Here is the dash we did fr my 83 Marquis wagon. Just like in Stormin Normans thread, getting the gauges to work was hard. These aftermarket gauges are wired mostly for GM and installation into GM wired street rods. Cobbled the old dash electronics to the new gauges and got them to work .
Yeah!!!! Awesome! Don't you just love it when you can watch the machine from a nicely upholstered comfy seat? Honestly, I'd never buy a car that didn't come with a tripmeter, a tach, a vacuum gauge and a voltmeter. Especially with fuel costing more than milk.
Thanks for the idea. Week after next, I'm going to look at an 85 Crown Vic. Not a wagon, but does have the 351 and factory towing package, which is why I'm going to drive 3 hours each way for a look. I've been thinking of something along those lines already. I have been scoping out aftermarket gauges already, and have found some I like. I've also been toying with the idea of finding the full cluster out of a 72 -79 midsize Ford or Mercury, and having the faces repainted in the brushed silver that Ford used on the Grand Marquis gauges, as I find it a sweet look as well as easy to read. I much prefer the front lit gauges to the back lit. I really wish that 85 were a wagon, as I've been promising myself one for years, but finding a wagon with the 351 and tow package in decent shape is very difficult, plus this one is only $2,500 OBO.
Just don't trash the stock bits. You will need part of it to make the fuel gauge work. On the Marquis, there wasn't a whole lot of room behind the gauge set. The speedo cable was difficult to route and we had to modify the shape of some of the ducting for the vent system.
This might be of some use. Cool Cats is all about Mid/Late 80s cougars and I'll betcha that you'd find some instrument clusters that would fit. This is their White Faces gauge diagrams that you can download and print and use. http://www.coolcats.net/media/index.html This is a Ford Fox-bodied site and some good links and DIY projects on modding the gauges: http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthread.php?t=71159 I'm still playing with the idea of a ceiling console, so this is an Idea Page: http://www.consoles.com.au/products.htm I found this guy's project page of a Digital dash in his 1989 Cougar: http://highshirts.ifrance.com/cougar/digdash/ And in true Ford style: http://www.florida50.com/1979-1986-instrument-clusters.htm Let us know how it goes, eh?
