My gauges on my 68 XR7 completely do not work. I don’t have any interest in spending an astronomic amount on resto or originals. I simply need some functioning gauges that fit the car and light up n work. Please someone give me some recommendations that aren’t ludicrous $3k gauges. There’s bound to be some decent aftermarket ones out there or a solution that is reasonably affordable. Thanks
If all of the gauges don’t work the problem is most likely the instrument voltage regulator.
First thing you can do to test is to unplug the wire from the temp sender and ground it briefly. With the key on the gauge should peg past hot. If the needle doesn’t move then you need to check for power on that lead you unplugged. Any sort of test light should flash with the key on. No power equals no flash equals the IVR is probably dead.
On my 68 XR7 I have done dash, gauge and wiring work so all my gauges work. IMO it is likely less expensive to work with XR7 components than to go to aftermarket options. West Coast Classic Cougar has a good video on 67/68 XR7 dash removal and Rocketman Classic Cougar Innovations ( rccinnovations.com) offers tach, rally clock and gauge services. Depending on condition of your components, it might not be that much to fix what you have.
Or the whole cluster is unplugged.
Royce…Bringing reason to threads since 1999.
Ok, so let me be a bit more straightforward. I want aftermarket modern gauges. Is there a source out there for good ones that fit the 68 XR7? I’ve changed the gauges on almost every car i’ve ever owned and it was just a matter of ordering a new cluster and installing…it was pretty straight forward. For some reason the only part I can’t seem to locate for Cougars are aftermarket gauges.
Is there a source out there for good ones that fit the 68 XR7?
No.
There is no optional aftermarket gauge that is a direct swap into your factory xr7 cluster but I have seen them modified to fit.
You could go with something like this while allows standard sized aftermarket gauges.
Or you can have these guys modify your original cluster with any one of their gauges but it is not cheap.
https://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=214/category_id=417/mode=prod/prd214.htm
I’ve used speedhut gauges in my dads 64 GTO and my 68 cougar and 62 Biscayne . Easier to install than others and you can customize them.
Ive been looking at those too. I like the fact you can customize them in several ways, You can the brand logos off, adjust the font and needle types etc. Can get a semi factory/custom look instead of just slamming autometers in there.
I’ve seen the Classic Dash setup - it looks nice.
What I did on my first Cougar was swap in an XR-7 dash using the stock tachometer and speedometer but RAC gauges. It worked just fine and didn’t cost much. Looked decent too.