Gary Lewis Posted September 25, 2017 Share Posted September 25, 2017 Yesterday I worked some more on the truck and got a lot of things started and nothing finished... typical unraveling sweater adventure with this thing! The Saginaw pump pivot bolt had stripped out in the captive nut, so I tapped it for a slightly bigger one and that part is good and solid now, but my eyes keep playing tricks on me. I can't 100% tell if the PS pulley is in the same plane as the others. I made myself cross eyed looking at it. I guess I will just have to run it and watch the belt to see how it does. I have plenty of washer shims that I can move around if I need to. Next I removed the vacuum booster. It made a lot of psssshhhhhh sound when you stepped on it and the brakes were horrible. It had duct tape around the rim of the canister 😳, so I'm thinking that was an attempt to seal a leak? I had an extra F450 hydroboost system laying around so I put that on. Which of course requires a different pedal, so the steering column and pedal box came out: Really, I am ~trying to fight scope creep, but I am also trying to use what I have and take care of some improvements while I'm in there. Of course that always backfires... I've heard of folks using the cast iron master cylinder on the hydroboost assist, but on mine the two mounting holes on the flanges were too close together and it did not fit. So I have to use the F450 MC. But the brake line flare fittings are opposite, the F150 has the large threads in the rear port, the F450 has the large size in the front port. The O'reilley employee was a riot. First he told me to just switch the lines 😳😬😬😬. Then he found a reducer for the front, and a step fitting for the rear that wasn't quite big enough... but tried to sell it to me anyway because that was all he had 😡🙈. Then he basically told me I was an idiot for putting hydroboost in a F150. Sheesh. I'm heading to Napa today before work. I need a hydraulic hose made anyway that fits the hydroboost but has the Saginaw end piece. Since I have the steering column out I wanted to change to a manual tilt column, but mine had a very stiff key action and the key won't come out of the tumbler. I tried to turn it to run, push the pin and remove the tumbler but no go. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but it won't budge even with gentle prying. The last thing I wanted to work on was the radiator. The last time I drove the truck I noticed it was overheating when idling in place. Once moving it cools down. I'm thinking clogged radiator, and I have one that looks almost new from the 4x4 donor. Well, it's wider (33" vs 27") which I guess is the extra cooling option, but still just a two row core. C'mon, at least give us straight six guys a three row 🙄 some of us live in Arizona... so anyway, the upper radiator hose has to be longer, but the one the books say is right looks like it will interfere with the AC compressor and belt. I can't be 100% sure but it does not look like this will work. Will I ever get this truck driveable? This is an uphill Ford! Nothing worthwhile is easy. From what I've heard the hydroboost upgrade is well worth it. And the wider radiator will be as well. As for the pulley, belts are quite forgiving. But, you can put a straightedge on them to see if they line up. Keep on keeping on..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted September 25, 2017 Author Share Posted September 25, 2017 Nothing worthwhile is easy. From what I've heard the hydroboost upgrade is well worth it. And the wider radiator will be as well. As for the pulley, belts are quite forgiving. But, you can put a straightedge on them to see if they line up. Keep on keeping on..... Thanks Gary, I hope it all comes together after I round up all the little odds and ends. I heard about steering twitchiness with some of the GM hydroboost units, but never with the F450 system. I've heard that the pedal feel is more firm, which can be objectionably firm if you don't have the right pedal. But everyone raves about the stopping power. I am eager to test it out for myself. I have also heard really good things about the Saginaw pump, so hopefully that will be worth all the hassle it caused. I found a machine shop in Flagstaff that says they should be able to make the high pressure hose for me 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted September 29, 2017 Author Share Posted September 29, 2017 Thanks Gary, I hope it all comes together after I round up all the little odds and ends. I heard about steering twitchiness with some of the GM hydroboost units, but never with the F450 system. I've heard that the pedal feel is more firm, which can be objectionably firm if you don't have the right pedal. But everyone raves about the stopping power. I am eager to test it out for myself. I have also heard really good things about the Saginaw pump, so hopefully that will be worth all the hassle it caused. I found a machine shop in Flagstaff that says they should be able to make the high pressure hose for me 👍 Yesterday I finished the Saginaw pump / Hydroboost conversion and installed the extra cooling radiator. I did run into more uphill nonsense, but progress was made. For anyone doing a straight Saginaw pump swap, the stock high pressure hose from the van should work. If you are doing Saginaw AND hydroboost you will need a custom hose. I found a shop in Flagstaff that could make me one. Basically they just cut the C2 pump fitting off the end of my hydroboost hose and put a compression fitting on it, and sold me a 3/8" Doorman fuel line repair kit that had the correct end on it. In hind sight I should have had them make me a whole new (much longer) hose, using the hydroboost end in one compression fitting and the Doorman end in the other. The straight six is so long that it puts the steering pump quite forward compared to a V8, so I had to leave a long length of the Doorman fuel line sticking straight back from the pump in order for the hose to reach. It would be better if the hose was longer and the steel line was shorter, but it works. I didn't know I would need that much more length, and a whole new hose would have doubled the price. Here are the parts that I used: And the brass return line T to join the hydroboost return with the steering box return: I never did find the correct adapters to use the hydroboost master with the F150 brake lines. I ended up stealing one brake line of my F350 to make it work. They do not use two different fittings like the lighter duty trucks. I will have to get another from the junkyard for my diesel build. The fittings at the proportioning valve are different sizes as well, so switching the whole line is not an option without adapters. The radiator went in just fine, the upper hose is perfect... I just needed to turn it around! 🙈 While I had the coolant drained, I put in a new 195*F thermostat from Napa (they said theirs are from Stant 🙄)... I might need to get a Motorcraft one? And I replaced the thermostat housing with a newer style one with an extra port for a temperature sensor. I was wanting to keep my stock gauge working while adding a mechanical gauge that I had in my diesel. But... I was foiled again. The probe was hitting the cylinder walls in the water jacket and would not thread in at the rear of the block. It was far too long to fit the port in the thermostat housing as well: Results for the day: the Saginaw pump works. It is not as quiet as I imagined in my head, but quieter than the C2. It is a used junkyard pump, and I was listening with the hood up and no transmission tunnel cover, so everything was amplified. Steering ease (stationary) seemed good. Hydroboost I can't report since I did not bleed the lines and brakes, and I can't drive the truck yet. I am going to order new calipers, wheel cylinders, brake hoses and pads before I bleed anything. But I did get some pedal and it felt firm as I have heard it would be. So it does at least seem to be working. Wow. That hydroboost reservoir holds a lot of fluid! It's like a milk jug on the firewall! The truck is still overheating when idling in place. Or seems to be... I only had the stock gauge to go by. It did not completely peg to hot as before, but sat in the little space between normal and H on the gauge. I need to get a real gauge on it before troubleshooting further. The radiator I installed is basically brand new. The shroud is in good shape and has the flexible trim to seal against the core support. The thermostat is new. I do not have a viscous clutch. The fan blades are fixed. I guess the water pump could be bad, but my recollection is that the impeller blades are metal, and when they fail they leak and make noise but still move the coolant. The antifreeze looked clean, I don't have any horrible corrosion problems. I am leaning towards a gauge problem. Any other ideas? Last thing that I wanted to share is my junkyard find, although I did not install it yet. My front cross member is horribly bent, so I bought a replacement with an upgrade. If I wasn't convinced that I needed this before, Gary convinced me at the GTG that this is a necessity 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 Yesterday I finished the Saginaw pump / Hydroboost conversion and installed the extra cooling radiator. I did run into more uphill nonsense, but progress was made. For anyone doing a straight Saginaw pump swap, the stock high pressure hose from the van should work. If you are doing Saginaw AND hydroboost you will need a custom hose. I found a shop in Flagstaff that could make me one. Basically they just cut the C2 pump fitting off the end of my hydroboost hose and put a compression fitting on it, and sold me a 3/8" Doorman fuel line repair kit that had the correct end on it. In hind sight I should have had them make me a whole new (much longer) hose, using the hydroboost end in one compression fitting and the Doorman end in the other. The straight six is so long that it puts the steering pump quite forward compared to a V8, so I had to leave a long length of the Doorman fuel line sticking straight back from the pump in order for the hose to reach. It would be better if the hose was longer and the steel line was shorter, but it works. I didn't know I would need that much more length, and a whole new hose would have doubled the price. Here are the parts that I used: And the brass return line T to join the hydroboost return with the steering box return: I never did find the correct adapters to use the hydroboost master with the F150 brake lines. I ended up stealing one brake line of my F350 to make it work. They do not use two different fittings like the lighter duty trucks. I will have to get another from the junkyard for my diesel build. The fittings at the proportioning valve are different sizes as well, so switching the whole line is not an option without adapters. The radiator went in just fine, the upper hose is perfect... I just needed to turn it around! 🙈 While I had the coolant drained, I put in a new 195*F thermostat from Napa (they said theirs are from Stant 🙄)... I might need to get a Motorcraft one? And I replaced the thermostat housing with a newer style one with an extra port for a temperature sensor. I was wanting to keep my stock gauge working while adding a mechanical gauge that I had in my diesel. But... I was foiled again. The probe was hitting the cylinder walls in the water jacket and would not thread in at the rear of the block. It was far too long to fit the port in the thermostat housing as well: Results for the day: the Saginaw pump works. It is not as quiet as I imagined in my head, but quieter than the C2. It is a used junkyard pump, and I was listening with the hood up and no transmission tunnel cover, so everything was amplified. Steering ease (stationary) seemed good. Hydroboost I can't report since I did not bleed the lines and brakes, and I can't drive the truck yet. I am going to order new calipers, wheel cylinders, brake hoses and pads before I bleed anything. But I did get some pedal and it felt firm as I have heard it would be. So it does at least seem to be working. Wow. That hydroboost reservoir holds a lot of fluid! It's like a milk jug on the firewall! The truck is still overheating when idling in place. Or seems to be... I only had the stock gauge to go by. It did not completely peg to hot as before, but sat in the little space between normal and H on the gauge. I need to get a real gauge on it before troubleshooting further. The radiator I installed is basically brand new. The shroud is in good shape and has the flexible trim to seal against the core support. The thermostat is new. I do not have a viscous clutch. The fan blades are fixed. I guess the water pump could be bad, but my recollection is that the impeller blades are metal, and when they fail they leak and make noise but still move the coolant. The antifreeze looked clean, I don't have any horrible corrosion problems. I am leaning towards a gauge problem. Any other ideas? Last thing that I wanted to share is my junkyard find, although I did not install it yet. My front cross member is horribly bent, so I bought a replacement with an upgrade. If I wasn't convinced that I needed this before, Gary convinced me at the GTG that this is a necessity 😎 I noticed my 1981 has an odd rubber cover over the voltage regulator... looks like it might be stock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I noticed my 1981 has an odd rubber cover over the voltage regulator... looks like it might be stock? Interesting! Are there any numbers on it? I’ve never seen one of those that I can remember, but until Matt Vose gave me the one that covers the ignition module I didn’t remember that either. But we sure saw one at the show on that ‘85. Hmmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Yesterday I finished the Saginaw pump / Hydroboost conversion and installed the extra cooling radiator. I did run into more uphill nonsense, but progress was made. For anyone doing a straight Saginaw pump swap, the stock high pressure hose from the van should work. If you are doing Saginaw AND hydroboost you will need a custom hose. I found a shop in Flagstaff that could make me one. Basically they just cut the C2 pump fitting off the end of my hydroboost hose and put a compression fitting on it, and sold me a 3/8" Doorman fuel line repair kit that had the correct end on it. In hind sight I should have had them make me a whole new (much longer) hose, using the hydroboost end in one compression fitting and the Doorman end in the other. The straight six is so long that it puts the steering pump quite forward compared to a V8, so I had to leave a long length of the Doorman fuel line sticking straight back from the pump in order for the hose to reach. It would be better if the hose was longer and the steel line was shorter, but it works. I didn't know I would need that much more length, and a whole new hose would have doubled the price. Here are the parts that I used: And the brass return line T to join the hydroboost return with the steering box return: I never did find the correct adapters to use the hydroboost master with the F150 brake lines. I ended up stealing one brake line of my F350 to make it work. They do not use two different fittings like the lighter duty trucks. I will have to get another from the junkyard for my diesel build. The fittings at the proportioning valve are different sizes as well, so switching the whole line is not an option without adapters. The radiator went in just fine, the upper hose is perfect... I just needed to turn it around! 🙈 While I had the coolant drained, I put in a new 195*F thermostat from Napa (they said theirs are from Stant 🙄)... I might need to get a Motorcraft one? And I replaced the thermostat housing with a newer style one with an extra port for a temperature sensor. I was wanting to keep my stock gauge working while adding a mechanical gauge that I had in my diesel. But... I was foiled again. The probe was hitting the cylinder walls in the water jacket and would not thread in at the rear of the block. It was far too long to fit the port in the thermostat housing as well: Results for the day: the Saginaw pump works. It is not as quiet as I imagined in my head, but quieter than the C2. It is a used junkyard pump, and I was listening with the hood up and no transmission tunnel cover, so everything was amplified. Steering ease (stationary) seemed good. Hydroboost I can't report since I did not bleed the lines and brakes, and I can't drive the truck yet. I am going to order new calipers, wheel cylinders, brake hoses and pads before I bleed anything. But I did get some pedal and it felt firm as I have heard it would be. So it does at least seem to be working. Wow. That hydroboost reservoir holds a lot of fluid! It's like a milk jug on the firewall! The truck is still overheating when idling in place. Or seems to be... I only had the stock gauge to go by. It did not completely peg to hot as before, but sat in the little space between normal and H on the gauge. I need to get a real gauge on it before troubleshooting further. The radiator I installed is basically brand new. The shroud is in good shape and has the flexible trim to seal against the core support. The thermostat is new. I do not have a viscous clutch. The fan blades are fixed. I guess the water pump could be bad, but my recollection is that the impeller blades are metal, and when they fail they leak and make noise but still move the coolant. The antifreeze looked clean, I don't have any horrible corrosion problems. I am leaning towards a gauge problem. Any other ideas? Last thing that I wanted to share is my junkyard find, although I did not install it yet. My front cross member is horribly bent, so I bought a replacement with an upgrade. If I wasn't convinced that I needed this before, Gary convinced me at the GTG that this is a necessity 😎 Wow! You found a crossmember with a receiver?!?! That’s cool! You are really going to enjoy that. On the overheating, I can’t imagine that actually happening at idle with a new thermostat, newish radiator, good shroud, clean coolant, etc. It has to be the gauge. Can you put the mechanical probe where the stock one is and put the stock one in the thermostat housing? As for the hydroboost, I’m anxious to see the report on the stopping power. Seems like the firm pedal confirms what you’d read, and you obviously got away from the hiss of the vacuum booster, so you’ve already made gains. Just a bit more work and you’ll have a much-improved braking system. 👍 Man, you are really making progress. 🎉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 Wow! You found a crossmember with a receiver?!?! That’s cool! You are really going to enjoy that. On the overheating, I can’t imagine that actually happening at idle with a new thermostat, newish radiator, good shroud, clean coolant, etc. It has to be the gauge. Can you put the mechanical probe where the stock one is and put the stock one in the thermostat housing? As for the hydroboost, I’m anxious to see the report on the stopping power. Seems like the firm pedal confirms what you’d read, and you obviously got away from the hiss of the vacuum booster, so you’ve already made gains. Just a bit more work and you’ll have a much-improved braking system. 👍 Man, you are really making progress. 🎉 Thanks Gary, one more good day with it and I should have results on the braking. The mechanical gauge probe won't even work in the block where the stock sender goes. This surprised me, as I've run mechanical temperature gauges in three other straight sixes that I've owned. The probe hits the cylinder wall inside the water jacket. I'm going to have to buy a different aftermarket gauge. Too bad, it's a nice upper shelf VDO with a good sweep. I will see if I can find something with a shorter probe. Might have to be electrical 😐. I'm really itching to try out driving this thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted October 14, 2017 Author Share Posted October 14, 2017 Yesterday I finished the Saginaw pump / Hydroboost conversion and installed the extra cooling radiator. I did run into more uphill nonsense, but progress was made. For anyone doing a straight Saginaw pump swap, the stock high pressure hose from the van should work. If you are doing Saginaw AND hydroboost you will need a custom hose. I found a shop in Flagstaff that could make me one. Basically they just cut the C2 pump fitting off the end of my hydroboost hose and put a compression fitting on it, and sold me a 3/8" Doorman fuel line repair kit that had the correct end on it. In hind sight I should have had them make me a whole new (much longer) hose, using the hydroboost end in one compression fitting and the Doorman end in the other. The straight six is so long that it puts the steering pump quite forward compared to a V8, so I had to leave a long length of the Doorman fuel line sticking straight back from the pump in order for the hose to reach. It would be better if the hose was longer and the steel line was shorter, but it works. I didn't know I would need that much more length, and a whole new hose would have doubled the price. Here are the parts that I used: And the brass return line T to join the hydroboost return with the steering box return: I never did find the correct adapters to use the hydroboost master with the F150 brake lines. I ended up stealing one brake line of my F350 to make it work. They do not use two different fittings like the lighter duty trucks. I will have to get another from the junkyard for my diesel build. The fittings at the proportioning valve are different sizes as well, so switching the whole line is not an option without adapters. The radiator went in just fine, the upper hose is perfect... I just needed to turn it around! 🙈 While I had the coolant drained, I put in a new 195*F thermostat from Napa (they said theirs are from Stant 🙄)... I might need to get a Motorcraft one? And I replaced the thermostat housing with a newer style one with an extra port for a temperature sensor. I was wanting to keep my stock gauge working while adding a mechanical gauge that I had in my diesel. But... I was foiled again. The probe was hitting the cylinder walls in the water jacket and would not thread in at the rear of the block. It was far too long to fit the port in the thermostat housing as well: Results for the day: the Saginaw pump works. It is not as quiet as I imagined in my head, but quieter than the C2. It is a used junkyard pump, and I was listening with the hood up and no transmission tunnel cover, so everything was amplified. Steering ease (stationary) seemed good. Hydroboost I can't report since I did not bleed the lines and brakes, and I can't drive the truck yet. I am going to order new calipers, wheel cylinders, brake hoses and pads before I bleed anything. But I did get some pedal and it felt firm as I have heard it would be. So it does at least seem to be working. Wow. That hydroboost reservoir holds a lot of fluid! It's like a milk jug on the firewall! The truck is still overheating when idling in place. Or seems to be... I only had the stock gauge to go by. It did not completely peg to hot as before, but sat in the little space between normal and H on the gauge. I need to get a real gauge on it before troubleshooting further. The radiator I installed is basically brand new. The shroud is in good shape and has the flexible trim to seal against the core support. The thermostat is new. I do not have a viscous clutch. The fan blades are fixed. I guess the water pump could be bad, but my recollection is that the impeller blades are metal, and when they fail they leak and make noise but still move the coolant. The antifreeze looked clean, I don't have any horrible corrosion problems. I am leaning towards a gauge problem. Any other ideas? Last thing that I wanted to share is my junkyard find, although I did not install it yet. My front cross member is horribly bent, so I bought a replacement with an upgrade. If I wasn't convinced that I needed this before, Gary convinced me at the GTG that this is a necessity 😎 More progress, more results, and more challenges... The exhaust note of my truck resembled flatulance, so I replaced the exhaust donut with a sintered steel one: I looked at the manual temperature gauge on my 1968 straight six truck and found that it has a brass stepper in between the block and the probe. I went to the junkyard and found one so I could hook up my VDO temperature gauge. I also bought a new temperature sending unit for the factory gauge and put it in the thermostat neck. I know, it needs to be moved to the heater hose side but I wanted to see needle movement when the thermostat opened and compare it to the manual gauge reading in the back of the block. The thermostat opened right about 195*F as advertised. The factory gauge, however, still reads really high while the manual one holds right around 195*F. I tried a different cluster with a different gauge in it and both read high. Both new and old senders read like this so it must be in the truck's wiring or grounds? Stepper for manual gauge probe Temporary location for electric sending unit to check thermostat opening... Cluster #1 temp gauge and mechanical gauge Cluster #2 temp gauge and mechanical gauge Anyway, I am satisfied that I no longer have an overheating problem. The factory gauge runs high but it does not peg hot like it did with the old, smaller radiator. The mechanical gauge sits right where it should for the thermostat specification. So far so good. I did notice that after I got the truck up to temperature, the hydroboost lines and power steering lines were extremely hot... hot enough to give me a slight burn on my forearm (ouch! 😬). So... either I just never realized how hot the power steering pressure lines are or I have a problem. Theory 1 is that my T return line arrangement is not effective. I may have improper flow through the cooling tube. Theory 2 is that I had my foot resting on the brake while I brought the cooling system up to temp. Maybe the hydroboost system didn't like that? But it should be up for constant use in stop and go city traffic? Maybe I should put a finned oil cooler on the hydroboost return line? Theory 3, bad Saginaw pump. I know they "run forever" but it was just a junkyard take off, as is the hydroboost unit itself... any other ideas? I'm going to try again without resting my foot on the brake and see what happens... Beyond that, I installed new U-joints in both front and back driveshafts and put them back in the truck. I have all new calipers, wheel cylinders, pads and shoes waiting to go in on my next stint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 More progress, more results, and more challenges... The exhaust note of my truck resembled flatulance, so I replaced the exhaust donut with a sintered steel one: I looked at the manual temperature gauge on my 1968 straight six truck and found that it has a brass stepper in between the block and the probe. I went to the junkyard and found one so I could hook up my VDO temperature gauge. I also bought a new temperature sending unit for the factory gauge and put it in the thermostat neck. I know, it needs to be moved to the heater hose side but I wanted to see needle movement when the thermostat opened and compare it to the manual gauge reading in the back of the block. The thermostat opened right about 195*F as advertised. The factory gauge, however, still reads really high while the manual one holds right around 195*F. I tried a different cluster with a different gauge in it and both read high. Both new and old senders read like this so it must be in the truck's wiring or grounds? Stepper for manual gauge probe Temporary location for electric sending unit to check thermostat opening... Cluster #1 temp gauge and mechanical gauge Cluster #2 temp gauge and mechanical gauge Anyway, I am satisfied that I no longer have an overheating problem. The factory gauge runs high but it does not peg hot like it did with the old, smaller radiator. The mechanical gauge sits right where it should for the thermostat specification. So far so good. I did notice that after I got the truck up to temperature, the hydroboost lines and power steering lines were extremely hot... hot enough to give me a slight burn on my forearm (ouch! 😬). So... either I just never realized how hot the power steering pressure lines are or I have a problem. Theory 1 is that my T return line arrangement is not effective. I may have improper flow through the cooling tube. Theory 2 is that I had my foot resting on the brake while I brought the cooling system up to temp. Maybe the hydroboost system didn't like that? But it should be up for constant use in stop and go city traffic? Maybe I should put a finned oil cooler on the hydroboost return line? Theory 3, bad Saginaw pump. I know they "run forever" but it was just a junkyard take off, as is the hydroboost unit itself... any other ideas? I'm going to try again without resting my foot on the brake and see what happens... Beyond that, I installed new U-joints in both front and back driveshafts and put them back in the truck. I have all new calipers, wheel cylinders, pads and shoes waiting to go in on my next stint. Wow! So much work! And goo work, to boot. 👍 I can’t account for the high stock temp gauge reading, since it does it with two different clusters and two different sending units. But, there’s supposed to be an 8 to 9 ohm resistance wire feeding the system, and without it I suspect everything would read high. You can see the resistance here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/fuel-tank-selector--gauges.html. You could check that by pulling the cluster and checking resistance from the power feed to the cluster to the battery’s positive post. And the way to fix it might be with a real voltage regulator to replace the ICVR. But, if the ICVR or resistor are the problem then all three gauges will be reading high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted October 14, 2017 Author Share Posted October 14, 2017 Wow! So much work! And goo work, to boot. 👍 I can’t account for the high stock temp gauge reading, since it does it with two different clusters and two different sending units. But, there’s supposed to be an 8 to 9 ohm resistance wire feeding the system, and without it I suspect everything would read high. You can see the resistance here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/fuel-tank-selector--gauges.html. You could check that by pulling the cluster and checking resistance from the power feed to the cluster to the battery’s positive post. And the way to fix it might be with a real voltage regulator to replace the ICVR. But, if the ICVR or resistor are the problem then all three gauges will be reading high. Thanks Gary, that at least gives me a place to start. It probably won't take first priority, but I do need to address the gauges... I do get a twitch out of the ammeter which is about all one can really expect, but I am getting zip out of the fuel and oil pressure gauges. I have a matching mechanical VDO oil pressure gauge that will be going in, but again I'd like to have the stock one working. The fuel gauge is a headache that I am not looking forward to. The midship tank was deleted at some point and I have no idea what was done to the tank switch wiring if anything. Best plan right now is to keep 'er full... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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