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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
With a big gaping hole in... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
With a big gaping hole in the dash, it doesn't look like we've done much to make things better at this point, but hang in there, the fun's about to begin.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
I knew I'd be busy with wiring... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
I knew I'd be busy with wiring for a while, so I scuffed up the steering column and gave it a quick makeover so it wouldn't look out of place amongst the new gauge panel and glovebox door.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
Holding in the new panel are... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
Holding in the new panel are these set screws that are installed with an Allen wrench. The clips in the dashboard that hold the screws in from the old gauge panel need to be pried off so these can go through those same holes.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
These small LED lights will... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
These small LED lights will be the new turn signal and high beam indicators. Simply push these through the gauge panel from front to back, but make sure you have your colors where you want them; I'd hate to have to take them back out.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
With all the gauges in, here's... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
With all the gauges in, here's the panel's backside: pretty basic at this point. I labeled which gauges were which with a marker so I wouldn't have to keep flipping it over to look.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
I actually picked up all this... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
I actually picked up all this stuff halfway through the story due to the frustration of not having the right stuff. Plan on spending $30-$50 on wire and connectors depending on what you already have on hand. The different-color 18-gauge wire was well worth the investment.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
Each gauge needs a power supply... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
Each gauge needs a power supply from the ignition switch that provides the juice only when the key is turned, so in the neatest order I could I ran a wire connecting each ignition terminal together like so.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
Every gauge also has a light... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
Every gauge also has a light that needs power from the headlight switch so they are lit up when the lights are turned on. Since there's a wire sticking out of each gauge (two in the speedo) and no terminals, I grouped two or three together and put a male to female connector on them, then continued that until there was only one wire to connect to the truck's wiring harness.
Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
The electric tachometer is... 
   
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Kustom And Dolphin Instruments
The electric tachometer is easy to hook up. It has a ground, ignition power, light power, and one wire that goes to the negative side of the coil. Again, this got a male to female connector. I put these on everything going into the truck's wiring harness in case the gauge panel ever has to come out; there's nothing hard-wired together that would need to be cut.

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