Anyone ever switched from lights to gauges

[Metrodps]

I have the idiot lights in my K5 and want to put in factory gauges. I have looked at the cluster wires and they are different from the 1989 donor to mine. The wire diagram says they are the same for the clusters. I know I need to switch the sending units for oil and temp.

When I put the Gauge cluster in th right turn indicator (inside green thing) lights up. With the light senders the temp and oil peg out.

My question is has anyone changed these and if so what did you have to do? I am thinking on just saying frell it and putting in one and one half inch sun pro gauges. I want to keep the factory look.

Thanks guys

 

[73k5blazer]

Do some searches,this has been covered.
The printed circuits are different from year to year and from cluster type to cluster type.
Is easy though, you'll need a small screwdriver to poke in the terminals from front to depress the little tang in there, and the terminals pop out of the connector body from the back. A little trickey to get the first one out, but once you get it out, you can see exactly where that tang is and the others are all easy. But before you pop them out, trace your printed circuit traces on old and new and decide which ones need to go where. Write on paper what each color is for, then take them out and re-arrange them for the new cluster.
Grounds for gauges and lights are all on one trace IIRC, and lights are all on one, and others are individual.
Reference here for general colors, but variances have been known to exist, so make sure to write down what each wire does for yourself first.
http://brochures.slosh.com in the wiring section.

 

[BoondocK5]

This here is some valuable info don't loose this

 

[blackblazer717]

i say PM chevy305, he just did that in his stepside....
LUKE

 

[Metrodps]

Yea I have the wiring diagrams and the wires are the same except on the 89 it has two empties and the 87 only has one. Will have to look at the printed circuit plastic thingy. I will have to PM chevy305 after the third of July when I pay membership.

 

[Metrodps]

Help Help I Am Losing It!!!!!

Grrrr am getting been fracking with this thing for to long. Last cry for HELP! I am thinking just buy the Sunpro Black face 1 1/2 " gauges and cut the cluster buckets (the light blueish thing they sit in) where gauges are by speedo and shove them in.

Went to GM dealer and they show no part number for the plastic circuit sheet that is on back of cluster so I can't cross check to see if different. for each year of truck with gauges.

Right now driving it without any gauges or speedo the little copper on circuit sheet started to come off.

The Sunpro number is CP8090 $34.99 msrp..

 

[73k5blazer]

Those circuit sheets are long gone from GM, but they should have at least a part number, you won't find it, but the numbers exist.. LMC sells some repros of them, but they are like $100.
So you don't have your original pod then for reference, just a different pod w/gauges? I don't quite understand the problem. The first post says you just want to switch, and with both pods in hand, it's just a matter of tracing out which wires do what. If you don't have the original pod to reference, you'll need a meter, and just start testing each one out to see what it does, using the colors from the wiring diagram as reference for a place to start.

 

[Metrodps]

What I have and have done.

Truck 1. My 1987 Blazer Full size. Idiot lights

Truck 2. donor 1989 GMC Jimmy Full size. Gauges


Step one: I got wiring diagrams. Studied them and traced wires from sending units to cluster plug on both trucks. Same colored wires for each truck to cluster.

Step two: pulled clusters out of each truck. The plugs for the rear wires are different. 1987 has two empties and some only have one wire where the 1989 has one empty and some are doubled.

Step three: Yes I know I have to change the sending units on motor. I know to get the volts working I have to run one wire to a keyed hot and another to ground.

Step four: The dash lights, turn signal indicators (inside) and fuel gauge should work when hooked up. WRONG... I have no lights and the right turn has bleed lighting... No I did not hook up volts gauge.

Step five: Lotsa causing and words I can't type. So I go back and recheck the wires from under hood.

OK the original idiot lights bottom left copper contact on cluster is starting to come off the plastic sheet from all the in and out.

QUESTION 1: Should I take the wires out of the plastic holder and rearrange them to be same as the 1989 truck 1?

QUESTION 2: What about the wires that are doubled and the extra wire?

QUESTION 3: Should I just say frack it and buy the Sunpro gauges, cut the original light blueish bucket and put them into dash and be done?

Additional information: I would like to keep truck as much as factory as I can the rear bumper and two way radio antenna are only exceptions.

Sleepless in Toledo

 

[73k5blazer]

Sunpro guages are your call. Total preference there.
What I meant by trace the circuit, is trace them on the printed circuit sheet itself to see where they go. So where the connector comes in to the pod, follow the traces (or copper lines) to the position where they terminate. One will go to high beam, one to right turn. One will encase all the lights. One will encase all the gauges and lights (for ground)..etc.
If the wire colors are the same from the 2 truck, you can try to just re-arrange the wires in the connector body to match the other.
But I would ensure the correct position by tracing the traces on the printed circuit first.
So take pod one. Find the ground. Find the right turn, left trun, high beam, fuel gauge..etc. Find each position in the connector body they correspond to. Then mark your wires (can be just on paper, ie blue is high beam, orange is backlights, black is ground, brown if fuel gauge..etc)
Then take pod 2 and trace the traces (copper lines) on that one and mark down whcih posistion they end up at where the connector comes in. (ie, position 2 is high beam position 1 is fuel, position 12 is ground..etc)Now you have a map, and can re-arrange the wires in the connector to match the pod your trying to install. Once you've traces out both pods, you'll know what the extras are and where it should go etc.
Gauges all have switched power, ground and sending input (except volt gauge, only has power and ground). backlights all have power and ground.

 

[Metrodps]

Ok I got ya

OK Friday is a work day if it don't rain on me. I will do that and see what I get. I will give it one more try.
Thanks alot for the thought. sometimes you need some one looking in to see some thing diff.

 

[Chevy305]

Ok so I had the idiot lights on my K10. I didn't go as far in depth as to mess with the stamped circuits. Well, the temp, and the was oil pressure/choke didn't work. Neither of which were hooked up or had sending units. So I got some miss-matched gauges and set them up:





I just cut out the lights and ran all the wires through the wholes where the lights used to be. The gauges I used are 2 1/16 inch. The temp is a Sunpro to match the tach and the oil pressure gauge is some no name gauge that I had laying around.

I decided to keep the e-brake light and the battery/ignition light.



I plan on doing something like this:

http://www.covansclassic.com/parts/items.php?CA=21&UID=2006063000124865.96.250.155

Really expensive, but you can make you're own out of a stock gauge panel for a lot less.