79 Tach Cluster into a 76 Truck - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

1BadSS · 03-10-2011, 12:35 AM

As the title says, interested in doing this swap. The 76 has gauges minus clock. The tach is fairly straight forward for me as it's a stand alone piece. What about the fuel gauge though?

Has anyone done this before, or perhaps a diagram?

Jonboy · 03-10-2011, 09:19 AM

The clock has a seperate harness like the tach, so there is no bearing on the wiring there. You will have to repin the harness to match the '79 cluster by moving the wires in the connector. You will also have to run a '79 oil pressure sender and wire to the connector to get the oil pressure gauge to work. I may have a '79 wiring diagram at home, I will have to look. I bought one off of ebay for my old '79.

Cramitthefrog · 03-10-2011, 06:33 PM

I just did this very thing and this is how I went about it in my 77.
The first thing is that the 76 and 77 are the only ones that have the mechanical oil pressure and the volt gauge. 1979 has an electric oil pressure gauge meaning you will have to swap the sending unit, wire it and a new gauge. The mechanical oil gauge cluster is different than the electric so I looked for a good 76 or 77 cluster housing that had a clock. The reason for that is I didn't want to mess around with the oil gauge and I like mechanical gauges better. With the new cluster you don't need to repin anything just swap the printed circuit and all the gauges, wire the tach seperate and make some jumper wires that connect where the old fuel gauge was to the back of the new small gauge in its new location. It is also a great time to paint the cluster gloss white to help with the dim gauge lights. That's what I did and I have no complaints, hope it helps.

03-10-2011, 12:35 AM	#1
1BadSS NOT REALLY BANNED! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Shawnee, KS Posts: 1,072	79 Tach Cluster into a 76 Truck As the title says, interested in doing this swap. The 76 has gauges minus clock. The tach is fairly straight forward for me as it's a stand alone piece. What about the fuel gauge though? Has anyone done this before, or perhaps a diagram? __________________ 1987 Mustang Coupe - 2.7 Stroker, 78mm turbo, Stainless header, 3" Exh, FMIC, 160lb/hr Injectors, MS3, twin walbro 255's, 34psi. Eating V8's daily. 04 Pontiac GTO 04 Ford Mustang GT 68 C20 LWB stripper truck 73 K5 Cheyenne 76 C20 Sierra Crew SRW 88 K20 Suburban I'm not hammering on metal just to hammer, i'm creating a piece of art.

03-10-2011, 09:19 AM	#2
Jonboy Slots go on anything! Join Date: May 2003 Location: Richardson, TX Posts: 5,957	Re: 79 Tach Cluster into a 76 Truck The clock has a seperate harness like the tach, so there is no bearing on the wiring there. You will have to repin the harness to match the '79 cluster by moving the wires in the connector. You will also have to run a '79 oil pressure sender and wire to the connector to get the oil pressure gauge to work. I may have a '79 wiring diagram at home, I will have to look. I bought one off of ebay for my old '79. __________________ 1974 Jimmy- 5.3/4L80e/NP241

03-10-2011, 06:33 PM	#3
Cramitthefrog It's always something Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Carson City N.V. Posts: 59	Re: 79 Tach Cluster into a 76 Truck I just did this very thing and this is how I went about it in my 77. The first thing is that the 76 and 77 are the only ones that have the mechanical oil pressure and the volt gauge. 1979 has an electric oil pressure gauge meaning you will have to swap the sending unit, wire it and a new gauge. The mechanical oil gauge cluster is different than the electric so I looked for a good 76 or 77 cluster housing that had a clock. The reason for that is I didn't want to mess around with the oil gauge and I like mechanical gauges better. With the new cluster you don't need to repin anything just swap the printed circuit and all the gauges, wire the tach seperate and make some jumper wires that connect where the old fuel gauge was to the back of the new small gauge in its new location. It is also a great time to paint the cluster gloss white to help with the dim gauge lights. That's what I did and I have no complaints, hope it helps.



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