Wiring Help 6.1 w/ factory harness

Start by reading this:

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml


There are several other ways of doing this, but the MAD deal is essentially turning the original battery feed and the original alternator wires into TWO parallel, making one large wire for feeding into the interior, then basically running the alternator right to the battery (starter relay)

The original ammeter wires get bolted / spliced together and taped off. If you new dash uses a voltmeter and not an ammeter, you'll need to provide it with switched 12V power.

What do you have for a shop manual? If you are retaining the original harness, just about all of it can be used for the new cluster, IE dimmer controlled lighting, sender wires for gauges, and switched power to supply the cluster and the voltmeter.

If you are not going to rewire the car I would CERTAINLY install a relay/ fuse auxiliary box somewhere to relieve strain on the key. Mine is low buck. I used a junk box out of a Voyager. The relays in that box operate headlights hi / lo, fuel pump, charging / ignition system, power to the EFI, etc, so all the ignition switch does is trigger relays.

Bussman makes these boxes which you can build up the way you want