Pinto Car Club of America

Welcome to FordPinto.com, The home of the PCCA => General Help- Ask the Experts... => Topic started by: pintoguy76 on February 03, 2006, 12:19:34 AM

Title: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: pintoguy76 on February 03, 2006, 12:19:34 AM
The instrument cluster in my pinto is ok except the lights are burnt out. When i went to take it apart i did not realize the black bezel was attached directly to the rest of the cluster. So when i took the 4 screws out and tried to remove it, it broke the white mounting bracket behind the cluster broke. Even tho my car was garage kept most of its life the bracket was very brittle. I purcharsed another cluster on Ebay, very nice. The bezel is alot nicer than mine. However my pinto is a 76 and this one i bought is from an early model i beleive (71-73). My speedo goes to 100 and the one i bought goes to 110. The lens is foggy on the new one but i think i can take care of that since mine is not foggy. My question is, if i put the early style speedo in my car, is the speedometer going to be off any, since my original speedo goes to 100 and this one goes to 110? I am not sure if the numbers on the speedos are in the same "spot" or not...with the exta 10mph on the end... or...if the numbers are all scrunched together (which would make my speedo off some). I kinda like the eearly cluster a lil better, but if i must use my old one, ill take the bracket and the bezel off the early one and put on my later one. Anyone got any answers for me? pls help! ty
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: 77turbopinto on February 03, 2006, 07:09:01 AM
The worst thing is you might have to change the speedo gear in the tranny. When you install it, have someone drive near you at a certian speed and you can see if it is off.

Bill
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: bigh4th on February 03, 2006, 10:05:26 AM
Hmmm...  never knew they made a 100 mph speedo for the pinto.  I thought they all dropped from 110 to 85.

Learn something new every day.

Anyway.  If for some reason that spedo is off, you should be able to take your speedo and put it in the new cluster.  Should just be two bolts behind the spedo drive head (where the spedometer cable clips on). 

-Harry
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: pintoguy76 on February 03, 2006, 10:19:36 AM
Harry, This is what the 100MPH Speedo In my 76 Looks like....
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: pintoguy76 on February 03, 2006, 10:24:30 AM
This is what the "new" one looks like....- This is the 110mph one.
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: krazi on February 03, 2006, 10:35:12 AM
another problem you may have is the wiring harness that plugs into the back. I pulled the cluster from my '72 and I was going to put it in my '77 bobcat. the cluster for the '77 has either 1 more prong or 1 less. I'm not quite sure on that. I found one, stole it really from a derby guy's junk truck, and it worked. I think it came from the '75 bobcat runabout he destroyed.
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: pintoguy76 on February 03, 2006, 10:48:12 AM
If i switch the circuit board it might work?? Not sure... Worst case i'll have to  find where the additional wire goes and add it, or just grab the bracket and bezel and put on my cluster...or something...
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: billnall on February 03, 2006, 07:00:58 PM
The speedo should not be off because it is geared inside the head to compensate for the numbers being in a different place. As for the extra wire that might be for a rear hatch light on sw/hb models. Also look at.

http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php?topic=3410.msg20729#msg20729
Title: Re: Instrument Cluster Interchangablilty. Early Model to Late model
Post by: pintoguy76 on February 03, 2006, 07:15:02 PM
Ah, yes. Mine is a trunk model so it wont have that light or wire. The one in the speedo thats on the way MIGHT have it tho......but shouldnt effect anything if its not hooked up then. I think id really like to use the new one i think, except ill need to use my old lens. I think it is removable. Thanks for letting me know about that hatch light thing...