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By charliemccraney - 15 Years Ago
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The big thing planned this year is a custom wire harness. Gauges and a few other things are "sub-projects" relating to the harness.
I officially got started this past weekend with the fitting of a 3 3/8" tachometer.
I started with a spare instrument panel, cutting the hole with a 3 3/8" hole saw. This is a pretty easy procedure on 61 - 66 trucks as the center is already marked if you choose to use one of the locations to the right or left of the speedo.
 
My original plan was to hammer the bead flat. I even made a dolly out of some 4140 steel. But a friend was with me and suggested I see how the tach looks with the bead. I'm glad he was around because I think it looks good. It gives it some extra dimension.
 
This presented a problem with the clamping of the tachometer to the panel as the clamp does not sit flush against the panel. My solution is to make a ring that takes up the space. So I took a trip to my local metal supplier and found a piece of .080" 6061 aluminum sheet in the drops bin. I didn't want to get another hole saw so I marked the center, applied some layout dye and scribed a line for the OD of the ring with a compass scribing thing - I'm sure there's a technical term. I then cut the center out with the hole saw, rough cut the OD with a hack saw and finished it with a bench grinder.
 
And now it should clamp quite securely.
 
The speedo should arrive some time next week.
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By Johnson Rod - 15 Years Ago
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Charlie, looks good. I think it would look even better if you put a # 3/8" quad gauge (single unit with oil, temp, volts and fuel) in the other side to match the tach and speedo.
I love spending other peoples money...
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By Eddie Paskey - 15 Years Ago
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Hey Charlie; looks great, Might try a very large rubber o ring, takes up the extra space. Also I sure had good luck with Ron Francis' wiring kit for my bird. Fun for thought. God Bless Eddie
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By charliemccraney - 15 Years Ago
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I said speedo. I should have said cluster. The cluster I'm getting is a 5 in 1. It has a speedo, temp, oil, fuel, and volt gauges in addition to turn and high beam indicator lights. I'll save the left side for a boost gauge... or something.
I'm considering Ron Francis and Centech. I've heard good about both. We use Centech at work. The only problem we've had were with some Chinese relays they we're incuding at one point. I'm so tired of Chinese crap. I'm using one of Centech's 7 circuit auxiliary panels for stuff I have added and it has been flawless so far.
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By paul2748 - 15 Years Ago
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Look at American Autowire. Theirs looks nice.
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By Tom Compton - 15 Years Ago
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Had good luck with the EZ unit on son's 55 Chebbie. Will probably use another on the 56 Victoria. http://www.ezwiring.com/wiring_harness.html
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By Unibodyguy - 15 Years Ago
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Tom, I used a EZ wiring kit on my 61 Unibody. The kit and the harness were very nice, everything labled nicely. Don't bother calling them if you need tech support/questions, their the worst business I think I've ever delt with in that respect and don't know, or tell you anything. Your pretty much on you own. A lot of the alternator and other issues were trial and error to figure out. I think I'd go with American Auto Wire if I'd do it again.The biggest problem was EZ was that I wasn't running a Chevy engine ( or other things GM accept for the alternator) in a Ford and being pretty much a stock truck. Michael
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By kidcourier - 15 Years Ago
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I like the new Ron Francis wiring kit with the pull out fuse panel for easy access and multiple fuses with keyed multiple hot circuts,along with printed I.D. on all wires throughout their length. KID
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By Brodie - 15 Years Ago
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I'll ditto Michael's comments about EZ Wire harnesses. Just wired up my buddy's '56 Mainline using the 12 circuit kit. The price was right and the quality was generally pretty good, however the instructions resembled a bad cartoon. Nothing that couldn't be overcome with a decent multi-meter although it definitely is geared for GM vehicles.
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By Tom Compton - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks for the heads up. Didn't need to call tech support but again that was on a chebbie. I have a pretty good electrical background and most tech supports are not on the phone when I have time to work on projects. Soooooo, will save the $300 difference between EZ and the big advertizers and use my multi meter. Biggest mistake made on the 55 was getting a 20 circuit when only needed 12. Now have a lot of wire rolled up for possible future use. TC
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By charliemccraney - 15 Years Ago
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Tom Compton (4/3/2009)
Biggest mistake made on the 55 was getting a 20 circuit when only needed 12. Now have a lot of wire rolled up for possible future use.
TC
Can the wires not be removed? That's what I like about Centech, and Ron Francis. If you're not going to use a circuit, it can be left out entirely until needed. I definitely don't want a lot of wire rolled up and stuffed somewhere.
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