Instrument Voltage Regulator for 65 Dart

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zephyr

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So yes, the 65 doesn't have a plug in limiter. It uses points in the fuel gauge. The link you posted is the thread that I started when I was trying to fix this problem. It didn't work. Now I find Classic Industries claiming that their limiter works in a 65 but needs a plug in type (contradictory). Has anybody solved their IVR problem in a 65 Dart?
 
There's an old old "how to" on this. You mount it externally, (like a plug in) and wire it up to the posts at the fuel gauge, open up the fuel gauge and CAREFULLY bend and RTV the contacts so that they cannot close. Inspect the heating element and investigate cutting that loose

RTE Gauge Faq - rte

HOW THEY work. The 3 terminal early fuel gauge, and the later Ralleye clusters, one terminal of the fuel gauge is connected to switched 12V and feeds the INTERNAL limiter. This terminal is then used to feed the new, EXternal limiter. One terminal was used to "out" jumper limiter controlled power to the other gauges, and now you will use it to feed the output of the new limiter to all three gauges. The third terminal is of course the sender

I myself have never done this (as I don't have one of these cars) but I've read plenty and what Redfish has posted on here. It is extremely important you are careful "in there" and that you get the old limiter safely isolated so it can not cause damage and also of course that you do not damage the fuel gauge with your surgery
 
67Dart273 said:
There's an old old "how to" on this. You mount it externally, (like a plug in) and wire it up to the posts at the fuel gauge, open up the fuel gauge and CAREFULLY bend and RTV the contacts so that they cannot close. Inspect the heating element and investigate cutting that loose

RTE Gauge Faq - rte

HOW THEY work. The 3 terminal early fuel gauge, and the later Ralleye clusters, one terminal of the fuel gauge is connected to switched 12V and feeds the INTERNAL limiter. This terminal is then used to feed the new, EXternal limiter. One terminal was used to "out" jumper limiter controlled power to the other gauges, and now you will use it to feed the output of the new limiter to all three gauges. The third terminal is of course the sender

I myself have never done this (as I don't have one of these cars) but I've read plenty and what Redfish has posted on here. It is extremely important you are careful "in there" and that you get the old limiter safely isolated so it can not cause damage and also of course that you do not damage the fuel gauge with your surgery
Click to expand...

This is the limiter that I bought. I couldn't get it to work.
 
There is no plug-in regulator on a '65 Dart.* Post № 4 in this thread is Yup. Also this.


*Most of what Classic Industries sells is junk, so no big surprise that their info is junk, too
 
VanceC said:
This is the limiter that I bought. I couldn't get it to work.
Click to expand...
Meaning what? You couldn't figure out how to mount and wire it?

You did but it won't operate? If so how do you know it's the limiter, and it might be, or might not be

I would "rig" the limiter AKA wired temporarily, and then hook the output to an artificial load such as a tail lamp, and monitor the output with a meter to see if its regulating near 5V

The cluster/ limiter MUST be grounded to battery negative, and you MUST have a sender or test resistor on the sender terminal to ground.

What have you done to test the gauges themselves?

Bench testing rally gauges

There was an old thread--I cannot find--even applying a 1 1/2V battery directly to one gauge will provide some deflection.
 
Chances are when the IVR went bad, it fried the gauges. Installing a new IVR of any sort won't bring them back to life.
 
67Dart273 said:
There was an old thread--I cannot find--even applying a 1 1/2V battery directly to one gauge will provide some deflection
Click to expand...
You can temporarily touch a 9v battery to the posts

Also older usb A chargers ( NOT USB -C) are 5v output, many are 2A. In the cable there are 2 heavy wires and 2 light wires heavy are plus and minus 5v.

That and a resister or two and you can do all kinds of testing.
 
I have used one of these. Cheap, Has wires, adjustable voltage.

C5919BE5-6019-44C9-9243-46C5929E01B5.jpg
 
^^You guys are missing the point^^ I forget it was either 1 1/2V or 3V (two cells) that you connect direct to a gauge and it gives you a partial reading. If you have a gauge you suspect is "OK" then all 3 should read pretty close to wherever they come "up scale." 5V will peg the meter.

I can not find that thread.
 
67Dart273 said:
Meaning what? You couldn't figure out how to mount and wire it?

You did but it won't operate? If so how do you know it's the limiter, and it might be, or might not be

I would "rig" the limiter AKA wired temporarily, and then hook the output to an artificial load such as a tail lamp, and monitor the output with a meter to see if its regulating near 5V

The cluster/ limiter MUST be grounded to battery negative, and you MUST have a sender or test resistor on the sender terminal to ground.

What have you done to test the gauges themselves?

Bench testing rally gauges

There was an old thread--I cannot find--even applying a 1 1/2V battery directly to one gauge will provide some deflection.
Click to expand...
I'm not electrical savvy. I was told by multiple people that if the fuel and temp gauges are not working I could assume the ivr was the problem. I found the guy who sold the replacement part (discussed in the old thread above) and removed my cluster, disabled the points and wired it into my gauge and put it all back together. I KNOW that there were steps I skipped not testing etc. but I was just hoping it would work. Removing and replacing the dash cluster was, for me, a real challenge and at the outer limits of my handiness. If I knew there was a part I could buy that would fix it I'd probably hire a mechanic/electrician to install it this time.
 
I've updated my 3 1960's Mopars. Last pass, I used a ~$10 adjustable one from Amazon like Mike69cuda shows. Looked almost identical to a "Plymouth Voltage Limiter" I bought on ebay before. Adjustable lets you tweak either the fuel or temp gage to read perfect at full-scale. There are also screwdriver adjustments for zero and range on each gage (experts only). I had to add parallel resistors (~20 ohm) across the fuel gage to get it to the needle on "F" with my new fuel level senders.
 
I have a 65 dart and am in the middle of this replacement, too. My big problem right now is opening the fuel gauge. It's riveted shut. For anyone who has done this, how did you open and then seal up the fuel gauge?
 
I've done it a couple of different ways. The first one I drilled out the rivets on a bad gauge. Once I got the face plate off, I could see a good spot where I could drill a hole in the side of the good gauge and disable the limiter that way. Then it's a simple matter of putting a piece of tape over the hole. Otherwise, you need to find some tiny rivets to reattach the faceplate.
 
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