DurasII

I have all of the Rally Gauges and am getting ready to tear the dash apart to get the new gauges installed and wired up.
Was wondering if anyone had any words of wisdom for me. Things to do while there or things to look out for etc.
Thanks y'all for the helpful ideas....

allyolds68

Cut the green wire and make sure you know how to rearrange the pin connectors. Do a search here. There are a couple threads that explain the whole thing.

What year?

DurasII

My 68 Convert...

allyolds68

When I replied I was on my phone and it doesn't show signatures or avatars.


Try this:


https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ge-wiring.html


The info is also in the 68 Factory Service Manual but if I remember correctly the wiring isn't shown correctly.

The hardest part, if you're taking the whole dash out, is to get the center stud in the dash to pop out.


The green wire that has to be removed is the one that goes to the ignition key switch, not the gauge harness

DurasII

Yeah I was drilling my way through the threads and found that someone stated that the green wire can be found on the steering column and removed and taped up and left....?

Is that what you are refering to?

DurasII

I was thinking on removing the lower part of the dash, that should give me enough access to get the gauges out and in don't ya think?

I had purchased another lower dash and was going to use the ashtray door to put into my dash as the guy I bought the car from drilled holes in the door for a cruise control controler. I was going to swap ashtray doors around and then mount the cruise behind the ashtray door.

I wll also at that time be able to cut in the FM antena switch that I purchased from you....

droldsmorland

Remove the front seat(s) too. Then you can relax with your feet up on the rear seat. Your body will thank you.

rcorrigan5

I did mine with the dash in place but the front seat was out and that helped a lot. The green wire for a '68 can be found in the ignition connector behind the dash. I took mine apart so I could extract the green wire from the connector without having to cut it. Once the green wire was out, I just taped it off so it wouldn't come into contact with anything. For cars with gauges, the shop manual shows a ground wire in the place where the green wire was so I made a ground wire and installed it.


FYI, the green wire is the "check circuit" for the temp gauge idiot light. When you start a car with idiot lights, the temp light comes on momentarily and then it goes off. That's what the green wire does. If you leave it connected, your temp gauge needle will "pin" to hot for a second or so, and then return to its normal reading. I've heard arguments both ways on whether or not leaving the green wire connected will eventually damage the temperature gauge but it is easy just to disconnect the green wire so that's what I did.


As before, be sure to relocate the wires in your gauge pod wiring harness to the correct position for gauges. Also, be sure to change out the temp and oil pressure sensors on the engine to reflect gauges.


Randy C.

DurasII

LOL...great thought.

I was planning on doing that already but did not think about being able to put my feet on the rear seat...sounds comfy while working...

allyolds68

You'll find that it's easier to just remove the whole dash including the pad.


And like everyone else said, no matter what you do, remove at least the driver's seat.

allyolds68

I still have a nice lower dash plastic with the hole already cut


https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...h-plastic.html

BackInTheGame

I'll be trekking down this trail later in the spring, on my '68 4-4-2. I've reviewed a few C.O. threads on the process, as well as the wiring changes that need to be made. Right now my interior is gutted, so laying on the floor is no problem - other than the lumps, LOL! IIRC, there are 12 pins that need to come loose in order to pull the dash pad and subsequently the plastic lower dash panel, off of the steel instrument panel. Is there any rhyme or reason as to a specific order of detachment that may make the process smoother?

Rich

allyolds68

FWIW here are the fastener locations that must be removed to get the dash out as one unit. The center post has to be "popped" out from the back. There's no nut on it. Don't try pulling on the dash assembly or you'll probably break the pad

BackInTheGame

Thanks for posting the pic, Mike. My book is not quite the same quality of print.
Rich

DurasII

Hey thanks everyone for all of the input. There is a lot of great advise and knowledge here with in this site.

Recap; I had purchased the Rally Pac for a 68 Cutlass S. What I got was the TicTac (right side) gauge and the Fuel, Oil, and Temp gauge (left side). The speedo is the center opening.

After a lot of thinking on how I was going to do this (and boy do I hate working on dash's never been very good at it) I decided to try to get the gauges out through the front. Was a lot easier than I thought. Only took me about 30 minutes and I had both gauges out. Another 20 minutes to change the 8 pin wiring around from idiot lights to gauges. A couple of hours to find the orange and grey wire needed for the tictac and to run the coil wire. First test everything worked as designed.

I have another piece to install in the dash "Power FM Antenna Switch" wire up install dynamat clean up put seats back in and she is ready to drive.

Again thanks all for all of the helpful ideas and wire diagram was the best.

FStanley

Reserecing an old thread.. but related..

trying to help a friend who bought Repro Rally PAck guages and Tac-Tok

So

he forgot to cut the green wire ti steering column and when he ran the car, when he turned off the ignition, it would not stop.

He's using a MSD distributor, and it needs a 12V realy to apply full 12V to MSD distributor.

So I checked his old ignitior wire(black) at the relay, when the engine was off this wire still have about 4V DC on it..

When we cut the green wire to column ignition switch, then the car would turn off like it should.

I checked the black wire and now there is NO voltage on it..


WHy question is WHY, just cutting a ground wire to the switch?? not undersatnding..

Gorund loop?? ??


I don;t get it,

it seems to be working for now, and want to make sure there is not some other reason why the car would not shut off..


Fred

Does