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Picked up a full set of gauges that needed alot of attention due to rust issues. Took it apart and blasted the metal case then powder coated. I know originally the back of the case was plated so my question is does the powder coat need to be removed where the gauges get bolted in for grounding purposes?
Yes. Wire wheel or scrape it. Need shiny metal to shiny metal for a ground.
On my '68 the dash ground was this crummy, corroded ring terminal with a star washer screwed onto primered metal near the driver's kick panel. Wire wheel that paint off too for a much better ground.
Last edited by wadenelson; Sep 14, 2023 at 09:23 AM.
Don't know the year you're looking at but the cluster is all grounded through the terminal on the temp gauge so they need to have those contacts with the gauges cleared. Also, the ground for all the lamps is the case, you'll need to clean off around each lamp hole sort of like this
You could also run and extra ground from the assembly that houses the gauges. Fasten a wire to the housing and run it to a solid point on the frame to ground it. I did this and have not had any problems.
2025 c3 ('74-'82) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
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Originally Posted by gkellerga
You could also run and extra ground from the assembly that houses the gauges. Fasten a wire to the housing and run it to a solid point on the frame to ground it. I did this and have not had any problems.
I was suggesting to run the extra ground for the housing for the gauges. Sometimes there can be issues with that even though the ground runs through the ground on the temperature gauge. I know I had problems there.
Gauge Cluster Grounding
