From time to time, OnAllCylinders will provide a peek at some of the newest products and deals that can help get your next project on track for less. Check out what’s in our parts bin this week:

Shiftworks-Replacement-Voltmeter

Here’s a Shiftworks replacement voltmeter retrofitted in a second-gen Chevelle gauge cluster. (Image/Shiftworks)

Throughout the 1960s and into the 70s, many vehicle gauge packages could be optioned with an ammeter, which gave you a readout of the electrical current (measured in amps) created by your alternator.

While it is handy to know your amperage, this setup often had a big drawback—the gauge was typically fed all of the vehicle’s electrical current, all of the time. This meant the wire was always hot, sometimes literally. If the current was high, if could heat the wire to a level hot enough to melt the wire insulation.

Not only could that create an electrical short, it had a tendency to “cook” the gauge/connections and dramatically reduce your ammeter’s service life. (That’s why a lot of original ammeters don’t work, and why you don’t see ammeters in modern cars.) Plus, if you’ve upgraded to a one-wire alternator or have done any significant modifications to your wiring, it tends to make your stock ammeter pretty much useless.

Shiftworks has got these slick voltmeters that install in the place previously occupied by the ammeter. They measure the strength of the electrical current in volts, which means you’ll still have a good sense of your electrical system health—without any of the drawbacks of the OE ammeter.

Better still, they look exactly like the stock gauges, so no one outside of a concours judge will know it’s not original.

Shiftworks currently makes individual voltmeter gauges for the following applications:

SIW-S535-G – 1970 Chevy Chevelle/El Camino;

SIW-S535-W – 1971-72 Chevelle/El Camino;

You can also get Shiftworks voltmeters in conversion kits (with other gauges) for these vehicles:

SIW-S507-V – 1966-67 Chevy II/Nova

SIW-S505-V – 1966-67 Chevy Chevelle

SIW-S508-VT – 1968 Chevy Chevelle

Share this Article
Author: Paul Sakalas

Paul is the editor of OnAllCylinders. When he's not writing, you'll probably find him fixing oil leaks in a Jeep CJ-5 or roof leaks in an old Corvette ragtop. Thanks to a penchant for vintage Honda motorcycles, he spends the rest of his time fiddling with carburetors and cleaning chain lube off his left pant leg.