Swapped to Muscle - 75 Duster Daily build

Chambec said
Little bit of an update.

Decided to tear into the dash to see what was going on with the gauges. Before starting, I took a look from underneath to see if anything was obvious... Well one thing was. The speedo cable was not hooked up. That is one gauge that is figured out. Started taking off the screws for the dash and worked on the wiper switch and light switch. Got the wiper switch out but not the light switch. Dropped the steering column down a bit and got enough of the dash out to get the plug for the light switch unplugged. Also managed to get the Amp meter gauge wires off as well...

View attachment 1715532639View attachment 1715532640

Got the dash out and it just didnt make sense. After reading and looking through similar posts on here... I noticed that a ground was not on the cluster or anywhere in the dash. I thought that there was supposed to be one so I added one. Got it temporarily hooked up and tested with the amp meter temp bypassed. Still nothing. No fuel, temp, etc. Maybe I added the ground to the wrong point on cluster? I am not sure. Im really tempted at getting a new bezel and gauge set and going from there. I guess its possible that the cluster is bad. I will have to do some more research on how to test a cluster.

Also, talked to the wife and got her on board on getting some of the larger ticket items due to "safety" :) lol. This means that she is game for getting steering, suspension and brakes for the duster. Going over to Dr.Diffs site, here is a breakdown on what I think I should get to meet those "safety" requirements:

  • 11.75" Disc Brake Slider Caliper Brackets
  • Rotors - Drilled/Slotted/Plated (Pair) - 11.75"
  • Front Wheel Bearings '73+ A/B/E/F/M/J/R Body
  • Aluminum Master Cylinder Kit - 15/16"
  • Axle Pkg Stock Length Mopar 5X4 1/2" Bolt Pattern (pair)- A-body
Unfortunately, I am not able to get the 10.7" Rear Disc kit as its currently sold out. I am looking at some other kits but not sure which one to go with for the rear disc brake swap. Looked at the eBay kits, SSBC, TSM, ScareBird, Wilwood, Pirate Jack but just not sure which one to go with... Any suggestions? Trying to get something that will fit using the 16" wheels that I have so I am thinking 11" or smaller.
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The housing grounds to the dash frame, that's why you don't see a ground. Usually people have problems because they plug everything in to test it and don't screw the cluster down and then nothing works. But if you did a temp ground, then that shouldn't be the issue.

Also remember that the amp gauge has to be hooked up to try anything. Without that, there is no power in the car. I've bolted the amp gauge wire ends together before to test stuff, just remember they are always hot and should be wrapped just so they don't accidentally spark.

Guessing it is the voltage regulator, the three pin push in thing at the middle top. Pretty sure if that goes, none of the gauges work, but not absolutely certain. I might have a spare, or you could build a solid state one for a couple of bucks and avoid issue down the road even if it doesn't fix this one.

Reminds me that I might need to look at my regulator, might fix some of the issues I am fighting with.