Gauge Panel

[ocwd]

I'm in the process of painting my gauge panel. I wasn't going to paint the back but there was an NOS panel on G503 that is painted on the back. I guess I'll paint the back so it looks nice but, are there any grounding issues that I should be aware of if I with paint the back?

[wesk]

The resistance type gauges have two ground requirements. One thru the sender to ground to cause the needle to register and one thru it's case to ground to motor the needle. The back of that panel was left mostly bare to insure the gauge housing were grounded thru it to the dash. When I restore these model jeeps I solder a short lead to the back of that panel and use a Douglas connector then run a ground to the dash itself. We all use way to much paint on these restorations.

Water temp & oil pressure senders have very good grounds. The fuel quantity sender ground is only as reliable as the tank's ground and again too much paint on these restos leads to poor grounding. Never forget that all these grounds are useless if they do not lead back to the negative post of the battery.

The panel ground to the dash using the four 1/4 turn fasteners is marginal at best. I suggest you solder a ground lead to your panel and ground the panel by wire to the dash and that you leave a ring of unpainted area on the back side of the panel at each of the 4 small gauge openings that will allow the gauge retainers a good ground contact with the panel. I also add a ground wire from a sender screw on top of the tank to the tub.

Errors in oil pressure and water temp readings are often caused by a missing ground strap on the right engine mount that is there to ground the engine block to the chassis.

[ocwd]

Thank you. I might just leave the back unpainted. There was no paint on it when I pulled the gauges out. I have a few gauge panels. I’ll take a quick look at those as well.