Dash swapping from F to M

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I understand that there is already a thread on this, but I have different questions.

My 79 Volare has rear defrost and cruise control. I had ordered a wire harness which was said to be from a 77 Diplomat.

I am noticing that the firewall plugs are backwards (volare is female, diplomat is male.) The Diplomat does not have the same options as the Volare.

What I am trying to figure out is how much I would have to change for the firewall plug and how I can add the wiring for my Volare's options.

Did I get the wrong year wiring harness?

Thank you.
 
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Darth-Car

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Very different instrument clusters, and because of that the wire harnesses are totally different. You have a Volare' so you need a Volare' harness, or an Aspen harness. The Diplomat, or LeBaron harnesses will not work for you.
 
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Very different instrument clusters, and because of that the wire harnesses are totally different. You have a Volare' so you need a Volare' harness, or an Aspen harness. The Diplomat, or LeBaron harnesses will not work for you.
So I can keep my Volare harness for my Diplomat gauges? What will I have to switch so the harness will work with the gauges?
 

DCAspen

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76-77 harness from dash to engine plug together under the dash and 78 up plug together on the firewall like early 70s mopars.You would need a harness from a 78 or 79 to fit your 79 Volare.
 

F body Deconstructor Jim

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you need a 79 F dash harness with rear defrost and cruise?

somewhere in late 78 or beginning of 79 the plug became a true bulkhead connector on the F's...
earlier harnesses wont fit directly.
later wont work either due to the column changes for 1980.
 

DCAspen

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Nice to see your back Jim,You still selling parts?
 

F body Deconstructor Jim

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bear woods.jpg
:D
 

BudW

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Hum, not sure what that means, exactly.
I hope he is still selling parts. He’s a great guy to work with . . . even though he’s proven me wrong a few times.
BudW
 

bbeep79

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Hum, not sure what that means, exactly.
I hope he is still selling parts. He’s a great guy to work with . . . even though he’s proven me wrong a few times.
BudW
Translating lawyer speak to English, I believe it comes down to 'Does a bear s*** in the woods?'
The answer would be yes, he still sells parts.
 
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Ok so I am just going to re-use my destroyed F harness. I have a question about the temperature gauge though. How do I send 5v power to it if the 1 5v on the F harness is being used for the fuel gauge?
 

BudW

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On the back side of instrument cluster, there will be a 5-volt voltage regulator, that looks like this:
VRC 601.jpg

This converts 12 volts to 5-volts. Correction, it turns on/off fast, to make a 5-volt supply voltage so it is more of an A/C (alternating current) 5-volts than a D/C 5-volts. The gauges will not respond that quickly, but it works fine.

The same 5-volt source supplies current to fuel gauge, engine temperature gauge and for oil pressure gauge (if equipped).

Matter of fact you can take a spare fuel gauge sender to test the operation of the temperature or oil pressure gauges (all three has the same low and high range ohm reading).
BudW
 

Darth-Car

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AAAHHH It's so big! It's the voltage regulator that ate Chicago! That is definitely not shown actual size. :)
 
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Hey all! I havent updated this thread in a good while. I wanted to let you know that I finally found a harness for the swap! It came from a 79 Lebaron and it's a direct fit! I just need to put everything together! Im really excited!
 
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I just got the ignition and hazards working. The blinkers flash really quick and im not too sure why because all the lights work. I will look into it tomorrow.
 
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