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Voltmeter Mod for Mopars #783474
08/24/10 10:27 PM
08/24/10 10:27 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Cudajon Offline OP
pro stock
Cudajon  Offline OP
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Oklahoma City OK
For a long time I've wanted to remove the Amp meter from the circuit on my 'Cuda but the thought of hanging a voltmeter under the dash and having a dead gage in my instrument cluster did not appeal to me. Following is my mods to the instrument cluster to remove the amp meter from the line and replace it with a fully functional Voltmeter. Located in the archives are the instructions for taking the amp meter out of the line and making a good connection so I will not rehash those instructions. First I needed a voltmeter that had the needle on top like the amp meter and read the voltage under neath. Summit has a Sunpro Mter ACP7985 that did this.
Sunpro ACP7985

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783475
08/24/10 10:33 PM
08/24/10 10:33 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Cudajon Offline OP
pro stock
Cudajon  Offline OP
pro stock

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
By carfully uncrimping around the gage you can seperate the gage. Carefully remove the gage from the sunpro case and put the red tag back in place on the two studs to indicate (+) and (-). Now for the fun. Remove the instrument cluster from the car, I mark the wires to indicate Temp, Oil and fuel. You'll notice removed the steering wheel, it makes it so much easier, anyway the spring had come loose from the steering wheek lock and I needed to repaint the column anyway.
Instrument cluster removed

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783476
08/24/10 10:37 PM
08/24/10 10:37 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Cudajon Offline OP
pro stock
Cudajon  Offline OP
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Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Next I removed the Amp meter from the Instrument cluster. By the way the voltage regulator you see there is an electronic one, I followed the instructions in the archive, gages are rock solid.

Back of cluster.

Heres the amp gage out of the Instrument cluster.

Amp Gage

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783477
08/24/10 10:44 PM
08/24/10 10:44 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Cudajon Offline OP
pro stock
Cudajon  Offline OP
pro stock

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Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Next I removed the face plate from the voltmeter and did a test fit in the instrument cluster. Notice the resister and Poteniometer at the bottom, that was hitting the instrument case. That would be a no no. So I double nutted the post the resistor was conneted to and very slowly turned it CCW looking at it to spread the resistor from the pot. Then I carefully bent the pot over toward the rear to give me about 1/8" clearence.
Voltmeter in Instrument cluster.

Now I found something really interesting the faceplate bolt holes were almost identical so I could use either the old face plate, which would look stock, or the new faceplate from Sunpro. I decided I wanted the new faceplate but you could go either way. To use the Sunpro faceplate you have to cut off some of it.

Modified Voltmeter faceplate

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783478
08/24/10 10:56 PM
08/24/10 10:56 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Cudajon Offline OP
pro stock
Cudajon  Offline OP
pro stock

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
The voltmeter come with some inulation grommets to keep it from shortin out, I had to use a rattail file to open up the stud mounting holes, this allowed me to mount the voltmeter sure that it would not short out against the cluster.
Back of voltmeter mounted

The negative wire I grounded to the back of the instrument cluster. I mad up a short wire with a plug in terminal and ran it from the positive post to a wiring block that was hot when the key was in either run or accesories. Then I performed the mod to directly connect the positive leads that used to go to the ampmeter. I tested the voltmeter before putting it back in the dash with a known power source and a Flug voltmeter. The gage can be adjusted for accuracy by adjusting the pot on the gage, mine proved to be dead on as it was mounted.

Completed gage.

Well there you go, now I have a working voltmeter in my intrument cluster and have gotten rid of a potential problem with the old Amp gage. Anybody need an Amp gage for a 'Cuda? I have now rebuilt the Tach, Clock, Voltmeter, voltage regulator, and replace the temp gage with a perfect match out of a 86 dodge van.

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783479
08/24/10 11:37 PM
08/24/10 11:37 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,473
Candler,NC / Myrtle Beach, SC
J
JDMopar Offline
master
JDMopar  Offline
master
J

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,473
Candler,NC / Myrtle Beach, SC
Good job!

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: JDMopar] #783480
08/25/10 12:21 AM
08/25/10 12:21 AM
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 15,992
RI Deep in the rust belt
chargervert Offline
I Live Here
chargervert  Offline
I Live Here

Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 15,992
RI Deep in the rust belt
I thought Red Line Guage would convert your ammeter to a voltmeter for about a hundred bucks,and it will look and function as original?


70 Charger R/T SE 472 Hemi 70 Charger R/T convertible 70 Charger R/T V Code Sixpack 69 Charger R/T SE Sunroofcar 68 Charger 383 68 Charger 318 71 Charger R/T 70 Challenger convertible 71 Challenger convertible 71 Cuda 340 09 Challenger R/T Classic
Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: chargervert] #783481
08/25/10 02:15 AM
08/25/10 02:15 AM
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,168
Vancouver, WA
MoparMarq Offline
super stock
MoparMarq  Offline
super stock

Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,168
Vancouver, WA
Nice job. I went with original faceplate on mine when I did the '72 RR. The advantage of yours is the direct reading on the gauge for voltage. Mine I'll have to develop some experience with, to determine what location between "D(ischarge)" and "C(harge)" is normal.

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: MoparMarq] #783482
08/25/10 12:53 PM
08/25/10 12:53 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Cudajon Offline OP
pro stock
Cudajon  Offline OP
pro stock

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Chargervert, cost me $15.00 and time.

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783483
08/25/10 01:37 PM
08/25/10 01:37 PM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 220
Portland, OR
shawge Offline
enthusiast
shawge  Offline
enthusiast

Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 220
Portland, OR
Very nice job. I'm going to copy this.

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783484
08/25/10 01:42 PM
08/25/10 01:42 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,307
BC, Canada
Black_Bee Offline
pro stock
Black_Bee  Offline
pro stock

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,307
BC, Canada
Quote:

Chargervert, cost me $15.00 and time.




You did a great job! I have been thinking about doing the same thing with my '69 Super Bee, so this gives me some motivation.



Paul
'69 Super Bee 383 EFI Turbo
Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783485
08/25/10 01:52 PM
08/25/10 01:52 PM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 738
TN
'84 D150 Shorty Offline
Pickup Man
'84 D150 Shorty  Offline
Pickup Man

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 738
TN
Very sweet! I love covert upgrades like that!

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783486
08/25/10 05:01 PM
08/25/10 05:01 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,435
So Cal
Sinitro Offline
master
Sinitro  Offline
master

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,435
So Cal
Quote:

For a long time I've wanted to remove the Amp meter from the circuit on my 'Cuda but the thought of hanging a voltmeter under the dash and having a dead gage in my instrument cluster did not appeal to me. Following is my mods to the instrument cluster to remove the amp meter from the line and replace it with a fully functional Voltmeter. Located in the archives are the instructions for taking the amp meter out of the line and making a good connection so I will not rehash those instructions. First I needed a voltmeter that had the needle on top like the amp meter and read the voltage under neath. Summit has a Sunpro Mter ACP7985 that did this.





Check out Mopar Action, December 2008 issue (Vol 17, Number 5), they did the Ammeter to Voltmeter Conversion.

Just my $0.00..

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Sinitro] #783487
08/25/10 07:53 PM
08/25/10 07:53 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Cudajon Offline OP
pro stock
Cudajon  Offline OP
pro stock

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,436
Oklahoma City OK
Aw shucks and here I thought I had an original idea. Shoulda known better, my wife says I aint had one since she's known me.

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783488
08/25/10 10:42 PM
08/25/10 10:42 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 7,194
Harrisburg, Pa.
screamindriver Offline
master
screamindriver  Offline
master

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 7,194
Harrisburg, Pa.
Thanks for sharing your pics of the procedure.. ...Nice job....That's also a great alternative for the guys that modify their harness to carry the charge load out in the engine bay rendering the ammeter useless in the process...

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Cudajon] #783489
08/25/10 11:05 PM
08/25/10 11:05 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,077
Oklahoma City
Jwilli500 Offline
top fuel
Jwilli500  Offline
top fuel

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,077
Oklahoma City
Nice work Jack! Looks good!

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Jwilli500] #783490
04/23/11 12:15 AM
04/23/11 12:15 AM
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 12,481
Chino Valley
RodStRace Offline
I Live Here
RodStRace  Offline
I Live Here

Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 12,481
Chino Valley
gotta do this on my a-100!

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: RodStRace] #783491
06/11/12 01:05 PM
06/11/12 01:05 PM
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,554
Maryland
wally426ci Offline
master
wally426ci  Offline
master

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,554
Maryland
Bookmarking for myself

Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: wally426ci] #783492
08/01/14 03:30 AM
08/01/14 03:30 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,788
Hamilton, Ontario Canada
Magnum Offline
master
Magnum  Offline
master

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,788
Hamilton, Ontario Canada
Excellent upgrade.


69 Super Bee, 93 Mustang LX, 04 Allure Super
Re: Voltmeter Mod for Mopars [Re: Magnum] #783493
08/01/14 04:44 AM
08/01/14 04:44 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,421
Balt. Md
3
383man Offline
Too Many Posts
383man  Offline
Too Many Posts
3

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,421
Balt. Md
Nice work. I bypassed my amp gauge also and added an aftermarket voltmeter. Ron

Last edited by 383man; 08/01/14 04:45 AM.
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