Hard wiring dash

[rogus]

Thinking about hard wiring my dash on my 81 Elky. Anyone have any ideas about what lamp sockets with pigtails will fit the 1/2 inch holes in the back of the dash for instrument lighting and turn signals?

 

[fleming442]

Sounds like a bunch of unnecessary work to me. I guess you gauge lights aren't working?

 

[rogus]

yeah. the wiring on this thing is a mess

 

[Longroof79]

Depending on how "hacked-up"the under dash wiring is, you might want to consider finding another harness. That's if yours is beyond repair.

 

[roger1]

Sounds like a good idea to me. However, you need to do it very neatly and use high quality parts and wire. You need to be adept at soldering and using heat shrink tubing. Do not use cheap insulated crimp connectors. If you need to use connectors, get uninsulated ones and use heat shrink tubing. You also want to be able to have the cluster unplug so that means finding a quality multi connection plug and socket. Could use 2 if necessary.
It will be a fair amount of work but you will have a reliable setup if you do it well. The factory floppy circuit board leaves a lot to be desired. Even when new the resistance to the bulbs is relatively high. When they get old, it really gets bad.

My solution was to go with the Dakota VHX setup. Best $800 I've put in the car. If you can justify the cost. I say do that.

 

[airboatgreg]

I would try to keep original. Find a harness or printed circuit. Pretty easy

 

[lilbowtie]

Rodger great job on that dash - I can only imagine the detail in the rest of the car. These are the cars that bring $$ above and beyond.

 

[mikester]

You can buy a new printed circuit from Mikes Montes. I replaced the one in my dash. It made things much easier and at least everything now works. Rewiring your complete dash is a pretty time consuming job. Especially if you do it right. Ive done a good amount of soldering and to be honest its a pain in the butt. Roger1 is spot on with his advice though. Uninsulated terminals, good quality wire (TXL or GXL, or marine grade) and shrink tubing. I used the adhesive lined. You also should use rosen core solder.

 

[mikester]

Also, if you need short runs of TXL or GXL wire in different colors Ive been buying stuff from wirebarn.com. Price isnt that bad and they have a bunch of colors.

 

[rogus]

Thanks to everybody for their input. One of the problems I was having was that the clips on the 18 pin connector that hold the connector in place were broken. So was the small piece of dash panel in the bottom right of the opening in dash for the gauges that that connector pushes thru to hold it in place. Got lucky and found a 18 pin connector that actually pushes into that back of the gauge panel and secures itself to the back of the gauge panel. Found it in my garage by accident. Ended up saving me a lot of time.