I used that ground wire as the bridge wire between the backing plate and ground stud of the fuel gauge. There is another ground wire from the assembly to the body at the trans tunnel. I am using the front shifter boot retaining ring screw for that ground.
I put the assembled units in the car without mounting the console top. Everything seems to work properly although the tank sender may be off a little. At 7 gallons it's showing 1/4 tank....and it goes from full to slightly less than 1/2 really fast...the water temp gauge is at 1/4 scale at 160* (thermostat is a Stewart 160*). Our weather has been cool this past weekend and the car, with all the new cooling system components, didn't budge over 160* even after idling for almost 30 minutes. I used my laser thermometer to verify that temp.
I'll drive this thing around for a few miles and make sure all the circuits are working as intended before the console goes back together...I figure with it out I can get some stuff under the dash handled....another "as long as I'm here" opportunity.
Thank you immensely for your help and feedback. I hope I can reciprocate as I learn more and more about Camaros. I did a build out of a '69 in 1982 with my then 15 year old son. That was a combination parts car, junk yard and previous builds' leftover-parts rebuild with the heavy labor in engine and trans swap and body prep for a MAACO paint job. That was the last time I raised a wrench to one of these cars until this one.
We've done NCRS Corvettes and many Tri-Fives, the last one being a '56 9 passenger wagon resto-mod - hence the username. That car went through 5 different engines in 10 years as we played with its look - from street cruiser to street racer to an NHRA-legal Modified Production configuration and back to street cruiser.
STREET: 383 cu in hydraulic roller TH350 3.55 Moser 9", TH350
NHRA F/MODIFIED PRODUCTION CONFIGURATION: 327 cu in - 10.5-1, 30-30 flat tappet, '72 Tunnel Ram- 450cfm Holleys, 4.10, TH350
Our goal is to finish this legit Z to achieve as high a level of restoration as possible under AACA judging standards, which are fundamentally cosmetic: not code, stamping or casting specific as are the judging matrices of NCRS and ACA. If we are off in dates from one exhaust manifold to another but are functionally and appearance correct, we'll be happy.
Thanks again.
paul
