I do, i have spent the last few days going through the one for the 1978 for the engine and the one for the 1998 for the truck. But i always welcome help when i can get it

 

Good Plan.

A quick perusal of the 98 service manual, it looks like even the frigging fuel gauge is driven by the PCM........

 

It looks to me like there are 2 diferent computers one power control module and one power distribution center.. The distribution controls the instrument cluster... Would it be possible to to keep the instruments? Or more likely it feeds off of inputs from the PCM ?

 

The pcm feeds the gauges. I'm not sure what voltage they use to drive them but if it's like conventional electric gauges it's 12v. You could calibrate the voltage with the senders and some resistors to get most of them to work. the tach/speedo is a little more of an issue. With some bench testing and enough ingenuity i think it could be done. Mechanical gauges are more accurate and they would look cool in a custom dash. My $.02

 

I will be doing a engine swap eventually but I feel Like my truck deserves a 4bt cummins lol

 

Thanks.. All $.02 are welcome at this point, i have considered taking the guage cluster apart and fitting in the little 1.5 inch guys in place of the ones that dont work.. I agree it would look very nice

 

Time for custom gauges. Lol

 

Yes i think so
In the mean time here are some pictures of the engine

 

The central timer module sends data to the cluster on what basically amounts to a network connection. (CCD bus.....) I have no idea how the data is sent, but, I suspect it works exactly like your computer network, and the data is sent in packets, which the cluster then interprets. I do not think you can synthesize that signal........ Either need to have the PCM hooked up to the sensors it wants, and then feed the cluster, or, switch to custom gauges.

 

Yep.. Custom guages time... I suppose i could start a new thread for the build pictures