PINTO CAR CLUB of AMERICA
Welcome to FordPinto.com, The home of the PCCA => General Help- Ask the Experts... => Topic started by: 78 Noble Steed on February 11, 2012, 12:27:35 AM
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i know how hard it is getting to find parts for the cars that we love and i would like to help! i've noticed there are a few people in need of instrument clusters for their cars and was wondering how many different ones there were? i know 79-80 are different than say a 77-78 but i also know some had a factory tach. some bobcats look the same as the pinto. just didn't know if its a year thing or a model thing. not lookin to make money off this i just want to help cause that is what we are on here for! thankyou for your time and input,adam
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I know of four. Three are round gauges. There is the early model that has chome on the edges of the gauge wells AND the wells, then there is the mid models that had just Chrome on the edges of the wells. Last there is the sport and cruising wagon models that had the flat faced cluster with the tach.
Then there is the 79 to 80 models that used square gauges without the round gauge wells.
I know that at least up up 73 the white gauge plastic assembly is different due to a smaller connector and less bulbs used, and the speedometer up to 110 mph.
I know that up to 78 they use more illuminqtion bulbs and speedometers only up to 85 mph, also a wider connector.
Sport and cruising wagon clusters use a different flexible circuit board to incorporate the tach.
Not sure if 79 to 80 can be swapped with the 85 mph round gauges, but i dont see why not unless there were wiring changes.
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I have some good info on this, the 73 and below guage clusters use a smaller plug and the white plastic back is made out of a better material that ages better and doesnt rot and fall apart. I about pulled my hair out looking for that white back for my 76's guage cluster. I ended up finding a mint 72 cluster and about a week ago found a 73 wagon in the local pick and pull and cut the plug out of it. The wires are color coded and only 3 wires didnt match up. The the main illumintaion wires are brown on the 73 and bellow and white with blue stripe on 74 and up. Volt meter helps, but the swap is easy and the only thing missing is the fasten seat belts light. So if you in need of that white back and cant find it just swap the whole cluster with the older 73 and below gauges.
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74 -76 also went up to 100mph before they changed to 85 in 77. Although Cookieboys 78 hatchback has a speedo that goes up to 100mph & as far as he knows it has never been replaced.
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Hey, I'm doing this swap right now, what is the black "solid conductor" ? It gets hot when I have cluster plugged in. Brent