Midlife

All 69 and 70 underdash harnesses, regardless of tach or not, have provisions for clocks. The wiring for 69's are slightly different than the 70 version.

You pretty much have nailed it. Easiest, cheapest option is a stand-alone tach. Would run $60-100. Aftermarket dash clusters are certainly not plug-n-play, fairly expensive, then add in your labor (or someone else's) to wire it and you're looking an $800+ easy. There's some jerk named Midlife that can convert underdash harnesses to tach compatible. But...you'll first need to find a factory tach dash. Those now run $1000-1500 in good shape. Add in wiring changes for everything forward of the tail-light and you're looking at another $3-400. Final option is to sell your car and find another one that already has a tach. Downside is that you now have a new set of unknown issues to fix...

I've found the majority of the clock harnesses, as installed in the factory harness, have bad continuity due to the tight turns in the wiring under stress. That could be your problem.

I like the gloves on the front of the frame rails: looks like they want to grab a beer or two...

Damnit. I could have retired trying to fix that mess!

With all that spaghetti, be still my heart!

That's a clip that holds the heater lamp wire. I suspect the wire is broken where that clip goes. Try following the lamp socket back along the wire.

That spreadsheet looks awfully familiar...

I'm sure the amount of rust removal involved would tell the story...

I wouldn't spend a dollar for any of those three guys: they simply aren't worth restoring at all!!!

Welcome to the world of reality vice precision engineering.

Tap into the green/red or red/green wire coming from the ignition switch for power for the aftermarket tach. There should be a single blue/red wire coming down into the center console area that you can tap into; if you can't find that, tap into the blue/red wire for the factory radio plug for the light. You'll need a ground wire and a signal wire going out to the - side of the coil.

Try to remove one piece at a time and then replace it. If you remove too many items before replacement, the car may likely fold in half. Many people weld in square or tube supports to keep the car aligned.

Safety and/or reliability engineers are the worst. How do I know? I are them!

Ooops. Most folks get $40! LOL

Thanks, Jay. You'll be getting your $20 in the mail soon, so watch for it! Just kidding folks, but thank you for the kind words.

No good (concours correct) lamp sockets are available. Be careful to find an aftermarket one with the proper diameter and length of metal before and after it snaps in place.

The two female plug has yellow/black (radio power) and blue/red (radio lamp power). The female plug in lower part of red circle is blue/red and is for lamp power for optional clock. The orange spliced wire is probably power for the turn signal flasher can.

1 is 4 way flasher can 2 is brake switch 3 is for optional trunk lamp 4 is for optional clock 5 is for your turn signal flashers.

If you have no voltage to center two clips (BATT) on the bottom of the fuse box, the most probable cause is that the wire going to the back side of the fuse box has broken off. I see this about 10-15% of the time. Disconnect the battery, remove the fuse box and inspect the two large wires where they attach to the center taps of the fuse clips on the back side of the fuse box.

Do it! Unless the 429 engine is old, tired, and needs to be rebuilt. You'll love the grunt off the line with this beast!

One other thing about most of the aftermarket wiring kits: they are basically designed for *gasp* GM products, so you'll need to cut off your Ford connectors and splice into the pigtails. What you're looking for is more aligned with what I do: give you a factory correct set of wiring, all plug-n-play, with a 2 year warranty. From there, you can modify things for 1 wire alternators, etc., as you see fit.

Are you calling me Slow? I make up for my slowness in being ornery but always right! Or are you calling out for some Sloe, as in gin?

You'd be better off buying the best completed car you can find given you don't have the tools/equipment to do a full restoration. Let someone else eat the costs of restoration that almost always is never recovered when the car is sold. The amount of funds you'll be spending to outfit a dynacorn chassis will be north of $20k. Even so, it will not be a genuine Ford product that's 50+ years old. A good refurbished fastback can be found (with time...) for less than the cost of the new chassis and outfitting.

A customer sent in a 69 non-tach headlight harness for refurbishment, but it was too far gone for me to repair. The main power lines to/from the starter solenoid and alternator didn't look right to me, as the alternator line should go down into the harness quite a ways, and then gets spliced back into the main power feed. This is the point where one of the ammeter lines gets its signal (yellow wire). Instead, the yellow wire only was spliced into the main power feed, and the alternator line looped back and was spliced into the main power feed before going to the starter solenoid. Whoever designed this created an epic failure of the ammeter, which now can only read discharge and never any charging. (Not that they were all that functional anyway, but still...) I do not know if this was an AMP harness or someone else who fabricated 69 headlight harnesses. The next time I get a true AMP harness in, I'll tear it apart and see if they have this bad design or not.