and oil sender. Thanks for the links. I'll have a nice jump on it when my gauges arrive. Regards, Jim

 

FYI, the gauges were not offered by themselves, but only in conjunction with the Tic-Toc-Tach.

 

Joe,

Thanks for the info. I bought gauges separately off eBay. I found a real nice original clock and I'm going to use it instead of the tic tic tac. My rig is an automatic, no need for a tac other than cool factor. If I ever come across an original tic toc tac I'll swap out the clock and be correct.

 

To quote Woody Allen, "they usually travel in pairs".

(Now we'll see who's old enough to get that reference... )

 

The new clock and rally gauge is in. Super easy. The hardest part was fixing the clock. if the contacts are good and the solenoid is not burned up inside your old clock it's most likely repairable. Mine was just gummed up with dust and old grease. I bought the clock for 30 bucks off the bay. I cleaned it up inside and added a light oil to the lube points and cleaned the contacts that activates a solenoid that rewinds the clock every 2:30 minutes. I ran it in my lab for a day and it kept perfect time. I then cleaned and polished the lens, repainted the dials and put it all back together. My gauge pod was done by redline gauge and clock repair out of Tennessee and that dude does some fine work. All gauges work perfectly the first time. Rewiring the main connector with info from this site was a breeze, All in all it takes about 30 minutes to complete the gauge and sender swap. The clock took a few hours to get going. I know a quartz conversion is probably the way to go here but theres something cool about hearing the clock solenoid click every 2 and a half minutes. I'm keeping my clock original till its no longer repairable.

 

You probably know this, but in case you don't...

With the original clock, be very careful about letting your battery run down. As the battery voltage decreases, it gets to the point where it is not sufficient to operate the solenoid. Unfortunately at that point the current continues to flow (at the low voltage) and welds the points shut.

It's best to disconnect the battery or keep a charger on the battery.

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I drive it plenty so the battery usually stays charged up. I know it won't last forever and when it finally gives it up, I'll change it over to a quartz movement.

 

Well its been about two weeks and my repaired clock is keeping perfect time. I added LED back lighting because I could hardly see the oil pressure or temp on my new gauge pod. A worthwhile mod if there ever was one.

 

where or how did ya do the LED lighting? i'm getting ready to change the pad on my car and would like to add them too...

 

I bought them off eBay. The speedo and gauge take the twist in lights while the clock takes 2 socketed lights. 6 total. I also change the dome light to LED as well as the shift indicator. It's real nice driving on a dark road.

 

Gauges n clock loo nice. Can you dim the leds?

 

yes the dimmer works as it should.