TECH 49-50 Ford Guage cluster lighting & 12V tips.

Those of you who own 49-50 Fords know that you can barely see guages at night no matter how many extra candlepower bulbs you install. Why??? Because the "Whiz Kids" at Ford in 49 thought it would be brilliant if they put super dark purple covers over the bulbs & 50+ years later 6V or 12V you still cant see them at night.

To fix this you have to remove the guage cluster. Be sure to use wire markers when removing the wire to make sure they get reinstalled where they're supposed to go.

Now with the guage cluster removed you'll see on the back side there are 4 places that the front & back halves of the cluster are crimped together. Use a sharp screwdriver to pry the crimps back so the 2 sections can be seperated (SEE PIC). Once apart you can see the 4 purple curprits that have to be removed. They have little retaining rings that you have to pry the tabs back on the outside to remove (SEE PIC)
While the cluster is apart now is a good time clean it up & repaint the guage needles as needed. Reassemble & use a pair of channel locks or pliers to recrimp together. Install the cluster, connect the wires & bulbs & see the light.

There's more

 

Also while we're on shoebox guage clusters it often gets asked about what to do about the guages when converting to 12 volt. All you need to do is install a guage cluster reducer BW or standard ign.#VRC-603 & reverse the amp guage wire or wires. I Don't have a pic of the reducer but the pics below will show where to hook it up.

Pic 1 shows the AMP guage wire on 49-50. Disconnect wire from the circuit breaker & run it through the "loop" on the guage in the oppisite direction so it will read correctly when you change to NEG. ground.

Pic 2 shows the wire coming off the ACC. post that powers up the fuel, oil & temp guages on 49-50. This is the wire you put the voltage reducer into. I usually hook the existing wire to one side of the reducer & run a new wire from the switch to the other side of the reducer.

Pic 51 just shows what the amp guage & cluster power location on a 51 Ford cluster.

I know this may seem like kind of a remedial post but I thought this would help some people who get intimidated when they look up under the dash & just see a bunch of wires. I hope these pics help familiarize things when you convert to 12V.

Billy

 

COOL, Thanks for the great post, I'll be starting on mine real soon.

 

Great Post. I am in the middle of rewiring to 12V right now. Picture on on the second post is what I have a question with. The AMP guage portion. How the hell do I hook this up? All I have right now is a wire labeled "guage power". This is the same wire that I installed my voltage reducer to to power the other guages.

Can somebody explain exactly how I got my AMP guage to work now? There are no posts to screw a wire to. Just the loop. This is on a 49 cluster.

I also have a 51 cluster and the AMP guage on that one has screw terminals.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

thanks my 50 shoebox is /has been sitting with all the new 12v wires laying under the dash now i think i can start doing the dash rewire after seeing this thread

 

hot wire from ignition switch threads thru and the gauge reads off it--no terminals to worry about.