Early Fox Mustang and F/Z instrument clusters

[paul78zephyr]

I have also posted at the FEP MMM forum on this subject. I am curious how many F/Zs out there have the 'guage' type instrument cluster from the factory? From what I have seen in junkyards over the last 20 years Id say they were fairly rare.

Has anyone else put a Mustang cluster in their F/Z like I did? Anyone wishing to discuss this subject please post.

Please click here to check out my 78 Zephyr at my crappy Cardomain webpage (http://www.cardomain.com/ride/773108/1)

Thanks,
Paul

[Chuck W]

I did mine a couple months back in the '80 Z7
http://ustio.com/file_dump/chuck/Misc/Z7/new%20cluster.JPG
http://ustio.com/file_dump/chuck/Misc/Z7/new%20faschia.JPG
(ignore the rest of the interior... :oops: )

I was going to use the "proper" 79-80 cluster like you did, but the one I had died, and I had this one instead. I nuked out the ammeter though and customized it by using the alt warn light instead.

[paul78zephyr]

I was actually able to make the ammeter operational. At the time I installed the instrument cluster I was making all new wiring harnesses for the entire car so when I made the engine comp right side harness I included the needed wiring/circuitry for the ammeter. But its a tricky setup as the wiring is designed to 'shunt' a small fraction of the current flow that go into or out of the battery thru the ammeter. If this fraction is too low (too much resistance) there will be little movement of the needle. If too much current is shunted (too little resistance) then the needle will move more and you may even end up damaging the ammeter or shortening its life.

If you want the proper colors/graphics for your 80 Z7 you could use a cluster from any 79-82 Mustang. They look the same but the wiring is different between the 79-80s and the 81-82s.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/773000-773999/773108_4_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/773000-773999/773108_5_full.jpg

Paul

[lk4life6969]

Paul, where did you get that gauge panel above your glovebox?? I am thinking about getting one for my 84 Stang. How does it mount? Also, what did it cost? Thanks.

Justin

[paul78zephyr]

Paul, where did you get that gauge panel above your glovebox?? I am thinking about getting one for my 84 Stang. How does it mount? Also, what did it cost? Thanks.

Justin
Hi,
Ive gotten several inquiries here at FEP about this. The 'gauge pod' that I have is available from Florida 5.0:

http://www.florida50.com/Pods_79-86.htm

I have the three gauge holder. You can buy them with the holes pre drilled or 'blank' and cut the holes yourself. I cut them myself as I am currently using only 2 of the 3 positions. If you look at the pics of the undrilled holder at the Florida 5.0 site you can see that the drilling location for each position is pre-located (except for the last location) so the holes come out nice and centered - a very nice feature! It was pretty easy and straight forward to install. The instructions with the gauge holder are very good. The original factory rectangular face plate mounts with just two nuts from behind. Once this part is removed you will need to cut away some of the plastic of the dash stucture behind the where the gauge holder mounts to make room for the back of the gauges but once the holder is installed you cannot see any modification. And its completely reversible if you ever decide you don't want the holder any more - just be sure to keep your original face plate. I am VERY happy with mine and love the way it looks and integrates nicely with my black dash. The best is that the gauges are mounted up high so you dont need to take your eyes much off the road to see them. Im using Stewart-Warner electrical gauges - oil pressure and water temperature. S-W gauges are very reliable and accurate but you dont see them advertised much. I run the S-W gauges in 'parallel' with the gauges in the Mustang instrument cluster I also have. To do this I needed to have two sets of senders. I used a 'tee' fitting at the oil pressure port for the two oil pressure senders and I used an inline 'tee' fitting in the heater hose for the second water temp sender.

http://www.stewartwarner.com/index.html

Please click here to check out my 78 Zephyr at my crappy Cardomain webpage (http://www.cardomain.com/ride/773108/1)

Paul