[eepeters]

I have had this 73 cougar for almost 20 years and have driven it every summer over that time.... My issue for today is that a previous owner long ago put in a guage cluster in from an XR7

throughout the time I have owned this car the TACH, OIL, AMP and Low fuel have not worked. I always assumed that these were issues brought on as a result of the cluster change. possibly these were not part of the original cluster, and I just figured I would fix it someday... well someday is today.

The reason that I now am starting to make an attempt to correct these issues is is that this week, the alternator died and I had no way of knowing till it drained the battery down while I was driving and left me stranded -- also I have the time and money now which i have not had before as I am no longer a teenager ( as I was when I bought it ) and that my kids are also now almost out of the house. Damn time flies.


AMP Guage, I found two 10GA wires threaded into the engine compartment - tested them wiht a triple AAA battery and the amp guage deflects - WOO HOO, I know that one goes to the Batt side of the starter relay, but I now need to figure out how far up the alternator lead I need to splice in the other wire - so that the voltage differential across this wire distance properly that emulates AMPS, is correct - any advice?

OIL pressure - no clue - Is there a different sending unit I need to purchase? and will the wire in the harness that already exists work? how will I know if the PO hooked the existing wire to the new XR7 guage? are the harnesses different? should i just get a new sender and see if it works?

Tachometer - no clue. Did the standard cougar have a tach? - which wire was it, and how was this originally hooked up to the distributor?


LOW FUEL - I see this as a dead end, as I just replaced the tank and fuel sender, and the car does not have "something??" that I need down there at the sender, I see an additional wire in the harness that would connect to a pin on the sender and thusly to something inside the tank, but I think I recall reading that the "something" I need is unobtainum.

As I am new to this forum... is there anywhere where some schematics might be posted?

 

[CatsRock]

Ok i'm no expert and hopefully someone here will correct me if i'm way off base, but to borrow someone elses tagline with free advice you get what you pay for. I believe with a non XR7 you still got the Tach, but thats where the similarity ends. While the cluster plugs appear to be identicle,interchangable the signals/information from the car is completely different. On the XR7 you have senders which feed the gauges, oil, temp, and so on. On the non XR7 you have switches which feed lights commonly refered to as idiot lights on your dash cluster. I would suggest your getting a non XR7 cluster and if you want gauges do what I did on my 67, buy aftermarket gauges and install them in a location of your choice, its not that hard, and thats just me. :smoke:

 

[Cougrrcj]

Do you want a Standard cluster? I have one of those... That'd be your easiest swap, but alas- no gauges!

I suppose I could try to save the entire harness from one of my '73 XR-7 parts cars, but getting all of it out without cutting something up is neigh on impossible! -- and that is only if some PO hasn't fubared the harness already!!!

Yes, oil sender is different from idiot light to gauge. Easily sourced at your local parts store.

Tach? I don't have a clue...

Ammeter? sounds like you're on the right track... I think... Electrics is not my strong suit!, LOL!!!

 

[eepeters]

Low Fuel:
after some additional reading here on the forum, I did see there there is a way to make the low fuel light work by ading a little circuit board to the instrument panel - even if you dont have the unobtanium low fuel sender in the tank.

AMP
I played around with the amp guage but could only barely get it to deflect, I am certain that I have it wired in the wrong place, or, I think that I am not getting a significant enough voltage drop across the section of alternator wire that I am in parallel with..... Hrmmmm

OIL
the sender is a "switch type" - I will head to NAPA to get the variable resistance type and see what happens - I will test it first to see if the needle deflects by grounding it across a resistor.. not sure what ohm to use, will research it

TACH
Still need to look around more and see where the wires run and even if it is "hooked up" , also need to test the tach to see if it is functional.