1952-59 Ford 1956 mercury gauges

This has probably been asked to death however, I haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for scouring the internet.

so none of my factory gauges work.
My neighbor is a really handy guy and was like let’s rebuild them and well I’m pretty crafty but I have no idea what’s even inside that could be fixed.
Anybody have any insight on this? I don’t think they are magic or nothing but I don’t have a clue on what I should be looking for.
Any thoughts or ideas?

 

When the gages on my 59 were giving me problems I had to replace the instrument cluster voltage regulator. It was located on the back of the cluster. It is independent from the rest of the electrical system because gages work on only 5 volts.

 

Interesting, I don’t think I seen one of these in the back of mine.

 

So I did a little digging and 56 is apparently 12v gauges. So I guess probably no regulator.

 

56 was the only year for 12 volt gauges. 55 was 6 volt and 57 was the first year for the IVR

On my 56 Ford I used Cl***ic Instruments. The Ford was easy to do this because of the round gauges.

 

Make sure you have a good ground to the gauges.

 

All I use is the gas gauge. I attempted to hook up the temp gauge, likely I have the wrong sensor in the cylinder head. I made all my dash lights common, that goes to a barrier strip for power, they all light up.

 

That is neat that the Mercury had gauges for oil and amperage. The 56 Fords had warning lights for oil and amps. The only gauges were gas and temperature.

 

My temp gage was screwy and that’s how I roasted the engine shortly after I bought the car. Now I have a functional NOS temp gage and an aftermarket trio as well.

 

Probably expensive but I would look in Hemings for a rebuilder. I like original gauge panels. I wouldn’t be surprised if they couldn’t make the amp a volt but the 56 era doesn’t draw over 30 amps unless you have a loaded car with a low battery. I’ve repair my56 clock twice and now have a toggle switch so it only runs when I’m in the car.

 

I’m sure there’s rebuilders, but I think I want to try my hand at rebuilding then myself.

 

I have used late model gauges in the cluster using the original faces. It looks good.

I also put a late model voltage gauge in for the amp gauge. I put 12V at the center of the gauge. If it above center its charging, if it is below its not. I used the needles from the car I was converting so it matched the speedometer.

 

I think this may be the route I take

 

A mid 90's Thunderbird has gauges oriented the right way and are user friendly.

 

Your fuel sender will be the most difficult to resolve. The 56 gauge is 73 ohms Empty and 10 full. The later Ford sending units were 235 ohms empty and 35 full. All other sending units just need to match the car that the gauges came from. The volt gauge just reads your voltage so nothing to do there. I ended up swapping the sender for the fuel gauge.

 

This is great to know

 

Gm gas sender is 0 ohms empty to 90 ohms full. If you use a gm set of gauges the gauge will show E for full. Empty would be around 1/4 tank.

You could use an after market sender to match the gauge you use. I had to make an adapter to bolt to the tank to use the aftermarket sender.

 

Thanks, I will have to check my fuel sender, as I have 14 out of 18 gal and it reads 3/8 full. But that is another issue to deal with at some point.

 

The info I have is Ford up to '86 is the 73-10 ohms, and 87 up is 16-158. That's per Tanks Inc.

 

Just my "2 cents" but I would not be so quick to ditch the stock Mercury gauges. I have owned at least a dozen mid-fifties Fords and Mercurys over the last 40 years and I have never had a gauge go bad on any of the cars. You need to trouble shoot each gauge one at a time, figure out the problem and then move on to the next one. Start with the gas gauge. With the ignition on, ground out the sender wire at the tank. If the gauge needle moves all of the way to full, the gauge is good and the fault is with the wiring or sender. If the gauge tests good then run your own wire between the sender and the gauge to byp*** the car wiring. If you eliminate the wiring as the problem then the fault can only be with the sender and you need to inspect it or replace it. (Many times the float will corrode and develop a hole, sink to the bottom of the tank and always read empty on the gauge). Repro floats are available as are 12 volt repro. senders. You can troubleshoot each of the gauges just like this until you get everything working. My experience tells me that your dash gauges are probably good and the fault lies elsewhere.

P.S. I should have also said that before you start testing each gauge, you should make sure with a voltmeter or test lamp that you even have power to the gauges with the ignition switch on. Since you say that NONE of the gauges work then maybe there is a wiring problem between your ignition switch and the dash gauges.

 

**** update ****

began troubleshooting. Noticed fuse blows instantly when powering up gauges. Pulled all wires off. Replace fuse, Checked power wires, they have 12v (this was kinda obvious since it blows the fuse).
Decided to start at temp gauge hooked up wires to temp gauge = the fuse blows instantly. Set my meter to ohms and one of the terminals on the back of the temp gauge reads short to ground. Left this gauge unhooked from wiring

move to oil pressure, connect wires turn key on gauge goes to about the center of the sweep, start engine and gauge pegs at 80psi. Checked the sender and it reads 9.3 ohms to ground.

Thoughts?

 

I have wiring diagrams for the dash and for the instrument cluster for '54 Mercury which should be pretty much the same as your '56. Would that help?

 

thanks Alan! I have the wiring diagram for a 56 and the painless book. But I figured it out.

 

So the temp gauge Back metal strap was barely touching the 12v terminal. I put some heat shrink on it and re installed and it’s good to go.

I changed the oil pressure sensing unit and it works now too.

so woo hoo fuel oil and temp all work as designed.
Thanks again!!

 

Some pics of what happened

 

I knew that you could get the original gauges working again. Nothing beats this old original '50's stuff (at least in my opinion!).

 

I agree! I’m excited that I got them working. Thank you for the help and insight.

I may try to convert the generator gauge or ammeter to do something useful but very happy the 3 I was aiming for at working

 

Glad you got them working.

 

tcoupekyle should be an inspiration to everyone who comes to this group (or any group) looking for help! He asks questions and gives enough information so you can give an intelligent reply and posts useful pictures. He then responds to people who have suggestions in a timely manner. He ends that with a full report with what he found and what fixed the problem, again with pictures that are very useful. If there was ever an example of how it should be done, show people this thread. Kudos, tcoupekyle!!! Mark

 

thanks alot Mark, I try to be at least some sort of resource for the next guy who may have similar issue. I wish I could be more detailed but I forget to take pictures of the step by step.