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Reference Manual


Chapter 6: Electrical/Interior: Rallye Pac Conversion


The standard Oldsmobile Cutlass instrument panel, with little more than a speedometer, fuel gauge and a collection of "idiot" lights leaves much to be desired for anyone with the least bit of interest in what is happening under the hood. Fortunately, Oldsmobile offered, as an option, an instrument panel that included a basic set of gauges and this instrument panel can be swapped into a G-body that was originally equipped with the standard instrument panel with some minor rework of the original wiring.

Parts required:

  • "Rallye Pac" Gauge Cluster Assembly
  • Water temp sender (single terminal)
  • GP Sorenson p/n tsu64
  • or
  • the equivalent
  • Oil sending unit for cluster with gauges
  • GM p/n 14036243
  • or
  • GP Sorenson p/n ops88
  • or
  • the equivalent
  • Brass extension for oil sender to clear the intake manifold and cruise control bracket.
  • GM p/n 401559
  • or
  • 1/8" NPT brass 45° elbow and a 2" long 1/8" NPT brass nipple
  • or
  • the equivalent
  • 18awg wire
  • Tools required:

    Time required:

    While not difficult, a few things related to this swap may take some time to work out. Although it may take less time, plan on an afternoon to complete this conversion.

    Overview:

    The standard Oldsmobile Cutlass instrument panel is wired differently than the cluster with gauges. For this reason a swap from the standard cluster to a Rallye Pac cluster will require the rearrangment of the terminals in one of the cluster connectors.

    instrument cluster back view
    Standard Cluster

    Connector 1: Connector 2:
    1.  Service Engine Soon Ind. Yel 1.  LH Turn Indicator Lt. Blu
    2.  (Blank Indicator) 2.  Ground Blk
    3.  (Blank Indicator) 3.  Illumination Gry
    4.  (2nd Coolant Temp Ind.) 4.  Charge Indicator Brn
    5.  (2nd Coolant Temp Ind.) 5.  Illumination Gry
    6.  (Wait Indicator) 6.  Ground Blk
    7.  (2nd Fasten Belts Ind.) 7.  Fuel Gauge Pnk
    8.  (Water in Fuel Ind.) 8.  RH Turn Indicator Dk. Blu
    9.  Not Used 9.  Fasten Belts Indicator Yel
    10.  Not Used 10.  Brake Indicator Tan/Wht
    11.  Not Used 11.  Coolant Temp Indicator Dk. Grn
    12.  Not Used 12.  Ignition Input Pnk/Blk
    13.  Not Used 13.  Oil/Choke Indicator Tan
    14.  (Low Fuel Indicator) 14.  Hi Beam Indicator Lt Grn


    Gauges Cluster

    Connector 1: Connector 2:
    1.  Service Engine Soon Ind. Yel 1.  Illumination Gry
    2.  (Blank Indicator) 2.  Ground Black
    3.  (Blank Indicator) 3.  Fuel Gauge Pnk
    4.  Coolant Temp Indicator Dk Grn/Yel 4.  Oil Pressure Gauge Tan
    5.  Ignition Input Pnk/Blk 5.  Fasten Belts Indicator Yel
    6.  (Wait Indicator) 6.  Brake Indicator Tan/Wht
    7.  (2nd Fasten Belts Ind) 7.  Coolant Temp Gauge Input Dk Grn/Wht
    8.  (Water in Fuel Ind.) 8.  (Oil/Choke Indicator)
    9.  Not Used 9.  Charge Indicator Brn
    10.  Not Used 10.  Ignition Input Pnk/Blk
    11.  Not Used 11.  Hi Beam Indicator Lt Grn
    12.  Not Used 12.  LH Turn Indicator Lt Blu
    13.  Not Used 13.  RH Turn Indicator Dk Blu
    14.  (Low Fuel Indicator) 14.  Tachometer Input Wht


    instrument panel adapter view

    From the above charts, the first thing you might notice is that all functions use the same color code for each function wire, for both clusters. Not quite so obvious at first glance, the standard cluster uses 2 each of the illumination and ground leads, whereas the gauges cluster uses only one of each.

    This means that when doing this swap you'll have an extra ground and an extra illumination wire. Because for both clusters each connects to the same location in the wiring harness and all are of the same gauge, which of each you use for the swap is irrelevant and the extra of each wire will need to protected from shorting out and stuffed away behind the dash.

    The Procedure:

    terminal removal
    Connector 2

    Standard Cluster: Gauges Cluster:
    1.  LH Turn Indicator Lt Blue 1.  Illumination Gray
    2.  Ground Black 2.  Ground Black
    3.  Illumination Gray 3.  Fuel Gauge Pink
    4.  Charge Indicator Brown 4.  Oil Pressure Gauge Tan
    5.  Illumination Gray 5.  Fasten Belts Indicator Yel
    6.  Ground Black 6.  Brake Indicator Tan/Wht
    7.  Fuel Gauge Pink 7.  Coolant Temp Gauge Input Dk Grn/Wht
    8.  RH Turn Indicator Dk Blue 8.  (Oil/Choke Indicator)
    9.  Fasten Belts Ind. Yellow 9.  Charge Indicator Brown
    10.  Brake Indicator Tan/Wht 10.  Ignition Input Pnk/Blk
    11.  Coolant Temp Indicator Dk Grn 11.  Hi Beam Indicator Lt Grn
    12.  Ignition Input Pnk/Blk 12.  LH Turn Indicator Lt Blu
    13.  Oil/Choke Indicator Tan 13.  RH Turn Indicator Dk Blu
    14.  Hi Beam Indicator Lt Grn 14.  Tachometer Input Wht
    reforming the terminal tang

    Installing the Oil Pressure Sender

    Optional method to keep the Oil Pressure Switch and indicator functional:

    Oil Sender and Oil Switch installed
    oil pressure sender and switch installed

    Setting the Tachometer:

    The tachometer can be set to indicate RPM for a 6 or 8 cylinder engine by means of a jumper accessible from the rear of the gauge cluster housing. Tach Jumper

    1.   Instrument Cluster Assembly
    2.   Shorting Adapter
     
  • Calibrate the tachometer by installing the shorting adaptor in the hole that matches the number of engine cylinders (6 or 8).
  • or
  • This would be a good time to consider replacing the jumper with a soldered connection to eliminate possible future problems.
  • Addressing the issue of the Odometer:

    Cleaning the gauge faces:


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