Wiring Vintage Gauges

[Jonathan D]

I'm starting to wire my gauges and I have looking on the site to see what others have done but I'm not finding anything out there with this version that plugs directly into the back of the gauge. I'm thinking these will be easy to unplug and service without needing extra plugs between them and the RF harness but I would love to see a few other posts on wiring these if anyone can share. Also curious if guys are using these sending unit wires that come with the gauges...I believe the RF kit has the wiring already, minus the actual sending unit. Wiring is certaintly my not my strong suit.

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[Papa]

Just from the page you are displaying in your picture, it looks like you are in the wrong part of the wiring manual. The vintage gauges come further into the manual and don't have you building the multi-wire daisy chain that the Autometer gauges do. If I recall, the gauges changed after my version, but for mine, you had to remove the plugs and wire the senders to the gauges. The lights and power were all simple plug-ins. Look for the section in the Chassis Wiring manual labeled: GPS Vintage gauge install.

[Mat1asBEV&ICE]

I did some research on this subject recently. People got in touch with Speedhut and they said to use their wires for the sending units. Seems much better than splicing at the sending unit and then again at the gauge.

[edwardb]

This subject is asked about a lot and there's no right answer IMO. Whatever works best for you and that you understand and can implement. Some guys home run the Speedhut wires directly to the gauges. I guess I understand why Speedhut would recommend this because it reduces some variability in the installation. But electrically there's no difference if you use the Ron Francis sending unit wires. That's the camp I'm in on multiple builds. i splice the ends of the Speedhut wires into the RF dash harness and connect the gauges. Then use the RF sending unit wires out to the appropriate location. For me the advantage is now the dash has just the two large RF block connectors. In 10+ years, I've only had to take a dash out once (my Coupe) and was happy I did it that way.

[Mat1asBEV&ICE]

I will add to carefully compare the wiring between the RF harness and the sending wires that come with the gauges. For both of my RF signal wire connectors where they would hook up to the back of the gauges, water temp and oil pressure, the signal wires were not in the same slot (there are three) as those supplied by Speedhut.

[F500guy]

I did the "homerun" from sender to gauge using the speed hut wires for the engine sending units (oil press, oil temp, water temp). If you start early in the process, pretty easy to bust those out of the RF harness. I bought some connectors and re-used the empty terminals in the RF harness connectors to provide some power feeds to my zero dimmer and ensure there was lots of grounds.

I found some connector concerns on the RF harness that the wire did not match where the speed hut wire connected, and read some post that the had the incorrect wiring there for others. You can not beat the quality of the speed hut wiring, I started to do the splice trick into the RF connector, cut 1 wire apart and realized the shielding and ground of the Speed hut wire was high quality and due to the engine sending units running close proximity to the tach signal and coil power, I thought the shielding would ensure a good signal.

The Fuel sending unit is the only item I spliced into the RF harness connector. Truth be told if I had the gauge package out when I ran my rear harness, I would have done the fuel sender as well.

[gbranham]

Just did my dash wiring this weekend with my Speedhut custom gauges. I'm going to homerun all the sender wiring; it appears to be better quality than the RF equivalent. Only exception is the fuel level sender wiring. I need to re-do the three gauges that I've hooked into the RF wiring for the senders. That's this weekend's task.

Wiring 2.jpgWiring 1.jpg

[Papa]

Just did my dash wiring this weekend with my Speedhut custom gauges. I'm going to homerun all the sender wiring; it appears to be better quality than the RF equivalent. Only exception is the fuel level sender wiring. I need to re-do the three gauges that I've hooked into the RF wiring for the senders. That's this weekend's task.

Wiring 2.jpgWiring 1.jpg

Nice clean work!

[gbranham]

Nice clean work!

Thanks! The thing I was least proud of on my MkIII was wiring...it was kind of a mess. I've been inspired by many build threads to do better...it's not to the level of, say Papa or EdwardB (), but it's miles better than my first build!

Greg

[Jonathan D]

I will add to carefully compare the wiring between the RF harness and the sending wires that come with the gauges. For both of my RF signal wire connectors where they would hook up to the back of the gauges, water temp and oil pressure, the signal wires were not in the same slot (there are three) as those supplied by Speedhut.

Great tip, I just looked at mine and they are also pined in different spots and the oil sender from speedhut is 3 wire but the RF is 2 wire.

[Jonathan D]

I did the "homerun" from sender to gauge using the speed hut wires for the engine sending units (oil press, oil temp, water temp). If you start early in the process, pretty easy to bust those out of the RF harness. I bought some connectors and re-used the empty terminals in the RF harness connectors to provide some power feeds to my zero dimmer and ensure there was lots of grounds.

I found some connector concerns on the RF harness that the wire did not match where the speed hut wire connected, and read some post that the had the incorrect wiring there for others. You can not beat the quality of the speed hut wiring, I started to do the splice trick into the RF connector, cut 1 wire apart and realized the shielding and ground of the Speed hut wire was high quality and due to the engine sending units running close proximity to the tach signal and coil power, I thought the shielding would ensure a good signal.

The Fuel sending unit is the only item I spliced into the RF harness connector. Truth be told if I had the gauge package out when I ran my rear harness, I would have done the fuel sender as well.

Thanks, the more I look at these senders from speedhut and the fact that many of the gauge plugs are wired differently than the RF I'm going to homerun them as well.

[Papa]

Thanks! The thing I was least proud of on my MkIII was wiring...it was kind of a mess. I've been inspired by many build threads to do better...it's not to the level of, say Papa or EdwardB (), but it's miles better than my first build!

Greg

Don't cut yourself short. That wiring is way cleaner than mine!

[Jonathan D]

Just did my dash wiring this weekend with my Speedhut custom gauges. I'm going to homerun all the sender wiring; it appears to be better quality than the RF equivalent. Only exception is the fuel level sender wiring. I need to re-do the three gauges that I've hooked into the RF wiring for the senders. That's this weekend's task.

Wiring 2.jpgWiring 1.jpg

Thanks for sharing, this is looking really nice!! I just purchased wago connectors last night to do the same kind of thing you have done here. Are you just leaving one connection in those connectors open to add your power or ground wires into?

[gbranham]

Thanks for sharing, this is looking really nice!! I just purchased wago connectors last night to do the same kind of thing you have done here. Are you just leaving one connection in those connectors open to add your power or ground wires into?

Correct. These power distribution gizmos came with my Speedhut gauges. The top 'port' on each is where power and ground come in. BTW...I secured them to the back of the dash with 3M emblem tape. Solid.

[Jonathan D]

Correct. These power distribution gizmos came with my Speedhut gauges. The top 'port' on each is where power and ground come in. BTW...I secured them to the back of the dash with 3M emblem tape. Solid.

Mine didnt come with any of those and I like how yours came color matched! Maybe thats an update that came after my kit. Thanks for confirming how you are running yours and I would love to see how yours looks when finished. Great tip on the 3m tape too.

[gbranham]

Mine didnt come with any of those and I like how yours came color matched! Maybe thats an update that came after my kit. Thanks for confirming how you are running yours and I would love to see how yours looks when finished. Great tip on the 3m tape too.

I ordered my gauges directly from Speedhut as a package. My complete kit came with the no-charge Platinum gauges, which I knew I wasn't going to use. Maybe that's the difference. I'm sure Speedhut would sell you those doohickies if you called them.

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