Builds Moonshine - A Build Thread (4 Viewers)

[boots4]

For a snubber I used a needle valve in the line to the gauge and tightened it down until the needle on my gauge has just a slight movement. This allows pressure to bleed back from the gauge so the needle responds to engine reving. If I open the needle valve 1/2 run from completely closed the gauge needle will bounce like crazy. But your's is electric, meaning it has a sending unit right? Maybe that has snubbing built in?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Correct Mike. Will take the sending unit out of its package and check for snubbing provisions later today!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

No snubber in the sending unit, but maybe the electronic bits will suppress the pulses. We shall see!

Figured out that the tiny Tach signal wire is rg174 coaxial cable, so I ordered terminals and a crimper to repair the line I cut.

Have a problem with the El wire backlighting in the gauges. Wired it and the needle light circuits to the Tach light bulb. The pointer works, but the El wire doesn't. I measure 4v at the light bulb. Will need to revisit that.

Got the gauge pod installed, dash pad installed, wires ran for the three engine sensors I need to add, through the speedo cable grommet. Plan to get the sensors installed tomorrow, and test the gauges out. Will revisit the El wire lights when I pull the cluster to put the tiny Tach terminals back in.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Add a fun little knob thing, and got the engine sensors knocked out. It's cold, so progress is slowing!

 

[Hojack]

No snubber in the sending unit, but maybe the electronic bits will suppress the pulses. We shall see!

Figured out that the tiny Tach signal wire is rg174 coaxial cable, so I ordered terminals and a crimper to repair the line I cut.

Have a problem with the El wire backlighting in the gauges. Wired it and the needle light circuits to the Tach light bulb. The pointer works, but the El wire doesn't. I measure 4v at the light bulb. Will need to revisit that.

Got the gauge pod installed, dash pad installed, wires ran for the three engine sensors I need to add, through the speedo cable grommet. Plan to get the sensors installed tomorrow, and test the gauges out. Will revisit the El wire lights when I pull the cluster to put the tiny Tach terminals back in.

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Can’t wait to see that new instrument panel installed.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You and me both @Hojack !

 

[boots4]

Looks like a boost controller/fooler

 

[GLTHFJ60]

All gauges now work, with exception of the fuel level gauge, which needs to be calibrated. Verified fuel sender wiring with ohmeter.

Figured out a neat mod with the tinytach. My only gripe with the tinytach is that it comes with a way long coaxial signal cable that is permanently attached to the gauge. This means that removal is a PITA. I called TinyTach to see what's up with custom splicing, and the only option they suggested was soldering it back together with heat shrink tubing. FYI, the OD of the coax signal cable is .100", so imagine how small the shielding wires and conductor are.

Wanting a solution to be able to unplug the tinytach, in lieu of pulling the signal cable out through the firewall, I did some research and figured out that the TinyTach signal cable is RG174 coaxial cable. I ordered a few male and a few female SMA terminals from amazon and figured out how to solder the conductor pins on without burning the insulation. Took a few tries, but was able to get it.

Here is a male SMA terminal for RG174 coax. The center pin gets soldered onto the conductor, then the shielding is crimped on the backside with the ferrule:

Female bulkhead connector. Note the female center pin:

In the end you get this, if you put heat shrink over the ferrule:

Works perfectly!!! Highly recommend doing this for all you Tiny Tach owners out there, who want to be able to unplug their displays from the engine.

EDIT: Having trouble with the pictures above. LMK if you can't see them.

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[GLTHFJ60]

With that, all of the gauges in my cluster now work, with exception of the fuel gauge. It is being calibrated.

Only outstanding thing is the elwire backlighting. I wired it and the needle lights into the light bulb socket for the tachometer, but it's not working properly. With the rheostat plugged in, the elwire doesn't work at all, and with the rheostat disconnected, the elwire is dim. I'll put up a separate post on that.

Finally, the snubber banjo bolt for the fuel pressure gauge should be here later today.

Check it out!

 

[Hojack]

With that, all of the gauges in my cluster now work, with exception of the fuel gauge. It is being calibrated.

Only outstanding thing is the elwire backlighting. I wired it and the needle lights into the light bulb socket for the tachometer, but it's not working properly. With the rheostat plugged in, the elwire doesn't work at all, and with the rheostat disconnected, the elwire is dim. I'll put up a separate post on that.

Finally, the snubber banjo bolt for the fuel pressure gauge should be here later today.

Check it out!

What an upgrade. Looks really nice!

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Looks good. That was my gripe about the Tiny Tach also.
I placed my order for my speedo, tach, and fuel gauge from Speedhut on Monday. 4-5 weeks lead time. Is that pretty accurate from when you ordered?

 

[boots4]

What's the knob next to the brake light for? Separate rheostat for lighting?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

What an upgrade. Looks really nice!

Thanks!!

Looks good. That was my gripe about the Tiny Tach also.
I placed my order for my speedo, tach, and fuel gauge from Speedhut on Monday. 4-5 weeks lead time. Is that pretty accurate from when you ordered?

Sounds about right, yeah. Mine came sooner than expected!

What's the knob next to the brake light for? Separate rheostat for lighting?

Correct, rheostat for the gauge backlighting. The needles and LCD display are backlit, then the numbers are also backlit. Very cool looking at night

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Think I figured out the issue with the rheostat. I wired the gauge backlight +12v to the ground for the tach bulb (WB wire) instead of the positive (RB wire). Unplugging the rheostat disconnects the ground for that circuit, which must mean that residual voltage in the ground is what's giving the lights low voltage.

Will rewire tonight and report back. Wiring diagram in question for those curious. Took a while to realize that the FJ60 EWD was in the last few pages of the chassis-body manual:

In other news, got my new license plate light housing from City Racer. Thanks Roger!! Nice to have one less rusted bit on the truck.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Let's see if I can outline this from my phone while trying to heal up from a sprained ankle, and torn meniscus.

Finalized my gauge wiring last night. Gauges need lots of things, switched 12v, 12v for needle, lcd and warning lights, 12v for gauge backlighting and constant 12c for the speedo to save satellite locations. The quad gauge gets voltage reading from switched power, but has sensor inputs for oil pressure, coolant temp and fuel level. Muy cumplicado.

Trying to reduce the number of wiring harness modifications, this is the route I took.

- Switched power and associated grounds got fed to the terminals located on top of the factory tachometer. I'm retaining it anyway (nothing else to put in that spot) and doing this reduces my connectors. Both the tiny Tach and gauge harness get switched power from here.

- constant power and factor fuel gauge wires were relegated to a three pin weatherpak connector. Constant power comes spliced from the column harness, a leftover from the po. Pin 12 and 13 of the factory quad gauge connector supply a circuit to the factory fuel sending unit (verified with ohmmeter). This is connected to the fuel sender wires in the gauge, and to the constant power wire from the gauge harness. Gauge side of the connector shown.

- gauge lighting was tied into the factory tach light bulb leads. Red/stripe is hot, white/stripe is ground, through the rheostat. Both the pointer light harness and elwire dimmer harness are connected here

- as previously discussed, the tiny Tach rg174 Coax cable was cut and re-terminated with solder/crimp sma connectors, as shown. Once again, gauge side connector shown. I used a bulkhead connector only because I couldn't find a female sma rg174 crimp connector on Amazon that wasn't a bulkhead connector

Finally, this is how it looks before being installed. Looks kinda messy imo, but its as clean as I felt I could make it without further factory harness modifications. We're I to install a painless harness in this truck, built an entirely custom gauge cluster, I could make this much cleaner.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Finally, a pic of the finished gauges. Fuel pressure gauge hooked up with a torx tech snubber adapter (thanks @Mr Cimarron ) and it reads kinda low, like 5-6psi at idle. Unsure if that's air in the sensor housing or something else. Need to drive more to see what's up, because I believe that to be low.

Factory rheostat is connected and functional for the hvac bulb and speed hut gauges. Elwire dimmer is present to dimm the speed hut gauges as well. I'm stoked!

This wraps up the gauge install finally, except for fuel level calibration. Feels good to have a speedometer again!!!!

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Looks good. Any issues with the GPS speedo?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Looks good. Any issues with the GPS speedo?

None so far! Have about 250 miles and a week on it. No complaints!

 

[Mr Cimarron]

I got my speedhut gauges. I think my speedo is bunk. The display is blank. When I connect the white dimmer wire I then only get a blank white display. Did everything fire up for you ok? Making sure I’m not doing anything wrong which is pretty hard to do with three wires.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I got my speedhut gauges. I think my speedo is bunk. The display is blank. When I connect the white dimmer wire I then only get a blank white display. Did everything fire up for you ok? Making sure I’m not doing anything wrong which is pretty hard to do with three wires.

There are five wires. Red, white and black bundle are gauge power, and they're stuck together. The separate black and white wire pair, that connects to the dimmer, are for lighting.

If you power just the backlighting and not the gauge you'll get a blank white display.