what all is involed in hooking up the factory tachometer b/c the gauge cluster i have now does not have one (pic below) and im goin to the junkyard to get a new cluster with probably a 120mph speedometer and hopefully i can find a cluster w/ the factory tachometer but i have never messed with one before and i just need some info on what all is involed to hook it up.

 

When I swapped my "idiot light" cluster out I didn't have to do anything to hook the tach up. The tach is electric, runs off a signal from the ignition. The printed circuit on the back of the gauge cluster is different, when you plug it in it connects to the right pins in the connector.

For the water temp gauge and the oil pressure gauge you will need to have the senders to put in the engine instead of the switches that are in the engine now.

 

i got my new gauge cluster in and u were right the tach works, and the battery volt. works and the temp. gauge i think is working but it reads that its running hot even when i 1st start the car?? the only thing that doesn't work is the oil gauge and the fuel gauge...what can i do to fix this???

 

The oil pressure gauge and the water temp gauge need the senders in the engine to operate correctly. If you still have the switches in the engine from the idiot light cluster they won't work.

The water temp gauge will peg to the high side (hot) when you start the car, this is just a test circuit to ensure the gauge is working.

If your old fuel gauge was working then there must be a problem with the "new" gauge or the printed circuit on the back of the cluster. Camaro gauge clusters will swap with one another without having to make any wiring changes (Firebirds have to have some pins moved in the connectors).