Can anyone tell me how I can test the console
mounted ammeter in my 69z28. The gauges
appear to be factory original and I finally
got all but the ammeter working. Although
the oil pressure gauge appears a little flaky
It does'nt always read. Sometimes it does,
sometimes it does'nt it always read 40 lbs
before I took the console out.

Sounds to me like a common bad grounding problem. To check the meter be sure the neg- post of meter goes to a good chassy ground and the pos+ side can go to any "hot wire" under the dash,that is "hot"with the key on. the meter will show voltage changes for charging and running head lights. Hope this helps. getting to the meter will be half the job.

Tom,you're thing of a volt meter.I connected my ampmeter one side to alt,and other to battery.Turn on the headlights,the meter should move toward the negative side.If it goes toward the + side the wires are reversed.When you install it..install fuses or fuse links in each wire,that way the circuit is protected from shorts.

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68 z28 ,68 rs 327 ,73 454 vette, 2 goofy kids

Dale, did you replaced the wire coming from the battery to the alt. with the ammeter or just installed it in parallel with the original wiring? A friend of mine has an ammeter and he wants me to connect it.

I left the factory wiring intact.Just connected one of the wires to the junction block next to the batt.The other wire I connected to the back of the alternator.The wires sense the difference in current,between the alt,and batt.The origionals had the wire I connected to the alt., connected to the horn relay. Basically you are not powering anything on the amp gauge circuit.

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68 z28 ,68 rs 327 ,73 454 vette, 2 goofy kids

The ammeter is a millivolt meter, not an ammeter. It sense the differenc in voltage between the opposite ends of the red number 10 wire between the terminal in front of the battery and the terminal on the horn relay. It uses the resistance of that wire as a shunt, to determine if current is flowing into the battery or out of the battery. If you put it on the output of the alternator it will always indicate a positive value as long as the voltage at the alternator is hight than the voltage at the battery.

The meter does need a ground to work. The third stud coming out of the back of the ammeter is for a ground. Make sure there is a wire there and it is connected to the black ground wire on the front gauge panel.

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Mark Canning
1969 Indy Pace Car
350/300HP RPO Z11

One more question I forgot to ask. Has anyone
rebuilt this part as its 7.50 to repair and
53 $ to replace it. Is it easy to do ?

Dale/Mark, thanks for the info.