HELP ON AFTER MARKET GAUGES!!!!!!

[hunter01762]

I got a 69 f100 ranger I dont care for the style of gauges it came with and am wanting to replace them with round gauges, and a polished aluminum instrument panel. I have seen the ones I like and this is something that I was wondering was a direct bolt in, or is there modifications that you got to make any info will be greatly appreciated.

p.s
The gauges I want are the ones with a white face and old style numbers an pointers.

[FORDification]

You've obviously seen the F-600 panels that many people are installing in their trucks. You can either get them painted or chrome with black accents. The numbers/fonts in the '67 version are slightly different from the '68-up piece:



Here's a shot of the one getting mounted in my truck. I wanted the painted panel to match the interior color:



Here's a view of the chrome panel with painted front:



It seems many people like to strip the black paint off and go with the full-chrome look, like this one:



These panels are relatively easy to find and are a bolt-in (screw-in) replacement. However, you'll need to do some minor rewiring to use the factory gauges. Most people just pull the factory gauges and install new aftermarket pieces. I'm going to be attempting to use the factory gauges, but I'm not entirely sure what wiring needs to be done to use them yet. I haven't gotten that far in my project to research that out.

If you intend to use the factory gauges, be careful on which panel you use. Most of them have a plug-in connector on the back that matches the instrument panel connector in the '67-'69 trucks, but the '70-'72 pickups have circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster, so it would require a little extra rewiring to connect it to your existing harness. However, you CAN also keep your eyes open for a later-model F600 that has this panel with the circuit board on the back. If you decide to go with aftermarket gauges however, it doesn't matter which panel you use, obviously.

[hunter01762]

so i can do this swap even though my truck has the rectangular and square gauges? They loof like the ones for sale on this website.

[fordman]

yes its all in the sixe of the dash hole not in the size or shape of the gauges. all of the dash holes are the same.

[hunter01762]

Thanks for the info fellas. I will be scouring the junkyards this weekend to find a set.

[FORDification]

There's a setup on E-bay right now....auction ends Friday night. Looks like it needs cleaned up, but (so far) the price is right:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1967-72-Ford-Truck- ... dZViewItem

[390Nut]

There was a seller on ebay recently selling a machined billet dash very similar to the F600 dash piece. $125.00 if I remember correctly. While it looked nice, I decided a long time ago, no billet on this truck! I want it looking semi-factory when I ever get done with it (not likely that I ever will, but a guy can dream, right? )

Might be a good alternative, if you can find it!