Bullet Bob wrote:

First of all, how does that system use an "Ignition Switched" 12V source for the turn indicator and high beam indicator lamps?  The turns each receive a signal from the TS switch same as the front turn lamps.  He high beam indicator gets it's 12V from the wire going from the dimmer to the headlights or to the high beam relay if used.

I used a 16 pin Delphi connector (Terminal Supply Co) to marry the cluster harness to the dash harness.  This includes Ign. Power; CVR instrument power; Rt turn; Lft turn; fuel, oil, and temp senders; high beam, alt lamp, instrument lights, and anything else that I can't remember right now.  I made the cluster harness extra long so I can set the cluster on top of the dash while still connected (a trick I learned from Glens 65 5.0). 

As for splices, daisy chains, and such, I use non-insulated butt connectors (Terminal Supply) and crimp/solder/heat shrink them with adhesive lined tube.

BB

Thanks, I was being imprecise to try and save some typing, but your 1st paragraph is correct.  Everything thing shares a common ground, the gauges share a common 12-v source for back lighting, then there are separate 12-v wires to each turn signal indicator, the high beam indicator and each gauge has its own wire for the appropriate sender.  The AAW kit comes with the connectors and pins to marry the gauge cluster harness to the main harness and they give you plenty of extra length to work with, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to physically connect all of the daisy chained 12-v wires for the gauge lights and the grounds for everything.

I've got butt connectors and was going to proceed down that path but was wondering if anyone's come up with a better method.
 

When I build gauge clusters, and I've built several, I build a bus bar that has a brass stud for ground, 12+ keyed, and illumination.  Every gauge needs those three.  This allows me to wire everything to a common point and eliminates issues caused by differential ground potential.  It also makes adding other accessories later on super easy.  A piece of plastic is used to isolate the brass bolts from each other and ground (except the ground lug obviously).  Then you can just make those connections to each gauge with a ring terminal.  I really like the solder seal terminals.  A bit pricey, but zero failure rate.  Soldered and shrink tubed in one step via a heat gun.  Super easy. 

The problem with piggyback connections (series wiring) is that if a point in the middle fails everything after it loses power, or ground, etc.  You can also get differential ground potential, since all grounds are not necessarily created equal.  Ideally you want as few ground points as possible in the entire car.  This creates a clean ground pathway, and prevents a lot of goofy, hard to diagnose electrical gremlins (electronic noise, intermittent fluctuations of light intensity, gauge readings, etc.).  The factory system of just grounding almost everything to the body is haphazard.  I'm not going to worry about things like my quarter panel lights, but when I add new things to my car I want them to work as best as possible, so I go the extra mile.  I want to be very certain that my gauges are reading accurately too, because typically there's an engine at stake worth several thousand dollars.