Mechanical:  I seem to recall that you will need to do a little cutting/grinding to form a radius at the bottom of the cluster opening to allow the five instrument cluster to fit...but maybe if it's a later 65 that may not be necessary.

Electrical:  You will be adding a sweep oil pressure gauge and an amp meter so you'll need to change the OP sender and if you keep the amp meter you'll need to add the necessary wiring.  I would recommend keeping the  Alternator idiot light and replacing the Amp meter with a Voltmeter.  I believe there is at least one "how to" for this on the forum.  I found a modern VM with a top-swing needle that I was able to adapt to the body of the cluster.  Then I drew up and printed a set of overlays so the dial faces would match each other.  They aren't exactly like the stock design but are very close.
The stock amp meter is a "shunt" type and only responds to a small representative amount of the current between the alternator B+ post and the battery.  Two 16 ga wires are used in the stock harness to connect one side of the amp meter to the alternator and to the battery side of the solenoid.  This circuit is parallel to the main wire that directly connects the alternator B+ lug to the solenoid.  With this type of connection the amp meter will not show much unless the battery is way down on charge (positive deflection) or the alternator is not working (negative deflection).  In my opinion, a good voltmeter combined with an idiot light is a better way to go as it will alert you to a failed alternator an also indicate if normal system voltage (14.5 volts or so) is present during normal operation.

BB
 

Have you seen JamesW's site.  Amazing car....
http://midnightdsigns.com/james/Installing%20Gauges.htm

a couple more things... 65 GT cluster has a different ammeter than the 66 cluster, and the under dash harness is slightly different between 65GT & 66.  Neither 65 nor 66 ammeters are known for their longevity.

MS did a nice write up on getting a functional ammeter in the tips & how-to's section of this site.  Maybe we could get MS to update his tip with new pics, now that tinypics is defunct.

For turn signals, your 65 cluster has two wires going to the single indicator. Just deparate the two wires. One then powers the L indicator and one powers the R terminal.

Ammeter wiring is a major PITA and the ammeters don’t work worth a darn anyway. Go check out the aftermarket ammeter I made for Al McGee since he is nearby. But, a voltmeter is much more useful.  Ammetee is not worth the effort since the needle never moves anyway. On Cara’s 65 coupe, years ago, I just let the ammeter gauge take up space and installed a red indicator light behind the slots of the heater switch so it would show through the slots as a bright red light in the unlikely event the warning light ever actually got illuminated.  It never did as long as we owned it.

Oil pressure gauge requires sender for gauge, not idiot light. Gas gauge and temperature gauges use same senders and wiring as the 65.

Or buy a cheap voltmeter and gut it and apply the original AMP face to it and rtv it into the cluster. Real cheap.

I agree that you could do this without much heartburn butt (TS&T), for the price of that 66 conversion gage for your five instrument cluster I couldn't justify spending too much time re-inventing now that I've done that once.

BB

I haven’t used their LED’s, I’ve heard mixed reviews and issues with flickering.
They are a quick fix.
I believe they are over priced for what you get in a kit.
Kit doesn’t always fit all applications.
It will give you reasons to shop for alternatives.😂
Talk to Glen and Steve, they have some great ideas too.
What do ya use with your RC heciliptors?😁

Gauge needles repainted , ammeter converted to voltmeter !

Looks great.

Subtle and low key, just like you.

A little fun from Chico and The Man. I lurnt from the best

Sent my gauge into rccinnovations and he did the work of converting .. could have had an overlay that said AMPS instead of volts and functioned like a Voltmeter , but I opted for Volts. He is reasonable enough in price that I didn’t feel like messing with it

Lighting ... popped off the green lenses and going to keep it stick bulbs . Have heard that is quite bright and if push comes to shove . I’ll illuminate the panel with led strips on the outside .. but I am sure that won’t be necessary

Last edited by Gaba (12/09/2019 4:55 AM)