76 dash in a 74 Dart?

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Bl1zzard

Bl1zzard

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I bit the bullet and ordered a new dash circuit board for my 74 Dart. The old circuit board was missing traces and has way too many cracked traces to try and fix it. Trust me I tried as you can see in the picture attached.

Anyway, when I got the new circuit board and my dash lights wouldn't fit the new board. They are way too small. I contacted the vendor and sent pictures. They told me that I have a 76 dash and the wiring is completely different from a 74.

My question to you fine fellows is, should I replace the dash with a 74 so I don't run into wiring issues or just replace the circuit board with a 76 one? Will that work with the wiring harness? If I stay with the 76 dash, where do I find dash lights?

IMG_20200402_082629.jpg
 
'76 A-body is wired very differently than a 74. Both engine side and instrument panel side because its a very different layout.
 
Mattax said:
'76 A-body is wired very differently than a 74. Both engine side and instrument panel side because its a very different layout.
Click to expand...
thats what i was thinking.... did someone really change his entire engine and body harness, and dash...before he got it? i suppose its possible.
i do know my 74 has a ton of seatbelt interlock crap it took me forever to fully eliminate. my 75 RR had it too. If i was assembling a car from donors...i would have probably ditched the 74 wiring also.
 
Why can't you fix the old one? What is wrong with it? These are simple boards, with large copper traces. You can solder jumpers to fix breaks, you can clean the copper to affect good contact with the gauges, lights, etc, unless the thing has been soaked wet/ warped/ etc, it might and probably is fixable
 
Sender wires for gauges can come out of the round harness connector. put ring terminals on them and attach at gauge studs. Aftermarket solid state IVR can be mounted most anywhere under the dash and attached with ring terminals also.
As for the lamp sockets... I'm guessing you ordered the wrong ones. They come in 3 different sizes. Chrysler uses the 5/8 socket.
 
67Dart273 said:
Why can't you fix the old one? What is wrong with it? These are simple boards, with large copper traces. You can solder jumpers to fix breaks, you can clean the copper to affect good contact with the gauges, lights, etc, unless the thing has been soaked wet/ warped/ etc, it might and probably is fixable
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I've tried, if you look at the picture, I've soldered wires to the missing traces and tried to bridge the cracked traces but there are simply too many places where they are cracked. It must have been soaked at one time, because when I removed it, it bowed almost an inch in the middle.
 
RedFish said:
Sender wires for gauges can come out of the round harness connector. put ring terminals on them and attach at gauge studs. Aftermarket solid state IVR can be mounted most anywhere under the dash and attached with ring terminals also.
As for the lamp sockets... I'm guessing you ordered the wrong ones. They come in 3 different sizes. Chrysler uses the 5/8 socket.
Click to expand...
I didn't order any lamp sockets. I was planning on using the ones from the bad circuit board, not knowing it was a 76 circuit board and the sockets were different from that year.
 
Johnny Mac said:
thats what i was thinking.... did someone really change his entire engine and body harness, and dash...before he got it? i suppose its possible.
i do know my 74 has a ton of seatbelt interlock crap it took me forever to fully eliminate. my 75 RR had it too. If i was assembling a car from donors...i would have probably ditched the 74 wiring also.
Click to expand...
I don't think the harness was changed, but I could be wrong. This car was under restoration since 1984. From the problems I've had with the engine timing (40 degrees!!!) and the wrong transmission (from a early 60's), I have no confidence in anything the previous owner may or may not have done. question is, did he pop in a dash cluster from a 76 and leave the 74 harness or did he change the harness to a 76 too? I don't know how to tell the difference, and I can't contact him to find out.
 
Also, all lights and signals work fine. Hazards, headlights, horn, map lights, key buzzer, even the trunk light. The car wouldn't start with the cluster removed. I have the dash back in right now with the new 74 circuit board, none of the gauges work, but the car starts.
 
Bl1zzard said:
I didn't order any lamp sockets. I was planning on using the ones from the bad circuit board, not knowing it was a 76 circuit board and the sockets were different from that year.
Click to expand...
I understand. 76 was very different
Bl1zzard said:
I don't think the harness was changed, but I could be wrong. This car was under restoration since 1984. From the problems I've had with the engine timing (40 degrees!!!) and the wrong transmission (from a early 60's), I have no confidence in anything the previous owner may or may not have done. question is, did he pop in a dash cluster from a 76 and leave the 74 harness or did he change the harness to a 76 too? I don't know how to tell the difference, and I can't contact him to find out.
Click to expand...
74 dash harness would have 2 very heavy gauge wires ( a red and a black ) attached directly onto the amp gauge. 76 has remote shunt design. So small copper traces attach that amp gauge just like the other gauges. Those copper traces cannot carry the full current so if installer did simply put those 2 large wires of a 74 harness in the round connector, that would explain fried traces to amp gauge.
 
I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong, but if you have one of these under the dash, Then its a 74 dash harness. I believe these were gone by 76...although i had a 75 B body with one...


upload_2020-4-2_13-46-23.png

You'd also have this under the hood. unless he bypassed/removed it.
upload_2020-4-2_13-46-53.png
 
RedFish said:
I understand. 76 was very different

74 dash harness would have 2 very heavy gauge wires ( a red and a black ) attached directly onto the amp gauge. 76 has remote shunt design. So small copper traces attach that amp gauge just like the other gauges. Those copper traces cannot carry the full current so if installer did simply put those 2 large wires of a 74 harness in the round connector, that would explain fried traces to amp gauge.
Click to expand...
Ahh I think you hit the nail on the head RedFish. I didn't notice the traces going to the ammeter were the ones I thought were rubbed off, they in fact vaporized. I've since done the ammeter bypass under the hood, but I never thought to look at under the dash wiring. I really only need the gas gauge and speedometer to work. So maybe I'll take your advice and wire the gas gauge directly with an aftermarket IVR. And slowly back away from the unknown monster under my dash...
 
Johnny Mac said:
I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong, but if you have one of these under the dash, Then its a 74 dash harness. I believe these were gone by 76...although i had a 75 B body with one...


View attachment 1715499005
You'd also have this under the hood. unless he bypassed/removed it.
View attachment 1715499007
Click to expand...
Thanks Johnny Mac. I don't have that blue beast under the dash, but I do have the connectors for the interlock under the hood, but no relay so it must have been bypassed, it starts just fine.
 
The remote shunted ammeter was just a part of the picture. The two power sources were connected on the engine side. power was then distributed from several splices in that circuit.
Scheme is like this (work in progress)
upload_2020-4-2_14-57-52.png

A3 is Hazzard and got its own fusible link.
The main power feed had at least three links at the splice.
Alternator output wire was probably 8 ga. because the red link was 12 ga (IIRC).

A used '74 panel shouldn't be too difficult to find with a wanted ad or looking through the cars to be parted ads. Assuming you want a factory board to work from.
 
Bl1zzard said:
I bit the bullet and ordered a new dash circuit board for my 74 Dart. The old circuit board was missing traces and has way too many cracked traces to try and fix it. Trust me I tried as you can see in the picture attached.

Anyway, when I got the new circuit board and my dash lights wouldn't fit the new board. They are way too small. I contacted the vendor and sent pictures. They told me that I have a 76 dash and the wiring is completely different from a 74.

My question to you fine fellows is, should I replace the dash with a 74 so I don't run into wiring issues or just replace the circuit board with a 76 one? Will that work with the wiring harness? If I stay with the 76 dash, where do I find dash lights?

View attachment 1715498859
Click to expand...
[FOR SALE] - 1974 Valiant
 
Bl1zzard said:
I bit the bullet and ordered a new dash circuit board for my 74 Dart. The old circuit board was missing traces and has way too many cracked traces to try and fix it. Trust me I tried as you can see in the picture attached.

Anyway, when I got the new circuit board and my dash lights wouldn't fit the new board. They are way too small. I contacted the vendor and sent pictures. They told me that I have a 76 dash and the wiring is completely different from a 74.

My question to you fine fellows is, should I replace the dash with a 74 so I don't run into wiring issues or just replace the circuit board with a 76 one? Will that work with the wiring harness? If I stay with the 76 dash, where do I find dash lights?

View attachment 1715498859
Click to expand...
[FOR SALE] - 1974 dart 4 door parts
 
Are valiant and Dart instrument panels the same in '74 ?
I know some of the earlier years are different.
Can't remember if the later years are - and I owned and drove both. :rolleyes:
 
Mattax said:
Are valiant and Dart instrument panels the same in '74 ?
I know some of the earlier years are different.
Can't remember if the later years are - and I owned and drove both. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
i posted him a dart and a valiant. i assumed they were the same. my brother in law has a 74 scamp. it looks like my 74 dart.
 
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