1972 Ford F-100 - Do A Digital Dash - Tech

More versatile than black vinyl electrical tape due to its ability to allow access thanks to its laterally split design, we used Powerbraid from Painless Performance Products.

Here one can see how clean Powerbraid appears after installation. Re-entry to add new wires or trace an electrical problem is handled by opening the lateral split.

The original '72 Ford dash pad was toast. We replaced it with an exact reproduction from Dennis Carpenter. Locating the nuts that had to be undone was simplified by looking at the new dash pad.

The best spot we found to mount the Dakota Digital sending unit was directly behind the new Dakota Digital unit.

Before installing the new Dennis Carpenter dash pad, we washed the dashboard clean with Meguiar's car wash soap and used compressed air and a towel to dry it.

We used 220-grit dry sandpaper to remove the rust, then spot-repaired (painted) the dashboard with a can of Krylon.

Continuing with the complete rewiring of the '72 F-100, we readied the Painless Performance wiring harness for mounting.

What appears to be a cap is actually the bottom of the Painless fuse box. The Painless harness contains the necessary wires needed to wire up the Dakota Digital instrument panel for the '72.

Two holes will be drilled into the bottom of this piece, then it will be attached to the firewall's interior side.

Here is the Dakota Digital oil pressure sending unit mounted in place of the stock Ford unit. We threaded it in dry to ensure a proper ground.

We used new nuts with special convex stainless steel lock washers to fasten on the reproduction Dennis Carpenter dash pad.

After making all the necessary connections, we screwed in the original F-100 dash bezel fitted with Dakota Digital's new '67-72 gauge cluster. Used in conjunction with Dakota Digital's installation instructions, this story should make installation a snap.