Woo Hoo! all new wiring end to end!...

Wow, very cool!

Art

oh yeah man, I'm very happy!.. I was hot rodding my car 50 miles from my house and had smoke in the cockpit..lol.. It scared me right to american auto wire..lol... Everything worked out great! it fits right in the factory spot...

PLT-1, Good job, it really looks good. How much trouble was it to re-wire everything? How long did it take?

It took about four days, I retained the horn button on the signal, I just kept the stock fuel gauge and sending unit, we put a volt in and trashed the amp, off loaded everything to relays and thanks to the American Auto Wire "Highway 27" the car is ready for an alarm, door servo's in the event I want to eliminate the 500 dollar door handles, proximity push button,... The kit was for a GM car and it was way, WAY better than the painless system I put in my 67 Firebird. The painless GM system was about half the size of a shoe box. The American Auto Wire Highway 27 was TWENTY THREE POUNDS..lol.. it came with brief case style box, headlight switch, dimmer switch, ignition switch,..( I didn't use that stuff) etc.. I could not be happier!! I figure it has added a few thousand to value of this cat...

Does the volt meter look similar to the original gauge?
Do you have a part #?
Will

The gauges I used are auto meter carbon fiber style...

Will, do you have original gauges with black faces or are they the white faced gauges? My voltmeter changeover was great and looks exactly like my other white faced gauges that I got from Hall.

On the subject of voltmeters

Auto meter has a volt meter that is a close match visually to the Veglia ammeter, except the bezel is bigger. I purchased one of the gages. I've been meaning to acquire a spare Veglia ammeter and attempt to install the Veglia bezel on the Auto Meter voltmeter, but no time so far.

Another idea, there is a vendor who has the Veglia ammeter reworked and turns it into a voltmeter. The gage's scale still reads amps, but at least its no longer a fire hazard.

cowboy from hell

quote:

but at least its no longer a fire hazard.

George, you trying to scare people?

The ammeter is a fire hazard ONLY when its connections are loose, which will cause arcing, which brings on heat, which further loosens things creating more heat and...ta daa.....smoke and fire.

In this sense then yes, the ammeter is a fire hazard. But no more so than any other high amperage connection in the Pantera's wiring system.

With its numerous washers and nuts kept tightened and clean, just like your battery connections and other high amperage connections, the amp gauge will serve its purpose - however near useless that really is - with no imminent disaster lurking in the depths of the console.

Owners SHOULD, REALLY, check their ammeters to confirm things are tight and secure. This should be a regular item done every year or so, like changing ZF oil and flushing brake fluid.

As I still have my gauge (with checked, tight connections), I also regularly reach out and touch the gauge and surrounding area during a long drive - especially at night with lights on - to check for excessive heat.

When the ammeter is removed, removal of both wire ends and the installation of a crimped butt splice, covered with a couple layers of heat shrink insulation should provide a safe connection; remember, the amperage will still be there, you just won't have a gauge showing it to you.

But most owners just bolt both leads together and wrap with electrical tape. This still leaves a connection that can come loose and cause the very same problems the owner was attempting to avoid.

That bolted connection ALSO needs to be checked - but it is hidden down in the console and can't even be checked with hand touch.

Gee, now I'm probably starting to scare people, too.

Anyway, whether you still have your gauge or not, the lesson here is to realize there is a lot of amperage flowing through those wires/gauge and you need to inspect those connections regularly.

Fire in a Pantera is NOT cool.


Larry