instrument cluster swap

Torque Junkie · October 1, 2002

I found a very nice condition instrument cluster out of an 85 Suburban and was wondering how hard, if at all possible, it would be to swap that in place of my stock '79 instrument cluster? Would they fit right up or would there need to be adapters for the different guages. The guy at the pick-your-part said that it does take some adaptation.

Thanks for any help!

-Mike

Torque Junkie · October 3, 2002

To answer my own question, yes and no. I just went for it today, and here's what I did.

I didn't take the whole cluster, I took the individual guages (Temp, Voltage, Oil pressure and Fuel) from the 85 and they went right into my cluster. The speedometer was a different beast though. What I ended up doing with that is keeping the same speedometer unit, but swapping the face and needle. I did it this way for 2 reasons. 1- The 85 used an electronic speedomter that has not only the speedomter cable but it also had 3 electrical wires in it, whereas my truck only has the connection for the speedomter cable, and 2- I was able to keep my odometer milage the same.

I also added the tranny gear indicator from the 85 as well, so when I do put the 700R4 in there some day, I have the Overdrive position there. For now, I'll just have to know that [D] really means D, D means 2 and 2 means 1

This is the first step to my interior project. The rest of the stuff on the project consists of: A new instrument bezel w/ wood grain, a 81-87 style dash cap w/ Silverado emblem on the passenger side, new door panels, new seat and new paint on the metal surfaces in the cab. The reason I did this first is that this was the only set of guagues from the 81-87 generation trucks that I"ve seen in any of the 5 junk yards I've looked at. Every 73-87 truck I've looked at in there has had the interior picked CLEAN, and I havn't seen them on ebay, so this was a great find for me. Plus, you can't beat the price at $40 for the whole setup, where LMCTruck wants $40-60 per guage!

-Mike

TDS 854X4 · October 4, 2002

I LIKE IT!!!

Sounds like one of those projects that you just had to dive into to find the answers. I'd like to change out the lights in my dash, in favor of the gauges too. Doubt I will ever get to that project, though. Too many others.

I'm hoping to head out Saturday morning to a salvage yard and see what I can find for my truck. I too have found many of them really picked clean, but every now and then you stumble across something that you want.

Torque Junkie · October 4, 2002

Thanks.

I have some modifications yet to do to the speedometer. If you look at the picture you can see the odometer is a little off. I have to adjust the face up so it lines up right. Also, I missed when i was putting the needle back on. I need to set it to 0 instead of almost 5. I got into a hurry when i was putting that back together... shame on me

If you can't find anything at the pick-your-part I can give you the old guages out of mine. They all work and are in a good clean condition. The difference is that they have the older style look to them. I was gonna list them on eBay for $5 ea but I'd make you a deal on it if you were interested.

lemme know. I'll list them on e-bay tonight or tomorrow.

-Mike

TDS 854X4 · October 7, 2002

Nah, I went to a different yard this past weekend, and found tons of stuff, including probably a half dozen or more gauge sets. Thanks for the offer, though.

Do you know anything about the clocks that were in these things? Any history of dying out? Most of them had a clock in the lower left location, a few different versions, some with adjuster dial coming out the top, some out the bottom. Wonder if that swap would be plug and play in my '85? Hmmm.

I was looking for vent windows, and stumbled across a cab full of them. (more pass side, than drivers, though) So many choices, I had to wait and see exactly what mine at home looked like. Planning on going back again soon. I got there just before closing time.

Torque Junkie · October 8, 2002

Nah, I went to a different yard this past weekend, and found tons of stuff, including probably a half dozen or more gauge sets. Thanks for the offer, though.

Do you know anything about the clocks that were in these things? Any history of dying out? Most of them had a clock in the lower left location, a few different versions, some with adjuster dial coming out the top, some out the bottom. Wonder if that swap would be plug and play in my '85? Hmmm.

I was looking for vent windows, and stumbled across a cab full of them. (more pass side, than drivers, though) So many choices, I had to wait and see exactly what mine at home looked like. Planning on going back again soon. I got there just before closing time.

You know, now that you mention it, the only truck I've seen a clock in that location is is my dad's 87 Suburban, and his still works to this day.

Good luck!

-Mike

Larry · October 9, 2002

Hey, those gauges look good in there! :thumb: My 78’ also has the factory clock but it doesn’t work. If you ever want to find an even a more rare commodity…look for a factory tachometer in this body style. The tachs were located where the gas gauge would normally be located and gas gauge was then moved to the clock location. The tach looked cool but the gas gauge was way too tiny.

Your instrument cluster is almost exactly the same as mine down the color of the bezel and newer model steering wheel. Mine even used to have the automatic shifter handle until I swapped in a SM465 4-speed manual and mounted an aftermarket tach on the shifter boss where the shift lever use to be. The bad thing is my speedometer doesn’t work anymore every since the speedo cable fried on the exhaust manifold this last spring during a bouncy off road trip. I’ll replace that when I swap in my 454 since I will need to add a VSS signal for the fuel injection feed.

How did your rear axle caper turn out??

I would post a pic of my cluster but once again either the forum or MSN doesn't seem to want to cooperate tonight. Try this...http://groups.msn.com/LarrysG....otoID=7

Torque Junkie · October 9, 2002

Your dash does look alot similar! You've got the 100mph speedo, and I got my steering wheel for $20 from a pick-your-part. I'm a junk-yard-sl*t, what can I say Yours is also in a LOT better condition than mine.... which is why I hope to get mine upgrarded & resotred after a while.

Good luckin truck, Larry!

Oh, and the rear end. I located a used but recently rebuilt 4:10 10-bolt off a rolled K5 (I know, 10 bolt but hey, it works) Guy's even gonna put it in for me. $600 for everything. Thats really the only option I've got. I dropped the truck off today and it should be done tomorrow.

-Mike

Larry · October 10, 2002

I am a junkyard sluuuuut too but my wife got me the steering wheel for Christmas a few years ago so I couldn't complain. I was suprised that a steering wheel for the old b!ith even crossed her mind! I didn't think she even looked at my wish list. My whole truck was build from junk yard parts kind of like the old Johnny Cash song. 78’79’87’95’99’….automobile… :thumb:

Good to hear your axle situation is taken care of. Sounds like a decent deal if labor is included. The 10 bolt will for fine for now as long as you keep your tire size down to at least 33’s and keep the toenails out of the floorboard. Back in 1996 when I did my axle swap I was lucky enough to trade my original ½ ton axle straight across ( the 1/2 ton axle was in good condition) for a 14 bolt full-floater as I knew the owner of the salvage yard. He had 6 full floaters in stock and zero 10 and 12 bolts…so, he was happy to get a good ½ ton axle in stock and turn a full-floater. Kinda gives you an indication of which parts have the highest turn ratio and failure rate. Out here you can still buy a complete full-floater for about $300 or less.

If my memory serves me right, the cost of my full-floater and front axle 8-lug conversion cost me:

$25 x 2 for front axle 8 –lug brake rotors…the calipers and brake pads are the same as ½ tons...so no cost incurred here.

$10 x 2 for backing plates

$ 75 for rear drive shaft shorting and balancing since the full-floater has a longer pinion and requires a shorter drive shaft.

$ 50 in new rear axle U-bolts

$ 25 X4 for 8x15 on 8 lug el’cheapo white steel wagon wheels, which still allowed me to use my original 15" tires. Not pretty but go the job done. I then sold my 8x15 6 lug look a-like Centerlines for $100

I spent a little in wheel bearing grease, brake shoes, a bastard rear u-joint and one wheel bearing but I think the total for the whole deal came a bit south of $500 and I did all the labor myself. That was 6 years ago...I am sure now it would cost a bit more now.

BiltChevy4x4 · March 6, 2003

I replaced all the gauges in my 78 k-10 with pro-comp silver ultralites, mounted on custom fabricated polished aluminum plates that went in place of the original plastic. I also plan on replacing the long plastic piece on the passenger side with a laser etched ("Heartbeat of America") piece of polished Bronze for contrast. when I get around to digitizing pictures Ill post em

4x4fury · March 18, 2003

Anyone know of any white faced guages for an 85 chevy? I was going to get a digital guage set from Dakota Digital but the price is a little steep for me right now.