I haven't read every post but check Dakota Digital.  I bought a gauge set for my 62 F100.  They fit right into my factory spot.  Comes with all the senders and you use the factory fuel sender.  dakotadigital.com     Their stuff is amazing.  Give them a try.

Woohoo! Finally, time to get more done with this! I aim to be done with this by summer.







Getting it lined up tor the first tack was tricky. A combination of the panel not being flat, and my novice metal working skills. The solution I came up with is to use magnets to hold it in place and a bolt so that I could use the threads for fine adjustment. The mass of the bolt was not significant enough to stay in place with the force of the piece acting on it so the exhaust clamp prevented the bolt from moving.







Now I need to grind the welds smooth, cut out the center of the panel and drill mounting holes for the new insert, weld the mounting studs to the insert, paint it and make the lens for the indicator lights. The hard work is done!


Lawrenceville, GA

No more progress, yet, but while I was at the salvage yard last weekend I saw one way the factory did it. Just a hole punched in a panel, some translucent plastic and tape!






Lawrenceville, GA

I think that's it. It starts with one type of regulator that is not variable, then goes into the variable regulators, and finally adding complimentary transistors and a trick about adding a diode increase the output for certain situations. There are 5 or 6 circuit diagrams.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie - I think the article you found is in the May "Rod and Custom"???? It has all of the right stuff in there. I can scan you a copy if you want it?

The regulator I built for my kids' caboose ran on DC volts - and worked like a charm - the running light LEDS never changed brightness at all so long as the volts on the track stayed above the min (for the LED's)

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I haven't done much research on this subject. A couple weeks ago, I picked up a magazine which had an article about building voltage regulators. One is a transistorized variable regulator, variable meaning it can be built to provide any output within a certain range, not that you can adjust it with a knob or something like that. The article wasn't clear about input voltage but I have a feeling it's exactly what you're talking about, Steve. So if I have any issues, once it's up and running, I'll build one. A stable output voltage, regardless of input might come in handy.


Lawrenceville, GA

I have figured out how to make the lens.



I will cut all of the shapes from labels which I will print with my computer. I will then transfer all of those shapes to the polycarbonate with the help of some scotch tape to simplify the alignment. This way I can mask the areas I do not want to paint. The scotch tape worked out a lot better than I thought it would. I just stick the shapes on well, and try to press down only on the shapes. carefully peel the tape off and it does pull the top layer of the shapes off but leaves a bottom layer which is still enough to keep paint off. Other than cutting it out of the polycarbonate sheet, what you see is exactly how the it will be made. The bigger sticker, on the back will be a thin film of pcv, this is to help ensure that the light goes through the lens only where I want it to go. I am going to make another test lens and the only change will be that I will sand the back side to give it a frosted appearance. I thought it would be neat to leave it clear but I don't like it. I can see the LED's and it just looks unfinished that way. So it needs a little fine tuning but at least I pretty well know how to do it. It looks a lot better in person than that last picture indicates.















Alright, I couldn't resist. I carefully peeled the sticker away on the back, sanded it with 220 and put the sticker back. That is the answer. The frosted appearance will also make it blend better with the panel which will be white. So, experimentation done, time to make the real thing.


Lawrenceville, GA

Today I completed the light housing. I started with a chunk of nylon, cut away what wasn't a light housing, and voila a light housing.















All that remains is the lens. If anything, now it's guaranteed that I'll have functional lights. I'm still not 100% sure how I'll pull off the lens.


Lawrenceville, GA

Wow, it was August when I last posted about this. I admit, I got lazy at the end of last year. With temperatures rising again, I've come out of hibernation. I pretty well finished the filler panel for the lower section of the instrument panel today. All that's left is to weld it in place.











This is the first time I've ever made something like this. I'm quite happy with the results.



I have made more progress on the indicator lights but not enough to post anything about just yet. That is pretty well all that is left to complete this project. Otherwise, I just gotta try not to warp everything when I weld it together.


Lawrenceville, GA

Thanks! I haven't been called a true hot rodder before. I really appreciate that.



I am a little concerned about light bleeding through. With the LEDs, most of the light is directed ahead of it rather than to the sides. As a result, the housing is not concerning me as much as the lens. The housing (white portion) will be Nylon. I already have it and it's nearly opaque. The cavities in the housing will be only as big as necessary and will approximate the shape of each symbol where reasonably possible. This will help to direct the light precisely where it needs to go.

I think the lens is going to be the trickiest part of this whole project. For the first version (hopefully the last), I have some adhesive backed pvc which I will stick to the back side of the lens with the appropriate shapes for the symbols cut out. On the front, I will mask off the symbols which will need to be placed almost exactly opposite the pvc symbols, and paint the lense white to match the instrument panel. The idea is that the pvc will allow only what light is needed to enter the lens, reducing the amount it bleeds and making for sharper looking symbols. ...We'll see if that happens.



I have since modified the housing design from the original. I think this one will make it a little easier to work with for R&D purposes. I'm not planning to do much gluing until I verify that it works.







Here it is roughly fitted to the light support dealamajig. I don't want to install it yet. The led panel fitting thingies look like they will be a real pain to remove once installed. The metal piece is the part in the back in the rendered drawing.







Let me get it made before I think of any kind of production. It's a lot of work.


Lawrenceville, GA