Hooked up my guages in the merc,and not one of them works.I'm runnin a chevy 350 with electric senders,which I used 12-6 volt reducers on ,at the guages.I've never tried making old guages work on newer stuff,what am I missing?The main guages I'm tring to get to work are the oil and temp.I just don't want to give up,and mount some under the dash.I bench tested them with my battery charger with the reducers,and they moved,so I think the guages are good.Any info would be great
I made shure they were tight,but I will go over again.They are all going to the same spot.That would be nice.Damn thing is fighting me the whole way
So explain a little bit about the set up if the ground check doesn't do it for you. Modern GM 12 volt senders hooked to ancient merc gauges. ? ? Do you know the ohms required for the gauges and the ohms delivered by the senders.
I cut the wire going from my temp gauge to the sender in the block before I realized it's NOT an electrical wire, but gas filled XD
If you find that your gauges need work I can highly suggest a fellow HAMBer...Morris Gauge in Portland. They are easy to find online. The price was in line with all the other places I looked into, the guy really knows his stuff, my gauges came back working as well as looking much better than I thought was possible, the service was very fast, and he give a HAMB discount. Also, if you describe your issues, he might be able to set you on the right path.
You need the original senders with the original gauges and the 12 to 6 reducer to work. The new senders are your problem.
Im not sure about Merc gauges, but the Ford/Merc 36-46 does not work with modern resistance type senders... And i would not be surpriced if the newer Merc used the same type. The Ford guges and senders work with pulsating Bimetal parts in both ends.
Run the original sending units for the gauges. Put the voltage reducer in between the gauge and the 12V power supply. They are not polarity sensitive. You can use the reducer from a 57 to 59 ford instrument cluster. Butch
I was told the newer sending units would work with voltage reducers,but think the info was wrong.I should have asked here first.Sounds like I'll be ordering some flathead senders to put on my sbc
I'm running all the original gauges in my Merc with a sbc. But you can't use "modern" senders. It won't work no way no how. You need to buy the original senders for your car and put them on the 350.
Use a voltage reducer from NAPA Echlin VR1 or VR7 for 6 volt Ford gauges run on 12 volts. Hook it up on the 12 volt side then to the gauges. And use the original 6 volt senders with the original 6 volt gauges.
use the 6 volt senders with your gauges. solder a 6.2 volt 10 watt zener diode in the hot wire to the gauges and it'll work fine. you don't need to reduce voltage to the amp gauge because amps are amps!
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