Frequently Asked Questions

Short answer: The 1969 hood-mounted tach was UPC U85 (column code 471), listed “N.A. with 322” — the Trans Am package. So it could be ordered on essentially any 1969 Firebird except the T/A, because the T/A already included it (you didn’t order it separately).

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Short answer: The Year One / Ames repro ashtrays fit correctly but aren’t exact — 1967–68 rear ashtrays had ribbed covers, and the reproduction covers don’t have the ridges.

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Short answer: The bird emblem on the glovebox door came with the Custom Trim option (there’s no separate sales code for just the emblem), and all 1967s had it. Some standard-trim early 1968s also have it — there’s no firm rule on why.

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Short answer: Burlwood trim was used on all 1968–69 consoles, all 1968 dash center plates, and the 1969 Custom-trim dash only. So a 1969 Standard-trim car with a console has a burlwood console but a non-wood dash.

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Short answer: Unsnap the wire from the back (it just snaps on), then unscrew the housing from the backside.

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Short answer: You can buy replacement lenses, or restore yours: wet-sand lightly with very fine paper (1500–2000 grit, higher is better) using warm soapy water, then polish with a plastic/lens polish (Mother’s works). They’ll look bad right after sanding, but the polish brings them back clear like new. Repeat a few times per lens.

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Short answer: Both a chrome and a black 1968 convertible-top switch are correct — owners who’ve had their cars since new confirm both (chrome on some, black on early-1968 cars). There’s no outside bezel; the factory hole was often cut sloppily.

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Short answer: The 1968 Custom Trim Option is code 554, and the trim-tag style number tells you what your car has. Note that the Custom Trim Option (554) and the Custom/Deluxe interior are separate — you can have the option with standard interior.

Any of these items could be ordered individually on a standard-interior car (22437/22467) — except the deluxe interior itself, which defines 22637/22667.

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Short answer: The 1968 Custom Trim option (554) included: Custom seat covers (Morrokide + stitched knit vinyl), custom molded door and quarter trim panels, the assist bar above the glovebox, dual horns, deluxe wheel covers, deluxe steering wheel, custom pedal trim, front & rear wheel-opening moldings, drip-rail moldings (coupes), and windshield-pillar garnish moldings.

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Short answer: For 1968 Firebirds the instrument panel was painted to match the interior color (not the body color). Find your trim number on the body tag and match it to the chart below.

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Short answer: Replacing the cowl/dash panel is one of the easier sheet-metal jobs — if the windshield and front clip are out of the way (none of the seams show). The old panel is spot-welded under the dash pad and along the front under the cowl, brazed at the front corners, with a small weld on each “A” pillar.

Tips: Do the areas that don’t show first (floors, trunk, cowl), then the outside — less heartbreak if you slip. If a body shop does rust repair under the windshield, tell them the area ~1″ forward of the angled bend (near the VIN) needs a clean finish too — shops often assume it’s hidden.

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Short answer: You can order a wiring diagram (which covers the dash printed circuit board) from Classic Industries or most other restoration catalogs — about $7 for a ~20-page set.

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Short answer: Besides the ~8 perimeter screws, the pad is held by nuts on studs molded into it, hidden underneath in the middle — reach them through the radio opening (you’ll need to remove a few accessories first).

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Short answer: Test the gauge by grounding the brown sender wire at the trunk connector — the gauge should swing to empty. Test the sender with a meter on ohms from the trunk connector (red lead to the brown/sender wire going to the tank, black to a good body ground); bump the car and watch it change — roughly 90 ohms full, ~1 ohm empty.

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Short answer: The gauge swinging to empty when you switch on the lights is the classic bad-ground symptom. Check the grounds first: one is at the sender on the tank, the other near the filler neck (a large sheet-metal screw into the trunk floor). Quick test — run a jumper from a known good ground and touch the metal gauge-cluster housing; if the trouble clears, it’s the ground.

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Short answer: No — 1967 Firebirds only came with the 120 MPH speedo (even with the optional Rally Gauge cluster). 1968–69 used the 160 MPH speedo.

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Short answer: On a 1967–68, converting from idiot lights to a Rally gauge cluster is not a simple pin swap. You can get the oil and water gauges to read fairly easily, but making the ammeter work requires reworking the harnesses all the way back to the voltage regulator — the Rally setup has extra wires the idiot-light cars don’t.

Realistically you either re-pin and add wiring to the bulkhead connector, forward-lamp harness, and dash harness, or buy the correct harnesses. (1969 is far easier.)

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Short answer: Externally the same, but internally different. The 1967 (and probably 1968) latch uses a little hook; the 1969 uses a cylinder with a small latch that pops in and out. The 1969 also has three circles (like cup bases) on the inside where the 1967 has two.

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Short answer: Skip the metal objects — use a flexible laminated plastic card (an ID card from your wallet) to slip the jammed latch open without scraping or breaking it.

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Short answer: One member’s take: the hood tach isn’t very accurate, is hard to read, and lacks the dampener circuitry good tachs have — so you can’t reliably tell, say, 5000 from 5200 rpm.

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Short answer: The hood tach was mostly factory-installed (though dealers and owners fitted them too). The factory used a punch operation in a known location and added rivets plus nuts for security — so for a correct install, get the dimensions from a factory hood that has one. Today’s reproduction tachs work better than originals (circuits, lighting) but have a slightly “fuzzy”-looking plastic face.

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Short answer: To place an aftermarket hood tach (all references as if sitting in the driver’s seat — “right” = toward hood center, “front” = toward the bumper):

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Short answer: Yes — the hole size, mounting holes, and location differ between the 1967 (tall-style) tach and the 1968–69 (short-style) tach.

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Short answer: Two well-regarded hood-tach rebuilders:

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Short answer: The optional clock mounted on the console, ahead of the shifter — the correct opening is somewhat oblong with two mounting holes (a large round hole means a previous owner butchered it). If your build sheet calls for gauges and a clock, look for a console clock (Hemmings, Ames; working ones can be pricey).

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Short answer: With the key, it’s easy: insert the key, put a needle/paper clip in the pinhole, go to the Accessory position, then turn counterclockwise and the cylinder comes out.

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Short answer: Turn the key to the Accessory position, insert a stiff wire or paper clip into the small hole by the key slot to depress the spring-loaded retainer, then turn the key a bit farther counterclockwise while pulling — the lock cylinder pops out. You can then unscrew the bezel holding the switch to the dash.

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Short answer: Erratic readings are largely the inaccuracy of the stock sending units, not necessarily a cooling-system fault. (1969 conversions are easier than 1967–68 — no full harness redo.) Factory gauges read poorly even with correct GM senders — a member who pressure-tested six GM oil senders found none read alike.

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Short answer: If you have the PHS billing history, it lists the four-digit ignition and trunk key codes — take them to a GM dealer, who can look up the cuts in the key-code book and punch a key. If not, the four-digit codes are stamped on the original door and trunk lock cylinders (the door matches the ignition, the trunk matches the glovebox).

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Short answer: Yes, two keys was normal: the round key worked the trunk and glovebox, and the other key worked the ignition and door locks.

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Short answer: A jumpy needle is usually a binding speedo cable that “loads up” and releases. Pull the inner cable from its casing (disconnect one end), coat the cable and sleeve with graphite, and reinstall — a ~$1 fix worth trying before replacing the cable.

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Short answer: Power-Flo Ventilation was a 1969-only Firebird option (also on 1969–70 full-size Pontiacs and Buicks) for non-A/C cars, about $15 — two blower assemblies mounted in the cowl that push air through the upper vents.

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Short answer: A small break in a printed circuit board can be repaired by soldering a short piece of bare stranded copper wire across the break. Use very thin rosin-core solder and a small tip on a low-wattage iron, and clean and tin both the wire ends and the foil before joining.

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Short answer: You can’t just change the connector pin-out — at best you’d get water temp and oil pressure working, but nothing for the ammeter, whose circuit is completely different from end to end. To do the 1967–68 conversion properly you need: the under-dash main wiring harness with bulkhead connector, the forward lamp harness that mates to it at the bulkhead, and oil/water sending units specific to gauges of that era.

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Short answer: It mounts inside the glovebox — there’s a perforation in the glovebox cardboard that marks the correct spot for the trunk-release button (good reproductions include this perforation too).

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Short answer: Details on replacing the dash cluster (including the wiring considerations) are collected in the Interior FAQs — Dash section: FGF Interior FAQ — Dash.

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Short answer: The option books generally listed Rally Gauges and the Safeguard “Speed-minder” speedo as not available combined — though a few documented cars (PHS-verified) did come with both, so it happened. To merge the two yourself you’d change the speedo face from the standard style to the rally style (a speedo shop quoted ~$65 and about an hour).

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Short answer: The Speed-minder was an option, and the tach was not part of it — no first-gen F-body had a tach in the dash cluster (that’s what the hood tach was for; Rally gauges gave water temp and oil pressure only).

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Short answer: There are three ways to recalibrate, and they work well together.

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Short answer: A speedo that reads off after a rear-end swap or a tire-size change usually just needs the correct speedo driven gear (the colored plastic gear on the cable at the transmission) to match the new ratio/tire size. It’s an easy, ~$8 part at a GM dealer (Classic Industries sells them too — give your trans type and rear ratio), or a shop can recalibrate. If originality matters, fitting reproduction original-size tires is the other route.

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Short answer: That extra white needle (with the under-dash reset knob) is the Speed-minder — a rare option. You set the maximum speed you want; when the speedo needle reaches the speed-minder needle, a buzzer sounds from the dash (on some cars only with the lights on).

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Short answer: A 1967 Rally Gauge cluster is NOT a drop-in for the idiot-light cluster — the connector pin-out is completely different, and the volt (ALT) gauge needs two heavier wires the idiot-light harness doesn’t have. You can re-pin the existing connector and add wiring (Option II below), or replace both harnesses (Option I). You’ll also need gauge-type oil-pressure and coolant-temperature sending units. Budget a full weekend. (Verified using two bone-stock 1967 Firebirds; originally by Tony, converted by Al.)

Stock (idiot-light) cluster — 12-pin connector (pin numbers are molded into the connector; ordering is 1–6 top row, 12–7 bottom row):

The TEMP, OIL, GEN, and BRAKE wires connect under the hood through two 10-pin firewall connectors (just below/right of the brake master cylinder — facing the firewall, left = Engine Harness, right = Forward Lamp Harness):

Engine Harness        Forward Lamp Harness
+---+---+             +---+---+
|   | * | Dark Tan    |   |   |
+---+---+             +---+---+
|   |   |             |   |   |
+---+---+             +---+---+
| * |   | Dark Green  |   |   |
+---+---+             +---+---+
| * |   | Dark Blue   |   | * | Brown
+---+---+             +---+---+
|   |   |             |   |   |
+---+---+             +---+---+

• Dark Tan to the brake master-cylinder pressure switch (BRAKE light on low pressure).
• Dark Green to the coolant temperature switch (TEMP light above ~210°).
• Dark Blue to the oil pressure switch (OIL light on low pressure).
• Brown to the voltage regulator (GEN light on low output).

Rally Gauge cluster — 12-pin connector (same connector body, different pin-out):

Firewall connector positions/colors for the Rally cluster:

Engine Harness        Forward Lamp Harness
+---+---+             +---+---+
|   | * | Dark Tan    |   |   |
+---+---+             +---+---+
|   |   |             |   |   |
+---+---+             +---+---+
| * |   | Dark Green  |   |   |
+---+---+             +---+---+
| * |   | Dark Blue   |   | * | Brown
+---+---+             +---+---+
|   |   |             | * | * | Black (L) / Black-White stripe (R)
+---+---+             +---+---+

The BLACK and BLACK-with-WHITE-stripe wires feed the ALT gauge and are a heavier gauge (higher current). The Black/White-stripe wire ties via a fuse link to the power-distribution splice near the voltage regulator and lands on the cluster’s White wire (pin 11); the Black wire ties via a fuse link to the junction block by the battery and lands on the cluster’s Black wire (pin 12).

Sending units needed (gauge-type):

Option I — Replace the harnesses (easiest, costly): Classic Industries and Year One sell “for Rally Gauge cluster” harnesses. Replace both the Forward Lamp harness (~$199) and the Instrument Panel harness (~$399). No rewiring — just remove the old and fit the new.

Option II — Modify existing harnesses (affordable). The Rally cluster needs three wires the stock one lacks (a Black, a White, and a second Gray) and does not use the Brown (generator) wire. Steps:

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Short answer: A temp gauge that jumps/pegs on start-up and then reads cold is usually the old idiot-light “test” wire left connected — the wire from the ignition that lit the temp warning light at start. It’s the harness connection with two wires going to one point (often green). Disconnecting it (per the rally-gauge install FAQ) cures the pegging.

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