MY BLUE BURBAN MODS

[BLUE BURBAN]

Now I realize that the flexible printed circuit sheet on the backside of the clusters can't be modified so I'll have to redo it all together. But that's just another step to go over later with y'all. Right now, here's pics of the three clusters I'm going to use to make one housing for my gauges.
My plan is to surgically remove the mounting positions for the air pressure gauge and the tach/fuel gauge and bond them to the other cluster housing so i can mount the gauges properly.
First pic is of the donor electronic speedo cluster notice that ALL of the mounting tabs are intact and all I'm going to utilize from this cluster is the main skyblue housing the gauges set in.
Second pic is of the the donor cluster for the tach/fuel gauge.
Last pic is of the backside of the 2 clusters together.

[BLUE BURBAN]

After stripping both clusters down to nothing I took measurements, made my marks, broke out my surgical tools(X-ACTO knife set) and started sawing away.

Oh did I mention the anesthesiologist was out sick during this? THE PATIENT WAS AWAKE FOR THE WHOLE PROCEDURE!!!!AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[BLUE BURBAN]

DISASTER!!!!!

I was up until 2 am the other night trimming out the lower left side and I cut too wide Thankfully, a little bit of extra trimming of the removed section and some 2 part plastic epoxy will save my clusters backside not to mention mine.
pics 1-4 shows the trial fit of the tach/fuel gauge backing before I epoxy them together.

[BLUE BURBAN]

These pics shows the S.W.I.F.U.* on the left lower corner
I'm going to be gluing it all together tonight and will post more on saturday



*So What? I F'd Up.

[chevy754x4]

I feel your pain here man...I took my tach and small fuel gauge from my 75 and put it in the cluster from the 89 Burban donor that I got my 350 TBI and 700R4 from....hope it all works out well for ya

[Captkaos]

Nothing a little glue won't fix. 

[BLUE BURBAN]

Thanks CHEVY754X4 I hope it all works out as well.

That's true Cap, and 2 part plastic epoxy works wonders plus helps to induce some really funkadelic dreams when not used in a well ventilated room!

[BLUE BURBAN]

Ok I've repaired my F*U*B*A*R and have installed the gauges for a test fit.
Also marked the backside of the housing for my next step in the project..... REWIRING!!!!
The fuel gauge terminals have been moved lower in the housing and 3 indicator lamps have been currently displaced. The "SEATBELT * BRAKE WARNING" lamps that WERE at the bottom of the original fuel gauge as well as the 'BATTERY" warning lamp that was originally in the lower left gauge hole.
the latter one being of importance since the alternator needs to be excited with an initial power thru draw so it will activate and run/charge like it's supposed to when the engine is started. But I'll decide where to transplant them later.
Here's pics of the repair and test fit. Mind you that the only 2 gauges in the picture I will actually be using are the air & the tach/fuel gauge.

[BLUE BURBAN]

Well just call me Dr. Frankenstein 'cause I've butchered and reassembled my cluster. Tested all leads and show .03 ohms resistance through each one so everything is good to go.......so far..
Here's pics of the back of the cluster with it's multi-colored spaghetti and homemade terminals. Man the things you can do with a cordless dremel tool!
In pic 3, the light socket above the air line fitting is my battery warning indicator
The 2 twisted brown and white leads in the last pic are for the brake warning light and the seat belt light I've still got to decide as to where I'm going to mount them. It ain't pretty but it is functional. besides once installed you'll never even see the backside.

[BLUE BURBAN]

Here's the face of the gauges. I painted the inside of the housing white to help reflect more light to the gauge faces. I'd tried the "chrome" paint once before but it didn't do as good of a job as the white does IMO. I also dicided to paint the needles too. I got tired of the faded florescent orange color

[BLUE BURBAN]

After hooking up the tach harness I installed the cluster to double check everything and this is what I found.....
1. Only half the dash lights are working.
2. The S.E.S. light isn't working.
3. The turn indicators are bass ackwards.
I pulled the cluster back out and recleaned all the connections to make sure I had all the epoxy schmegmah off of them and also swapped out the turn signal teminals. put it all back in and every thing is ok so far. Next step is to start it and see if it all works




Fired up the engine and discovered that the tach only works when I rev the engine over 3000 rpm then it drops back to "0" as soon as I let off.
I decide to pull the cluster out, disconnect the tach and plug in the other tach/fuel gauge assembly only to find out IT DOESN'T WORK EITHER!!!! I then pulled the tachometer from the cluster I bought from "TOO MUCH STUFF" on here and plugged it in to find out that it works but hasn't got the fuel gauge in it's lower quadrent like I need.
So before I start pulling out my hair and launching tools thru the walls, I looked at the back of the tach face and discovered that I can simply grind away the 2 tiny mounting rivets that hold the face of the gauge to the main workings of the gauge then simply swap the faces from one gauge to the other.
So out comes the trusty cordless dremel with a small tapered grinding stone on it and I started grinding away on the heads of the rivets of the good tach, grinding away until the face is loose from the back section, slight tug on the face and the needle pops off the shaft with out breaking(whew! thank ya lord!!!) I then do the same thing to my whitefaced tach/fuel gauge but from the backside of it so I don't bugger up the face I removed JUST the tach motor from the face and left the fuel gauge alone since it works. Then using the same screws I used to hold the terminals to the back of the cluster, I mounted the tach/fuel gauge face to the working tach motor. Reassemble everything and run back outside in the sweltering heatwave we're experiancing up here right now (28* above 0) and get it all installed again start it up again to see the tach is working!!!!

Kinda... well... sorta.......

Now I find I have to remove and reposition the needle to make sure it's reading right while using my FLUKE meter as a digital tach and comparing the 2 together. I had to reseat the needle about 4 times in order to get it right but now it reads the same as my fluke at various RPM's. So it's all good MAN!!!!

[Captkaos]

Looks good!  It isn't surprising that the tach clusters you got from Ebay were bad.  90% of them are.  When i used to buy/sell them I would ask them for a small video of it hooked up to see if it would operate.  Most would say is it sold untested, which 100% of the time means they got it, paid too much and hooked it up and it didn't work so they are trying to make a few bucks on them.   The 75-up versions can be rebuilt though, I new of one guy that did them at one time.

[BLUE BURBAN]

Looks good!   The 75-up versions can be rebuilt though, I new of one guy that did them at one time.

Really? Any chance of remembering who it was/is? And if they may still be doing it?

[Captkaos]

Let me see if I can find the info.  If not I can get you Dave Cross' addy he is the tach cluster Guru, he may have their name...

[BLUE BURBAN]

Let me see if I can find the info.  If not I can get you Dave Cross' addy he is the tach cluster Guru, he may have their name...

Knowing you're probably busier than a quadrapalegic treading water, I was just curious if you'e had any luck yet?