Amp Gauge Blow Up

[Hotfingrs]

The first thing I did when I bought my ERA was replace the amp gauge with a volt meter. With all the accessories running through it, it's an accident waiting happen. Hopefully fixing your wiring won't be much of a problem. Last year I also had my whole car rewired and now have a box on the firewall with blade fuses.

[RICK LAKE]

Bliss I had the same problem. I also see in the picture and I think it's the speedo cable, wires rubbing on the top. Unscrew cable and get wires run below cable. If you can smooth out the loop in the cable than would help to and expend the life of it.
Easiest way to fix this is a razor knife and open up the wiring harness. You may want to remove the windshield and steer column from the car for easy way to repair this. Sound like a pain but all you have to do is flip the dash 90 degrees to repair. Work 1 wire at a time. Remove and splice in a new one. Solder the ends and seal them. Some of the better auto stores have bulk wire in different colors. Try and match gauge thickness and color if possible. Match the Gauge wire if nothing else. Larger the wire the more amps it has to carry. Trailer stores also have wiring in bulk, Like house or boat trailers. If not Electrical outlets. When done with the repair, leave the dash loose to see behind and run the car. You can do this by hand or with a infrared temp gun and watch and check for hot wires. They will be easy to touch. Run the car about 5-10 minutes if no smoke or hot wires show, put the car back togeather. I like wireties and use less tape. Weather will not hurt the wiring under the dash if it gets wet.
Volt gauge, very easy to do, The 2 main wires that would have gone back to the amp gauge now are connected together with large crimping connector or just replace the 2 wires, (which is better since you have the dash loose) and add new ends to where they go. For the gauge just add a wire split into the large wire. Everybody has a different way to do this, here's mine, Get a 1" piece of 16 gauge wire, match the color if possible. this tells you or a mechanic it's a power all the time line. I pull back just enough of the wire cover to patch the wire in. I use an awl to push though the wires and make a hole. Strip the match wire about 1" and run this through the hole and wrap it around the main wire. Nice spot of soldered for good contact. They sell liquid plastic wire sealer in electric at Lowes and homedepot. Put a couple of light coats on the connection. Tape over if you want too. Better than new.
Install gauge. Cut the pigtail to length and add eyelet to end of wire. Use the liquid seal or tape or swrink tubing to protect for wire rub, and kepts out weather from corriding the connector. The instructions tell you which terminal the line goes to. Next find a ground wire. They are black most of the time. You need a test light or ohm meter to check this. Once you find a good ground wire run a pigtail of black 16 gauge to the other side of the meter. Light explains itself and should just clip in. If it's a different socket than splice in the new one to the light feed. Take your time. There must be a couple of guys in the area that would help you with this. Normally a couple of beers and a steak will win over any good guy. NO driving after the beer. If you have a problem, stop and call, Will walk you through this. Rick L. 732-254-3536 Home after 7:00 pm est time. Good luck . Sorry a voltgauge and amp gauge are not wired the same. All the power of your electrical system go through the amp gauge. Over time the load and heat melt the insolator on the amp gauge and you get smoked. Voltage gauge just samples the amount of power your charging system and draws use and the number is whats left over with th car running. It's also a quick battery tester. Turn Ign switch to on and you can see the voltage of the battery.

[patrickt]

Bliss, Rick's idea of flipping the dash down is a good one. It's just six screws around the perimeter of the dash and it tilts right down. That will give you easy access to the wiring. A job like this is always much worse in your mind than it is once you've actually started working on it. Dropping the dash, 10 minutes; inspecting the wires, 15 minutes; running a new straight shot of 10 gauge between the fuse box and the circuit breaker (right along the engine side of the firewall, no need for it to go back under the dash), 20 minutes; repairing one or two slightly toasted wires, 15 minutes; installing a new voltmeter, 20 minutes; button it all back up and check for misplaced tools left under the dash, 10 minutes. See? Rick could easily have it all done in less than two hours (I could easily spend all day on it). This is not a hard job and it will be difficult for you to break anything new while you're doing it.

[bliss]

Originally Posted by Hotfingrs

The first thing I did when I bought my ERA was replace the amp gauge with a volt meter. With all the accessories running through it, it's an accident waiting happen. Hopefully fixing your wiring won't be much of a problem. Last year I also had my whole car rewired and now have a box on the firewall with blade fuses.

Last year I also had my whole car rewired and now have a box on the firewall with blade fuses.

What's the ballpark cost of a complete whole care re-wiring?

I have ERA 091, so everything in the wiring area is really old and a little strange in many ways. The original owner appears to have changed things around so I'm ended up with wires that are cut off, capped off and going nowhere. It's, frankly, a little scary.

[bliss]

Originally Posted by Hotfingrs

The first thing I did when I bought my ERA was replace the amp gauge with a volt meter. With all the accessories running through it, it's an accident waiting happen. Hopefully fixing your wiring won't be much of a problem. Last year I also had my whole car rewired and now have a box on the firewall with blade fuses.

OK, I'm sold on a voltmeter, so Summit (for example) has 20 SW voltmeters - is there a specific one that works well in an ERA?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by bliss

OK, I'm sold on a voltmeter, so Summit (for example) has 20 SW voltmeters - is there a specific one that works well in an ERA?

Just so long as it fits the existing hole in your dash and you like the way it looks. Voltmeters are all the same.