Gauges, Wiring Completed
Switch panels. The switch panels were replaced. About five inches of slack permits the switch panel to be removed and folded back to provide better access. They were repainted the same Fusion flat black as the rest of the dashboard before being reassembled.
Testing. A firm believer in checking circuits, the dash was temporarily set in place and the various plugs connected to their mates on the chassis. (Every connection to the dash is through a GM style plug to facilitate removal of the dash). The headlights were switched on and immediately the gauges all glowed a soft white with a white needle. The rheostat (mounted just to the right of the steering column on the underside of the dash, out of sight but easily reached) worked very well changing the brightness of the lights.
The ignition was turned on. The volt gauge immediately jumped to 12 volts. Next the fuel gauge sender wires were grounded and the needle slowly swung to the full mark. There is some electronic dampening going on here, since it moved slowly, which will eliminate that annoying needle bounced when accelerating and braking seen with many other gauges.
The fuel gauges come with a switch that plugs into the back for calibration purposes. Since the gauges are pre set to 33 - 240 ohms, and since that matches the senders, no calibration is needed. The speedometer also comes with a remote calibrations switch, but since there is a switch mounted on the front side it is not needed.
Next the oil and water temp sender wires were grounded. They also slowly moved full scale. The only gauge we were not able to check was the oil pressure gauge.
With the gauges now wired and checked, the dash was removed so additional projects could be tackled.